Better living through The Baby-Sitters Club

The thing I miss least about being a kid is all that longing to be someone else. Oh to be anyone but grotty swotty ginger-haired me!

Like many younguns, I found my escape in books, particularly The Baby-sitters Club series. I didn't want to join the Babysitters Club so much as I wanted to shed my own skin and be one of 'em. I deliberated over whom I aspired to be; which one I most resembled. Kind of like the shrieks of some women in the late 90s: OMG I'm totally a Carrie! No I'm the Carrie! You're the Miranda!  Except less fecking annoying.

When I was ten I wanted to be Stacey. She was so cool, hailing from New York City and all. She also had diabetes. Every time I was busting for the loo I'd think, Dude I must be getting the diabetes like STACEY!

Then I had a Dawn phase. She had blonde hair cascading right down to her bum. I went for a haircut and the lady wanted to give me a bob. I said "sure!" then instantly died inside. CRAP, I was sposed to be growing my hair like Dawn's!

And of course there was my favourite, Claudia. Artist and master accessoriser. We had nothing in common but the desire to stash candy under our beds.

I thought long and hard about this stuff, I tell you. Here is a handy chart to summarise my pre-teen ponderings: (click pic to view full size)

The only BSC character I actually had anything in common with was Associate Member Mallory Pike - she had red hair, was insecure about her appearance and wanted to be a writer. But she was also very annoying. And she liked to read horse stories. Horse stories! I did not want to align myself with that.

In my research I found out that after I bailed out of the series, Mallory got an Australian boyfriend named... BEN HOBART. I will be bwahahaha-ing over that morsel for months.

Comments

[1 · Posted by Fat Bridesmaid · November 20, 2009 at 02:12 PM]

Duuuuude! I too was a BSC junkie (I wanted to be Kristy since she was in charge). Please tell me you've seen the blog What Claudia Wore (http://whatclaudiawore.blogspot.com/).

[2 · Posted by PastaQueen · November 20, 2009 at 02:30 PM]

I was a HUGE BSC fan, though I always wondered how they could have so many summer vacations and still be in middle school.

You'll probably enjoy this post at McSweeney's about Titles From The Baby-Sitters Club: The College Years Series http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/18dobush.html

And this site used to do reviews of all the BSC books http://claudiasroom.blogspot.com/

[3 · Posted by fatbustermack · November 20, 2009 at 02:54 PM]

I was so obsessed with BSC, my mom still has all the books I collected. I wanted to be Mary Ann, we are both brunettes and she had a boyfriend. I wanted a boyfriend....oh my how I was obsessed!

[4 · Posted by Shauna · November 20, 2009 at 03:06 PM]

@FatBridesmaid - indeedily, I linked to it in the entry

@PQ - i knooow! how many times must they have done the 7th grade!?

[5 · Posted by Margaret · November 20, 2009 at 03:22 PM]

Ah the memories *nostalgic sigh*

Totally girl-power, for the pre-Spice Girl generation.

I sort of wanted to be Dawn or Stacey (blond and pretty and popular), but in reality know I am more of a Cladia for:

a) crazy wardrobe
b) hidden chocolate
c) trashy reading material: exchange Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer for Nancy Drew, and we have a match!

[6 · Posted by Margaret · November 20, 2009 at 03:24 PM]

Gah! Claudia, Claudia! Not CLADIA, sheesh.

No, I could never live with the bad spelling.

[7 · Posted by Patricia · November 20, 2009 at 03:28 PM]

When I was growing up as a chubby only child of divorced parents, I wanted to be Nancy Drew (rich, beautiful, brave blond). And I wanted a roadster and a boyfriend named Ned Nickerson too!

[8 · Posted by Shauna · November 20, 2009 at 03:29 PM]

@Margret - you just proved right there how much you were TOTALLY like Claud! hehehe :)

(only fly in the ointment - where to buy Ding Dongs in Cowra!?)

[9 · Posted by Nikki · November 20, 2009 at 03:41 PM]

I never had the opportunity to read this series. Infact I never read much at all...so I'm going to the library to get some! (I'm an avid reader now) Any favorite ones I should start with or are they all in order?

Cheers - Nikki

[10 · Posted by Margaret · November 20, 2009 at 03:42 PM]

If you live on a farm and aren't allowed 'junk' food, you have to make do with sneakily mixing some cookie dough and hiding it in a bowl under your bedside table. Certainly nothing as luxurious as a Ding Dong, hehe.

[11 · Posted by Shauna · November 20, 2009 at 03:52 PM]

hee hee! totally did the cookie dough too! farm girls are so resourceful :)

[12 · Posted by Michelle · November 20, 2009 at 03:59 PM]

Obsessed too! Like fatbustermack I wanted to be Mary Ann for the exact same reason...she had a boyfriend! After I outgrew the series I would be so excited when I'd babysit for someone who had the books, I'd read them after the kids went to bed.

[13 · Posted by Judy · November 20, 2009 at 04:15 PM]

Loved that series - tried to make our own club but were never quite cool enough. Absolutely loved your chart.

[14 · Posted by Alecia · November 20, 2009 at 04:17 PM]

That really was the JOY of the BSC, tryng to decide who you were most like. I remember their little boxes of fun they would take with them. I once tried to make a box but it was really lame cuz I wasn't allowed to take any of the games or books out of the house for fear I would lose them. I felt like a Claudia but thought I should feel more like Dawn cuz she was a California girl too!

[15 · Posted by skinny latte · November 20, 2009 at 04:35 PM]

Hilarious! Just what I needed this Friday afternoon!

"What Claudia Wore" has me suppressing laughter until I'm in tears. A must for the recovering BSC junkie :)

[16 · Posted by Stepfanie · November 20, 2009 at 06:26 PM]

Shauna,
I was also obsessed with the BSC! I wanted to be Stacey. And sometimes Dawn. And Mary Anne. Never Kristy. I had the entire collection, and then my parents donated them to a school when I left for college. So sad!

[17 · Posted by Wendy · November 20, 2009 at 08:03 PM]

You know, I think that longing to be someone else and the fantasties I could concoct imagining I was someone else is one of the things I miss MOST from my teen years. I don't lose myself like that in fiction anymore.

Loved BSC. Not as much as Sweet Valley High though. :)

[18 · Posted by onyah · November 20, 2009 at 08:06 PM]

There is so much to love about this post -- thank you so much for it. I recently took a "What BSC member are you" quiz on Facebook and it said I was Stacy. I was so happy I nearly died. I was also relieved that it didn't say I was Kritsy. I always thought she was a b*tch.

[19 · Posted by Sarah · November 20, 2009 at 08:12 PM]

Oh my God, what a blast from the past! I *loved* the BSC. I always wanted to be Claudia with her cool artistic candy-eating ways. In reality, I think I was a combination of Kirsty (who I didn't actually like), because of her leadership skills and love of sports, and Stacey because she loved maths.
Which probably means that I was a bit of a geek. Anyways, I've been following your blog for a little while and I'd just like to say how much I enjoy it.

[20 · Posted by Quix · November 20, 2009 at 08:14 PM]

Oh man, BSC. Was a huge fan, though I HATED babysitting in real life. I was probably closest to Claudia (and still really like that name), I had crazy clothes and accessories, candy hidden in my room (or my mom would eat it), and I was always doing art (how I ended up in such a left brained job right now, I have no idea).

[21 · Posted by Loth · November 20, 2009 at 08:33 PM]

I have never heard of the Babysitters Club but when I was young, I really really wanted to be George from the Famous Five. (Not Ann. She was girly and a bit pathetic.) George was a cool tomboy and she had a cool dog too. I always slightly despised Julian for liking Ann when she was always so sensible and responsible.

[22 · Posted by Fiona · November 20, 2009 at 09:07 PM]

I think I wanted to be like Kritsy, except less bossy, but was more like Maryanne without the crap clothes. Pigtails and the like.

[23 · Posted by Kate · November 20, 2009 at 10:26 PM]

Oh, I so wanted to be Claudia. It was the earrings that did it...

[24 · Posted by Fi · November 20, 2009 at 11:23 PM]

Ooooh I thought Stacey was sooo cool and interesting because of her diabetes - I am embarrassed to admit I totally wanted diabetes when I was young as she made it sound so exciting :D I think BSC were my fave books for years - I even had a few of the videos.

[25 · Posted by annie · November 21, 2009 at 01:08 AM]

So glad that you mentioned this. I was a fanatic, but hadn't heard about Mallory's boyfriend. That's a riot. I hadn't thought about the BSC books in forever!!! Thanks for the memories. :)

[26 · Posted by anji · November 21, 2009 at 01:15 AM]

Hahaha that's so funny, farm girls makin' do with junk food. I used to sneak downstairs and "make" cookies and divide everything by like, 1/10th, so I wouldn't have too much. Pretty good for a grade 2 or 3 kid to do that, perhaps that's how I learnt my fractions???

...not that I'm going to admit that :P

I still occasionally make some chocolate chip cookie dough... flour, sugar, butter, brown sugar... chocolate chips, egg... lard if there's no butter... Um - that's about all you need :P

[27 · Posted by Amy · November 21, 2009 at 01:33 AM]

I was SO obsessed with BSC! There were times when they were kind of my only "friends". Aww. Dawn was my favourite, although I always wanted diabetes so I could be like Stacey.

[28 · Posted by Me-oh-my · November 21, 2009 at 02:08 AM]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[29 · Posted by vickie · November 21, 2009 at 11:57 AM]

I think this might be a thing that most of US shared.

I was an avid reader - and am not implying that reading is bad - but I have noticed through the years that weight loss bloggers read a LOT as kids.

For me it was totally a means of taking my mind out of my circumstances and transporting myself to some where totally different.

I read to the point of excess, It was my coping mechanism and I was definitely hiding from the world.

But I have always thought that it helped keep me sane in living with my dad. He was very disfunctional and caused a lot of anxiety. In my books, I was able to relax.

I knew I was older than that series - but looked it up - "The Baby-sitters Club is a series of children's books, written by Ann M. Martin and published by Scholastic between 1986-2000, which sold over 175 million copies." In 1986 I was already 3 years out of college.

My go to series was Trixie Belden. ("Trixie Belden is the title character in a series of 'girl detective' mysteries written between 1948 and 1986.") There used to be a darling blogger with that name.

And in 6th grade - a really rough year for me - the librarian challenged me to read the biography/autobiography SECTION in the school library. I literally started with A and read my way through. And it did help.
I had to look up

[30 · Posted by yublocka · November 21, 2009 at 01:06 PM]

Always a Claudia wannabe. Maybe it was the parrots. Maybe it was the chocolates. Who knows?

[31 · Posted by Rachel · November 21, 2009 at 03:09 PM]

I can't believe you made this chart! You're hilariously adorable :) I, too spent many an afternoon immersed in juicy BSC preteen drama. I remember wanting to be Claudia but have nowhere near as detailed memory of the time as you do. Thanks for revisiting!

[32 · Posted by Dana · November 21, 2009 at 03:47 PM]

The BSC is the reason I print my lowercase a's and e's the way I do to this day... loved those books! Maybe we should all reread them for nostalgia's sake.

[33 · Posted by Marla · November 21, 2009 at 05:02 PM]

Oh I LOVE the chart! I'm so glad you graphed it all out for us, though I think Excel would have saved you some time. I'm too old for the BSC, but probably would have been most similar to Mary Ann and would want to be Claudia.

I think Margaret Cho had some joke about anytime there's three women (like in Charlie's Angels) there's always 1) the smart one, 2) the pretty one, and 3) the ho. That's how I always categorize people now.

[34 · Posted by Teresa · November 21, 2009 at 08:21 PM]

My older sisters were obsessed with BSC, Harry Potter was more my thing.

[35 · Posted by Andrew(AJH) · November 22, 2009 at 10:23 AM]

I always wanted to be Virgil from Thunderbirds.

[36 · Posted by Tazzi · November 22, 2009 at 06:47 PM]

WOW. That is the first Baby sitters book i ever had! Kristys big idea. Lol. Love reading your blog even though i dont really comment. Its wonderful to read about your life and be able to relate. :) Thanks again DG. x

[37 · Posted by Bethany · November 23, 2009 at 02:38 AM]

I love The Babysitters Club!!

[38 · Posted by Lauren the Lurker · November 23, 2009 at 03:07 PM]

Whoa!! I totally loved the BSC! I had my own club in 4th grade (I was Kristy of course) and there was another group of girls with a BSC and we were like rival gangs. Even though we weren't old enough to babysit yet. That wasn't the point!

Thanks for the blast from the past!

[39 · Posted by Runningwriter · November 23, 2009 at 10:29 PM]

Baby Sitters Club and The Gymnasts! I used to read one of those books a day starting on my long bus journey home and finishing it late into the night. I so badly wanted to be any of them but it was a stretch in outback NSW :)
Ben Hobart, ha ha - thank you Shauna, I have no need for anything else in life now.

[40 · Posted by krissie · November 24, 2009 at 01:32 AM]

I always wanted to be Mary Anne because, hello, have you ever imagined what Logan looks like? Hubba hubba.

[41 · Posted by momo · November 24, 2009 at 04:21 AM]

Best table EVER, Shauny!

I want to concoct a 'Barriers' list now for every desirable thing ever.

I think I read two Babysitters Club books, when they became popular when I was about 11 I'd moved into the fast lane of Sweet Valley High that I hurtled down for a couple of years. I remember the crucial turning point early year 7 of going from thinking that Jessica Wakefield was a slag to wanting to BE her.

[42 · Posted by Karen · November 24, 2009 at 03:15 PM]

Hi Shauna- Although I did read a bunch of biographies in 6th grade like one of your posters, I'm too old to have read the BSC at that age so I have a question. Why is a boyfriend named Ben Hobart funny? Thanks- love your posts!

[43 · Posted by Shauna · November 24, 2009 at 03:19 PM]

@Karen - Mallory's Australian boyfriend was named Ben Hobart, and Hobart is a city in Australia. So that's like having an American character named Johnny New York or a Chinese character named Amanda Shanghai. HILarious.

@krissie - yes! I never went for blondes but Logan did look dishy on the covers!

@momo - yes! there comes a time when you realise Elizabeth is a squae and Todd is hella boring and Jessica is having all the fun!

@Runningwriter - THE GYMNASTS! I loved that series too! :)

@vickie - loved that... I always wanted to live near a library. they are the ultimate refuge!

Thanks for your comments everyone... BSC nerds unite!

[44 · Posted by Sarah B · November 24, 2009 at 11:15 PM]

@Vickie - I love Trixie Belden as well, and Trix and I even shared a birthday (but I don't have older brothers. I always wanted older brothers)! I remember myself as being "too old" for the BSC, although I was only 11 in 1986, and thus not really too old, but I think I had already extracted permission to start reading in the adult section of the library by then (I finished all the Trixie Belden books by then). I'm intrigued by the idea of reading all the biog/autobiog section - I have been into reading those recently, and find so many of them inspiring (and some just make me wonder WHY?)

I... I feel sort of left out by all this BSC love. :/
It's ok, I'll live. :)

[45 · Posted by sassydrcil · November 30, 2009 at 11:24 AM]

omg I loved the babysitters club, the gymnasts and sweet valley high also. Think that makes us approximately the same vintage.
Me and my friends used to read BSC to each other in american accents.
We even fantasised about forming our own BSC!!
I got up to number 23 before I grew out of it.
Those girls must be pushing 30 now.....

[46 · Posted by Shauna · November 30, 2009 at 11:27 AM]

@sassydrcil I bet they're still in the 7th grade, too... hehe :)

[47 · Posted by Skevans · December 01, 2009 at 05:16 AM]

Oh...my...gosh! I was just thinking about BSC yesterday.

I think I have BSC partly to blame for my food issues. Claudia made hording food cool and whenever I would read about her pulling a bag of M&M's from her sock drawer I would start drooling. I wanted to be Dawn because she preferred health food (the concept was and still is foreign to me) and because she had an underground tunnel connecting her house to her barn. Or is that a different series? Oh! AND I wanted to be Dawn because her best friend (Mary Anne) became her stepsister, which I thought would be awesome if my best friend, Sara, could somehow become my stepsister without our parents divorcing and marrying each other.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Shauna!

[48 · Posted by wombie · December 19, 2009 at 01:06 PM]

Think I helped feed your BSC habit, Shauna. We own the bookshop where you grew up. Remember you and Rhiannon coming in regularly. My daughter, Annette, was similarly obsessed. We did a stocktake once and were missing 26 BSC books. We found 23 of them in her bedroom!