I've been baby-sitting since I was 12. Parents would call our house and talk to my mom until she passed me the phone, like a baton. Baby-sitting felt like my first step toward adulthood.

But what kind of adulthood? Baby-sitting teaches lessons about women and work that stay with us all our lives. It sends the message that child care is a fundamentally female responsibility. It trains girls for motherhood but not boys for fatherhood, reinforcing the idea that women are "naturally better" in the home.

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