Non-Breeder: The Babysitter's Club
My Supernanny obsession has nothing to do with kids.
by Ada Calhoun
August 30, 2007
At first I thought my perverse fascination with these alien scenarios stemmed from my desire to have kids some day. I think it's natural to abstractly plan ahead for hypothetical future events, the way teen girls sometimes buy wedding magazines. Sure, I probably won't have a toddler for at least a few years, but if I do, and he or she refuses to sit at the table for meals, I'll be prepared!
Then I thought I was obsessed with the show because I grew up in a glamorous, relatively unstructured urban household, and I tend to fetishize those big, boring suburban houses with swingsets out back and frumpy mothers in the laundry room, even though I get anxious when I'm anywhere close to such places in real life.
But no, I think I've finally figured it out: the show is not about child-rearing at all. Jo gives you a secure, happy feeling. Supernanny may come in handy for people trying to learn parenting techniques, but only because it comes in handy for everyone. Those ten rules certainly apply to toilet training and bedtime, but they also apply to every situation one encounters in a given day.
On a micro level, Jo provides time-saving tricks, like laying out clothes the night before a difficult workday. But on a grander scale, she gives you a secure, happy feeling, as if there were no work stress that couldn't be reduced, no faltering friendship that couldn't be repaired, no lousy day that couldn't be salvaged, no behavioral problem (your own, your spouse's, your friend's or your boss's) that couldn't be eliminated and replaced by a gentle, generous manner. That's something non-parents need to keep in mind, too.
I wrote this for another magazine pre-baby, and then got to interview Jo Frost for the New York Times. She was just as awesome as I imagined.
©2007 Ada Calhoun and Babble.com
About the Author
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Ada Calhoun is Babble's founding editor-in-chief. She has worked at New York magazine, Nerve.com and Vogue, and written for The New York Times, Salon.com, AOL News, TIME and the anthology One of the Guys. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. She lives in New York City with her husband and young son. |
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