30 Days of BSC | 14: Least Favorite Parent

[luxken27]

14.) Least favorite parent:

Natalie Barrett - Ugh, Mrs. Barrett. Beautiful, model-perfect Mrs. Barrett who is as scatterbrained as Sharon Schafer, though this is somehow an endearing trait instead of something that the BSC makes fun of. When she is introduced, she is basically a neglectful parent, who is too busy trying to put her own life in order that she ignores her kids and their needs. She's also pretty selfish, focusing more on her own appearance than the wellbeing of her kids. She practically hands them over to a 12-year-old Dawn to raise, up until the point where Buddy is kidnapped by his father in revenge for Mrs. Barrett forgetting their custody and visitation arrangements.

She doesn't really get much better as the series goes on. She starts paying attention to her kids, but her house is still a mess while she is perfectly put together. Then she plays Brady Bunch with Franklin DeWitt and his four kids, moving into a house that is too small for them (they eventually build an addition in one of the late canon Super Special subplots). Due to the time warp, this happens less than a year after her divorce, and the two families have two kids under 2. That's just - wow, could you at least toilet train your youngest before letting your romantic life take center stage??

I just don't have much respect for her. I'm not saying women should sacrifice their own identities when they become mothers, but they can't just go on thinking only of themselves with their kids basically being afterthoughts. Good thing Mrs. Pike is one of her neighbors!!


Previous...
1.) Favorite sitter: Stacey McGill
2.) Least favorite sitter: Abby Stevenson
3.) Favorite regular book: #43 Stacey's Emergency
4.) Least favorite regular book: #65 Stacey's Big Crush
5.) Favorite mystery: TIE: #5 Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic & #6 The Mystery at Claudia's House
6.) Least favorite mystery: #30 Kristy and the Mystery Train
7.) Favorite super special: TIE: #7 Snowbound & #11 The Baby-sitters Remember
8.) Least favorite super special: #14 BSC in the USA
9.) Favorite minor character: TIE: Janine Kishi & Charlie and Sam Thomas
10.) Least favorite minor character: Cary Retlin
11.) Favorite sitting charge: Charlotte Johanssen
12.) Least favorite sitting charge: Karen Brewer
13.) Favorite parent: The Dreamboat Dads of Stoneybrook

Upcoming...
15.) Favorite BSC fight
16.) Favorite BSC love interest
17.) Favorite BSC organized event
18.) Favorite vacation spot
19.) Favorite holiday book
20.) Favorite couple in the book
21.) Favorite couple not in the book (as in who you wanted to get together but didn't)
22.) BSC member or minor character you could see yourself being friends with
23.) Favorite Friends Forever
24.) Least favorite Friends Forever
25.) Moments/Scene from the books that sticks out to you the most
26.) Favorite Claudia outfit
27.) Favorite Stacey outfit
28.) One thing you learned from the BSC
29.) Favorite BSC 'villain'
30.) Biggest 'that wouldn't really happen in real life' moment

Comments

[impy]

The power of pretty is how she gets away with it. The power of pretty compels you!

I kept waiting for her to really change at all and she never really did after her initial clean-up. If her family was a 10 on the disaster scale, she pulled it back to maybe a 7 and it kind of hovered there til Franklin and then it went up and I just can't begin to fathom the house issues she willingly goes through when they move into the wrong size house.

[luxken27]

I never understood why the Barrett-DeWitt brood became such a major element in later canon. It seems like they were always in the background of the stories, or even a major part of it. They even invade the Super Specials! It's bizarre.