Enigma
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 128 
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Post by Enigma on Dec 9, 2015 23:38:55 GMT -5
One thing that kind of bugged me about the BSC when I used to read them way back was how the Pike family made a big deal separating Mallory as an actual "take charge" babysitter for her triplet brothers who were only one year younger than her but needed someone to actively care for them (reason Pike got 2 sitters is that all the siblings other than Mallory needed a sitter). In "Hello Mallory" she bragged about how she watched all six of her brothers and sisters by herself; weren't they actually close enough in age that the older ones (Vanessa, the triplets, and Mallory) would sort of be "hanging out together" than Mallory taking care of them?
Don't start me on the logistics of the Pikes having 4 more kids after giving birth to triplets. Wouldn't it make more sense to make the triplets be the youngest (we thought we were going to have our sixth kid and we got 8 kids now....time to stop)? That would make more sense that they would need more care if the triplets were 5 or 6.
Would 3 ten year old boys really take an 11 year old sister seriously as an authority figure?
Of course nowadays, I know many people who don't even leave their 11 year olds home alone for a short amount of time but in the late 1980s, I was allowed to start staying home alone in short bits at age 8 but not allowed to babysit other people's kids until high school (but I do know of other girls who started baby-sitting at age 11-12 at that time).
It seemed that transition period between staying home alone in increasing increments and then taking responsibility for other people kids is missing.
IRL, most kids in the late 1980s and early 1990s started staying home alone in short bits in the afternoon sometime between 7 and 10 yet, the clients in the BSC pay 11 year olds to baby-sit 9 and 10 year olds in the afternoon. Don't even get me started on how Jessi was left alone with her toddler brother and 8 year old sister for the entire weekend in the Island Adventure Super Special.
Of course, I realize it was fiction but what do you make of "11" being considered that magic age of total competence and responsibility?
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on Dec 9, 2015 23:50:31 GMT -5
I never took it seriously, but I think it can depend on the kid. I mean Mallory and Jessi were super responsible, at least because they have experiences with their younger siblings. I was pretty dependable but I know tons of kids that weren't at that age.
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Post by booboobrewer on Dec 10, 2015 13:55:10 GMT -5
Mal's the oldest, and girls mature faster, so I could buy that she would be more responsible and able to care for other humans than the triplets. Three same-age boys can get in trouble quickly, a bookish girl who wants to dress mice won't  |
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andrew
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 353 
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Post by andrew on Oct 2, 2016 10:50:25 GMT -5
From what I recall Mallory didn't really push her authority much with or even do a lot of taking-care of the triplets (aisde from "don't tease the others" and "don't throw things in the house") or Vanessa so there wasn't a lot of reason to have resentments or authority-challenging (although Mallory would exaggerate and claim she was in charge of everyone). I think Mallory ordering everyone to the health fair was a big rare exception.
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Post by booklover85 on Mar 17, 2018 21:30:26 GMT -5
It doesn't make sense. It would definately make things quite awkward for the ten and eleven year old. Maybe Mallory is super responsible and the triplets don't give a fig if being watched by their one year older sister makes them look like babies. No offence, anyone.
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Post by Sideshowjazz1 on Jan 18, 2019 5:16:05 GMT -5
It gets worse than having 11 year olds sitting for 10 year olds. Tiffany Kilbourne is mentioned as being a babysitter early on in the series. But apparently in the ghostwriters era, she needs a babysitter despite being the same age as the junior sitters! If she's really not that mature, I can see her not being trusted to sit for Maria, but there are times when a sitter is called just for her. I mean, seriously! Early on when the Schafers first moved to Stoneybrook, Jeff was allowed to do whatever he wants during the day as long as Dawn knew where he was and he only needed a sitter if it was nighttime, but Tiffany can't be left home alone, even though she's a year older? What's up with that?
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Post by booklover85 on Jan 20, 2019 2:55:04 GMT -5
It gets worse than having 11 year olds sitting for 10 year olds. Tiffany Kilbourne is mentioned as being a babysitter early on in the series. But apparently in the ghostwriters era, she needs a babysitter despite being the same age as the junior sitters! If she's really not that mature, I can see her not being trusted to sit for Maria, but there are times when a sitter is called just for her. I mean, seriously! Early on when the Schafers first moved to Stoneybrook, Jeff was allowed to do whatever he wants during the day as long as Dawn knew where he was and he only needed a sitter if it was nighttime, but Tiffany can't be left home alone, even though she's a year older? What's up with that? Is it possible that the Kilbourne's are really strict with leaving their children alone? |
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Post by Sideshowjazz1 on Jan 20, 2019 3:13:53 GMT -5
It gets worse than having 11 year olds sitting for 10 year olds. Tiffany Kilbourne is mentioned as being a babysitter early on in the series. But apparently in the ghostwriters era, she needs a babysitter despite being the same age as the junior sitters! If she's really not that mature, I can see her not being trusted to sit for Maria, but there are times when a sitter is called just for her. I mean, seriously! Early on when the Schafers first moved to Stoneybrook, Jeff was allowed to do whatever he wants during the day as long as Dawn knew where he was and he only needed a sitter if it was nighttime, but Tiffany can't be left home alone, even though she's a year older? What's up with that? Is it possible that the Kilbourne's are really strict with leaving their children alone? That's a good point, but that still doesn't explain the continuity error. In Kristy and the Snobs, Shannon mentioned that she and Tiffany both babysit. Several books later, Tiffany is a charge instead of a sitter. |
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jan 23, 2019 10:07:34 GMT -5
Would three ten-year-old boys really take an eleven-year-old sister seriously as an authority figure? I think they could...especially if the parents make it clear to the boys that their sister is charge and they must mind her. Of course nowadays, I know many people who don't even leave their eleven-year-olds home alone for a short amount of time... Helicopter parents...helicopter parents. Thank goodness helicopter parents are rare in Stoneybrook even today. |
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Post by greer on Jul 17, 2019 9:37:53 GMT -5
You do realize Stoneybrook isn’t real, right?  Tiffany-as-charge is very inconsistent, but she also seemed like she needed more supervision and was showing signs of growing into a rebellious teenager. Mallory seems like a girl from one of the super large fundamentalist families without the religion, taking responsibility for her siblings from a young age. |
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,251
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Post by oldhickory on Jul 17, 2019 13:20:23 GMT -5
That's a good point, but that still doesn't explain the continuity error. In Kristy and the Snobs, Shannon mentioned that she and Tiffany both babysit. Several books later, Tiffany is a charge instead of a sitter. It's definitely inconsistent, but it never bothered me much. If the triplets can go from charge to junior sitter to charge, I can see it happening for other people too. Admittedly it's been ages since I read any books with Tiffany, but was it possible that she wouldn't normally need a sitter but she was going through something and the parents just didn't want her to be alone? |
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Apr 6, 2021 2:00:20 GMT -5
You do realize Stoneybrook isn’t real, right? Yep! 😁😁😁 But it's fun to speculate. Tiffany-as-charge is very inconsistent, but she also seemed like she needed more supervision and was showing signs of growing into a rebellious teenager. I don't know...it would depend on why the pre-teen or teen is rebellious. Some kids are rebellious because of too much supervision. Mallory seems like a girl from one of the super large fundamentalist families without the religion, taking responsibility for her siblings from a young age. Somewhat true, but I don't think her parents would be depraved enough to expect Mallory to raise her sibings for them. Anyway, the Pike triplets were only one year younger than Mallory and Vanessa was only two years younger than Mallory. I could see if Mallory were five or more years older than the rest of her sibings. I say the Pikes were more like eight of similar ages and them seeming more and more the same age by the time they reached their twenties. My sisters and I are sort of like this...I come from a huge family where we're all close in age. |
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