Author Spotlight
Phoebe Hendon
Design by Celia Condon
Typically, an overpopulated group chat is just another nuisance that eventually gets put on “do not disturb.” But for the 311 people in the massive La Babysitting Club 3.0 GroupMe, the daily notifications are anxiously awaited with hope that they’ll be the first to respond to a Saturday night babysitting gig.
La Babysitting Club 3.0 is a group text with predominantly female members spanning all grade levels. The members are primarily East students and recent graduates, but the chat has branched out to students from St. Teresa’s, Sion and Rockhurst. Members use it to trade babysitting gigs, but some take advantage of the large audience to promote StuCo events such as the ongoing can drive, advertise volunteer opportunities and sell things like prom dresses or concert tickets.
There have been several versions of the chat over the years, but the current iteration — the 3.0 — was created by East alum Sadie Osborn. When Osborn was a freshman, the original Babysitting Club chat was deleted when the owner faced backlash from group members over her comments supporting the release of the Eastonian. Osborn thought the club was too beneficial of a resource to be lost over a petty squabble, so she created a new chat dubbed La Babysitting Club 3.0 and remains the owner to this day.
For junior Kyla Herrick, the chat is a place to make some quick cash when she isn’t scheduled for her job at Energizing Mission. But in her sophomore year, she was too busy — and too young — to be hired anywhere. She figured out babysitting was the best way to get cash and had a friend add her to the chat.
“[Babysitting] is much easier, and it can pay really well,” Herrick said. “It was a lot easier to just use the babysitting groupchat than trying to find a regular job.”
Herrick was able to pick up a semi-regular gig with a family, which isn’t unusual for people in the chat. Since finding a babysitter is difficult, parents usually ask those who pick up a shift over the chat to come back and sit for their family again. Herrick isn’t crazy passionate about babysitting — or at least, spending copious amounts of time with crazy little kids — but she finds it a good way to make money here and there, especially since she can pick up shifts on her own schedule and has full control of how much or how little she wants to work.
But the chat isn’t just a tool to make money. Sometimes, members’ constant checking and refreshing of the chat isn’t to see if any jobs have been offered, but to see if a job they’ve offered has been picked up.
If it’s last minute or on a weeknight, it can be tough to have something you’ve offered be picked up — but according to junior Jane Ford, more often than not, someone pulls through. Though Ford nannies Wednesday through Friday as opposed to picking up random jobs, she and Herrick both remarked the chat provided a comfortable safety net for whenever they’re unavailable to sit.
“I offer up some of [the nannying gigs] on the chat if I don’t have anyone to cover them, which is super nice because then I don’t have to feel bad about telling the parents no,” Herrick said.
La Babysitting Club 3.0 isn’t just useful for the members of the chat trying to babysit — it’s a good resource for parents who need sitters.
Every fall as East graduates head to college, the chat is flooded with job offers, especially nannying gigs. Girls offer up their coveted, full-time positions to whoever claims the gig first with a “me!” The nannying jobs tend to go quickly at the beginning of the school year, but once most have been grabbed, members spend the rest of the year competing for Friday and Saturday jobs as they roll in throughout the week.
And while many one-night jobs are offered, the large number of members creates competition. According to senior Elise Griffith, there typically isn’t enough time to wait, meaning you can’t afford to check your calendar to see what you have going on Saturday before you commit to a job.
“It’s really hard to get a job because there’s so many people in [the chat]. By the time I’m done reading [an offer] someone else has already taken it,” Griffith said.
During Rockhurst alum Jack Scott’s senior year, being in La Babysitting Club 3.0 was more than just a couple of daily notifications. Though Scott had been added into the chat by his girlfriend, East graduate Katie Caniglia, he’d spent most of his high school summers consistently nannying for one family.
But over during the summer of 2019, the mom Scott nannied for was laid off her job, leaving her unable to afford Scott as a nanny. Scott was faced with the pressure of having to make up the $1,500 he expected to make from nannying.
Scott lived in a single-parent household, which meant he was expected to step up around the house and cover college dorm expenses. La Babysitting Club 3.0 was how he made up for lost nannying income. In July, he sent out a message to the chat asking for babysitting gigs. His message got 25 likes, and within three weeks, he’d made around $500.
“I was able to get about half of the money I expected to make back, and that never would’ve happened without the support of the other people in the chat,” Scott said.
Herrick and Griffith cover gigs here and there, Ford mostly nannies, and Scott just needed a saving grace — but the babysitting club pulled through for them all where they needed it.
Desperate for gas money? Need cash for a QuikTrip run with your friends? Does the impending doom of crushing student loan debt have you down? La Babysitting Club 3.0 is the place to get the green.
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