Netflix’s Baby-Sitters Club season 2 puts an unusual twist on the cast

The media of all ages tend to shy away from depicting significant parental figures. In some cases, they are totally absent from the story. In others, such as the school narratives of Zoey 101 or Declassified from Ned, where the only adults present are teachers, they are only used as obstructions. Or sometimes they are clumsy and incompetent, like icarly‘s Spencer, the older brother and guardian who accidentally and repeatedly sets things on fire. Children’s shows generally put the emphasis on the younger characters, allowing them the freedom to do things that normal kids can’t do, which not only targets the intended audience, but offers them escapism and empowerment. Not all shows fall into that trap. But even when child-centered media portrays adults as good and caring, they are generally framed to help young audiences learn valuable life lessons.

But in season 2 of the Netflix series The babysitting clubNot only are parents present and involved in their children’s lives, they also have their own compelling stories and struggles. It is a refreshing recognition that while parents may care about their children, children are also concerned about their parents. But while the parents of the series go through their own struggles, which worry their children, they never burden their children with specifics or put emotional labor on them. It’s a good balance, giving adults complexity without completely turning their problems into children’s problems, but the show manages to pull it off.

I am no longer the target audience for shows like The babysitting club – I am 20 years old and I have no children who watch the program. But I can’t help but be fully involved in the main characters of the series. The Netflix adaptation of Ann M. Martin’s best-selling books follows a group of high school students starting their own babysitting business. The babysitting club she does a fantastic job of portraying the ups and downs of being a preteen girl, adapting the plot points of the books to reflect this era. (For example, the star of the children’s comedy that the ballerina Jessi cares for in the books is a TikTok celebrity on the show.)

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for The Baby-Sitters Club season 2.]

Butch club president Kristy, for example, becomes concerned when she learns that her mother Liz (Alicia Silverstone) and stepfather Watson (Mark Feuerstein) are trying to have a baby, not because she doesn’t want a new sibling, but because she that worries. They don’t want to tell him because of his initially distant attitude towards his reconstituted family.

It turns out that Liz worries about setting Kristy’s expectations too high, because she knows that having a baby in her life stage is not easy. The following episodes see Liz struggling with fertility treatments, even if Kristy doesn’t know the details. She mentions her mother’s longing for chocolate, which older viewers can identify with the stress of hormonal treatments and the general anxiety of trying to conceive. But the show doesn’t go into explicit detail, and rightly so, considering the target audience.

Kristy finally finds her mother sobbing in the bathroom, hiding the pressure she feels trying to conceive and the emotions caused by a hurricane of hormones. Kristy offers to listen to her mom if she wants to talk, but Liz says that even though she knows Kristy will listen, this is not a burden on a child. Liz is clear that, instead, she should talk to her husband about what is happening. If that discussion happens, it stays off the screen, but that’s a good thing. For Liz, understanding that her preteen daughter shouldn’t be her emotional support is an act of emotional maturity. Kristy, who used to get angry at the idea of ​​her reconstituted family, is now open and encouraging to the idea, but more importantly, Liz recognizes that her problems are something she needs to discuss with another adult.

The babysitting club stands out for the way it gives parents compelling struggles and inner lives, while what’s more it still makes them damn good parents. We know that Responsible Mary Anne has a father (Marc Evan Jackson) who is struggling with anxiety; last season saw him agree to let Mary Anne grow and get over the loss of his wife. In season 2, he has been going to therapy and trying to implement those lessons in real life.

When he talks to Mary Anne about his first date, he comes prepared with note cards with pre-written lines of support and encouragement to make the experience less daunting for him. But what’s most moving is that he goes out of his way to bond with Mary Anne’s friend, and his girlfriend’s daughter, Dawn, who takes the opposite approach when it comes to handling big emotions and insists that everything is fine when people it invades your personal limits. While Dawn initially rejects his attempts to connect, he approaches her with an adult coloring book and tells her how expressing his fears helps neutralize them, and she realizes that he is right.

The babysitting club It was made for kids, but it has the kind of depth and nuance that other shows for all ages like Steven Universe and Adventure time attractive to adults too. The babysitting club it’s a realistic live-action show rather than an animated fantasy like those other series, but that’s what makes it particularly engaging. The stories are still seen through the eyes of children, but when adults feel less like ordinary characters and more like real three-dimensional human beings, the reality of the show becomes more vibrant and it is able to handle more complicated stories without leaving to be of age. -appropriate.

That not only makes the show more appealing to older audiences, it humanizes the adult characters to the actual intended audience – these adults aren’t obstructing authority figures, goofy jokes, or props set up to dispense life advice. They’re going through complicated stories just as much as their kids, which teaches younger audiences that parents are people who also struggle with big feelings.

Season 2 of The babysitting club is available on Netflix.