Babysitting
Dayee
1990
I’m going to have to award this book “most boring cover art.” Seriously, this book design looks like they had some bad wallpaper laying around and someone said, “Hey, put that on a book, the teens will love it.”
Cover “art” not withstanding, the content isn’t too bad. The book is written in scenarios followed by a brief discussion. There is also a business-like theme so kids think about this professionally, including interviewing. The general advice is okay, but the technology available these days (cell phones, nanny cams, etc.) definitely needs to be discussed for 21st century babysitters.
Having three younger sisters made me a pro babysitter by the time I was 11. The going rate when I was babysitting in the early 1970s, was about 75 cents an hour. I had one dad try and talk me down to 50 cents an hour. I did it and then was subjected to an entire day of cooking and caring for three horrible kids for 5 dollars. There are some days when I think that day is a metaphor for my life in librarianship, or maybe preparation for my career. But I digress…
So, to recap:
- too old
- crappy cover that looks like wallpaper
- metaphor for librarianship
Weed it.
Mary
I’m going to have to go with option 1 on that first illustration.
Would today’s baby sitters even recognise that as a washer. I can’t recall the last time I saw a top loader. It isn’t even a twin tub, (washer and spin dryer in a single chassis). My mum had a twin tub by the mid to late 1960s and a front loader by the end of the 1970s.
I have a top loader purchased in the very late 90s. They still sell a lot of them today — they’re cheaper, faster and hold larger loads. It sits next to my full-size front loading dryer out in the garage.
I am sure children are still stuffing their younger siblings into all manner of appliances.
Hey my washer is like that ):<
They still make top loaders. A lot of us prefer them as they’re less likely to spring leaks than front loaders.
A cover to make people bored so they don’t look long at it… sounds like something for a 1960s book on STIs.
I don’t care if the mother in the second cartoon said her kids only have colds, I’m not going near them. In this day and age, some lovely intelligent adults think covid is just another name for a cold made up to scare us sheeple. It isn’t. 🙁
Back in the day, I’d have skipped watching over kids with colds, just because I didn’t want a cold. Also they weren’t usually sick enough to be in bed, they’d just be snotting and whining everywhere.
And if it was something worse than a cold, they probably needed someone other than an untrained teenager looking after them.
Nowadays, no way!
1990? The cover and illustrations had me thinking it was 1970!
“Marsha” as well. I never met anyone my age with that name. I was 13 in 1990.
This book was in my library! I weeded it probably 15 years ago, in favor of something more interesting. I babysat in the late 70s for $1 an hour, and I’m sure I looked after plenty of sick kids. My friends and I didn’t care about the working conditions– we just tried to get as many jobs as we could. My least favorite was babysitting for one of my younger brother’s friends… and his four siblings!
In fairness, though, the cartoons are pretty funny and still work today.