CARE-LESS

In the latest episode of The Edge of Night airing on the AOL/PGP Classic Soap Channel, we've got murder, mayhem, love, lust, bargains, betrayals... and baby-sitting?

It's a very common real-life dilemma that somehow rarely afflicts those who, on the other hand, may have already come back from the dead several times.

On soaps, people worry about who fathered the baby, who kidnapped the baby, who has custody of the baby, and who will control the baby's trust fund? Rarely, though, do they address the issue of who is going to get the baby fed, dressed, and away from sharp objects on any sort of regular basis.

In the current episode of EON, Raven has to pick her mother, Nadine, up from the hospital, which means that she needs somebody to watch her toddler son, Jamey. This being a soap, the two events are, of course, interconnected. Raven's primary interest in both her mother and Jamey is in making her son his grandmother's only heir. (Nadine had long ago made clear her wild daughter wasn't getting a penny.)

So Raven calls up April Scott and asks (well, being Raven, she more or less demands) a favor. Raven assumes April will be happy to do it since, Raven, prior to figuring out how to monetize motherhood, had literally given Jamey away to the childless April and Draper.

Except that, these days, April and Draper are no longer childless. They have their own daughter, Julia, and their own problems. Draper has just returned after being presumed dead for months, suffering amnesia and hooking up with another woman, Emily. Meanwhile, April has started up a flirtation with Logan, Raven's ex and Jamey's father.

Draper and April have some serious issues to discuss. But first, they have to figure out who is going to watch little Julia while April goes to the hospital herself -- to confront her rival, Emily.

As someone who spends a not insignificant amount of time charting complicated diagrams to get children to school, from school, to Tae Kwan Do, to gymnastics, to art class ,to chess club and back again, I have long been intrigued by soap parents who apparantly are free and available for everything from a romantic rendezvous to a federal offense on a moment's notice.

Now, ATWT's Snyders have the ever faithful (and long-suffering) Emma to watch their brood, but just who is looking out for young Daniel Hughes during the after-school hours? All three of his parents, plus his granparents work, and his big brother... well, his big brother is very busy these days.



We can assume GL's Spauldings have a staff of nannies at their disposal for Peyton and James. But what are Olivia's childcare arrangements for Emma?



Who watches Jude Bauer?

Or RJ Layne/Jessup/Winslow/Lewis?

And look what happened when young Will didn't get enough adult supervision!



To watch how the good folks of Monticello save their baby-sitting crises, tune into The Edge of Night, now!