Moms Need Nationwide Emergency Child Care Service

Now that you can find Bubbie's Pickles on every Whole Foods refrigerator shelf and eat at Bubbys* comfort-food restaurants in either Tribeca or Dumbo, the word bubby appears fit for mass consumption.  In case you missed the memo, a bubby or bubbie is a Jewish grandmother.  Today's bubby is not limited to the black orthopaedic shoe-wearing stereotype (but if she wore them, you can bet her hip would feel pretty good).  In addition to making kraut and smoking meat, she can be found at the yoga studio, as a docent at the art museum, or working the counter at your local hardware store.  She doesn't even have to be Jewish, and she doesn't have to be.   She might have jumped onto the eco-friendly bandwagon.  Meet Ruth Feldman,  the Green Bubbie, for more on that.

Who of us saw the 1982 film The Electric Grandmother?






What happens when us moms get sick?  Totally out of commission?  Whether you work full time, part time, or fully stay home with your kids, you will need to call someone.  Most of the time, you manage.  But, has this stomach flu thing hit your house yet?  It is really going around, and I hope for you that you don't get it.  You will be wholly debilitated and need help.

If you are lucky enough to live close to family, or really good friends, you call someone.  Ideally it is your own mother who will come to help out.  Not all of us are fortunate to have that option.  Not all of us have Maureen Stapleton in the form of the above-mentioned Electric Grandmother.  And if your friends have children of their own, they aren't going to be in the house at 7:45am to help the littles with getting out the door in the morning.

The solution?

We need a National Bubbie Service!  One where desparate moms can call in the troops at any time of day to take over.  There isn't too much out there along these lines:

• New York City has a service On Call Sitters, but we don't know if they are reliable.  Bubby is reliable, doesn't need a background check, and will bring over chicken soup. 

•  Do a Google search for emergency babysitter NYC and the top link that comes up is a New York magazine article from 2005! 

People, welcome to the '90s (this is my cultural reference to the 90s remake of Father of the Bride which is to say get with the times)!  It is 2012 and there isn't much out there.



The answer for now is to stay healthy.
Wash your hands with warm water and soap.

And at least take a look at this clip where Martin Short was Academy-award worthy:

(Go to 3:40 for a reminder of where "welcome to the 90s" comes from):










*albeit fully treif (not Kosher)