What goes on while mom and dad are away, that mom and dad never find out about. Including the story of two teenagers who decide to invent children to babysit, as an excuse to get out of their own house.
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Ben Wiseman
Prologue
After that, host Ira Glass has a few words about Mary Poppins, who is the Gold Standard of all fictional babysitters. The movie Mary Poppins contains the classic modern song about babysitting. We hear several versions of the song over the course of the program. The first is by Chicago girl punk/pop band, the Dishes. (5 minutes)
Download song: "The Perfect Nanny, from Mary Poppins", The Dishes
What Big Teeth You Have
Lots of babysitting is done by family members. Hillary Frank reports on what can happen when a teenaged son is put in charge of his younger brothers. It's not pretty. (14 minutes)
Hillary is the writer of the fictional podcast, “Here Lies Me.”
The Mary Poppins song in this act is performed by Jon Langford, with John Rice on mandolin. Download: "The Perfect Nanny, from Mary Poppins", Jon Langford
In The Event Of An Emergency, Put Your Sister In An Upright Position
The story of several huge companies that accidentally got put into the babysitting business in a big, big way because of snow on December 26, 1988. Every year on the day after Christmas, divorced kids all over America fly from one parent to the other. In 1988, lots of them got snowed in at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. Susan Burton and her little sister were among them. (9 minutes)
This story was turned into the 2006 movie Unaccompanied Minors.
Song:
Yes There Is A Baby
Related
Act Four: Devonte, Part Two
Act Four: We Keep the Wall Between Us As We Go
Act One
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