If Babysitting Were Illegal: The Hidden Cost of Criminalizing Care

This episode uses a thought experiment to show how criminalizing the demand for babysitting would not end the work but push it underground, making it less safe and less visible. It explains how banning hiring, advertising, and platforms destroys the infrastructure that helps screen caregivers, build reputations, and keep children safe. By comparing this to sex work criminalization, the episode argues that targeting one side of consensual labor creates more harm than protection and urges better policy solutions that improve labor conditions and safety.