42 pages • 1 hour read
Kristy's Great Idea
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Importance of Friendship and Teamwork
Each member of the Baby-Sitters Club is unique and comes with their own strengths, flaws, background, and ways of being. They all have their own sense of style, priorities, and ideas of how the club should be run. The girls show maturity by gradually working with their differences rather than against them, with each contributing to the club’s success. Their experiences in running the business together teach them the importance of friendship and teamwork.
Kristy is the planner, the go-getter, and the one with the ideas. She also pushes the others to act and encourages them to utilize their strengths, such as by suggesting that Claudia create the logo or telling Stacey to babysit David Michael. Each member of the group has their own official position that is based on what they bring to the table. Through collaboration, the girls make their new business a success not just in the monetary sense but also as a club that brings them closer as friends and that propels their personal growth.
While navigating the ins and outs of running a business, the girls also have to address conflicts that arise among themselves. They support one another and work through whatever happens by talking through problems and hearing each other out. This works most of the time, with the exception being when Kristy blatantly accuses Stacey of being a liar, causing a temporary divide in the group. Even then, Kristy is confident that their friendship is strong enough to outlast an argument, and she is brave enough to ask Claudia if there will be another meeting. The team also collaborates by keeping logs of their experiences, negotiating jobs, and paying weekly dues to keep the club operating. All the while, they must make concessions, exercise empathy, and let go of unnecessary preoccupations.
Despite some setbacks and misunderstandings, the girls end the novel as a united group. Stacey even feels comfortable revealing her secret. Conflict is fully resolved because the girls apologize, admit their mistakes, and make an earnest effort to improve how they treat one another. Kristy feels proud of the success of the club and the friendships that have already formed as a result of it. Having the support of a friend group that also works toward a common goal allows the girls to find their confidence, confront issues in their families, and celebrate their differences as strengths.
Navigating Family Changes
Alongside the changes that happen in her friendships and within herself, Kristy also navigates the challenges associated with major transformations in her family setup. Kristy comes from a divorced family and is still sensitive to the fact that her father abandoned the family after the divorce. She never hears from him anymore and feels forgotten by someone she used to care deeply about. When Kristy sees her mother becoming close with Watson, she retreats in fear, worried that she will again be abandoned and that she and her family will be hurt all over again.
Watson makes a genuine effort to get to know Kristy, but for a long time, she resists his attempts and refuses to allow him into her life. At one point, Kristy explodes at Watson and calls him a terrible father, despite knowing that her accusation isn’t true. Her tendency to think one thing and do another gets her into the most trouble with her family, largely because a part of her does want to like Watson, but she is held back by her fears. Kristy reveals that she thinks her mother is taking a huge risk by getting engaged to Watson, and at first, she cannot bring herself to support it. She acts selfishly and fails to see how happy her mother is.
The Baby-Sitters Club helps Kristy accept the changes in her family. Watson’s need of an emergency babysitter drives Kristy to finally meet his children, Karen and Andrew. Talking to them helps her see that she isn’t alone in feeling lost or worried about what the future might look like and that she isn’t the only one who misses how things used to be. Both Kristy and Karen take comfort in knowing that they will be sisters soon, and they openly discuss their fears together. All of this helps Kristy relax and gives her something to look forward to, and she even offers to be Karen and Andrew’s permanent babysitter. Kristy surprises even herself when she finds that she actually enjoys Watson’s company, too: “‘I don’t mind.’ And I didn’t. I really didn’t” (131). She later apologizes to Watson, demonstrating growth in her character and her acceptance of Watson into the family.
Kristy experiences a great sense of relief when she lets go of her fear because it means that she can finally be happy for her family and focus on the positives in her life. By the end of the novel, she is ready to embrace being part of a blended family.
Self-Growth Through Responsibility and Agency
The girls who make up the Baby-Sitters Club are 12 years old when the club forms and just on the verge of adolescence. They are just learning the meaning of responsibility, what it is to stand up for themselves in their business and in their families, and how to support one another through these changes. Through their experiences in the club, each girl undergoes an important process of self-growth.
Kristy often talks about how she feels like she and Mary Anne are mentally younger than Claudia, who never seemed interested in toys to begin with but has now fully immersed herself in the world of fashion, makeup, and boys. Kristy and Mary Anne only just gave up playing with dolls, and neither of them really cares much about fashion. At the same time, Kristy shows her potential for growth: In establishing the club, she gets to exercise her leadership skills and talent for initiative, while the club itself provides a new outlet for Claudia, Kristy, and Mary Anne to renew their friendship.
Babysitting and forming a business together teaches each of the girls responsibility. They create and place an ad, take calls, put clients’ needs first, and learn from their mistakes. They appoint roles for themselves and follow them, and they learn to be firm when clients ask for things they cannot provide (like dog-sitting). They have to be on time for their appointments but also home on time, and they have to be responsible for someone smaller and more vulnerable than themselves. Kristy has already been doing this for years by taking care of David Michael, and the other girls have experiences of their own that allow them to flourish in this role.
By the story’s conclusion, Kristy observes how the club has transformed the girls and given them each the confidence to improve a situation in their lives:
The club has helped all of us. It helped Stacey make some friends. I think it helped give Mary Anne the courage to stand up to her father. And it showed Claudia that she can be good at something besides art, even if it’s not a genius kind of thing like Janine’s good at (151).
Stacey also finally feels comfortable enough to share that she has diabetes, which helps her feel at home in the group. Kristy looks back on the past few weeks with a sense of pride and accomplishment, knowing that it was her idea that brought it to fruition.
Unlock all 42 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Ann M. Martin
