My Sister, My Sitter

"My Sister, My Sitter" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 2, 1997. In the episode, Marge and Homer go to a party and leave Lisa to babysit Bart. Being unhappy with this, Bart does everything he can to annoy Lisa. Eventually, Bart becomes injured and Lisa must find him medical attention without losing her reputation as a good babysitter.

The episode was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Jim Reardon. The script was written to focus on the relationship between Bart and Lisa and the episode has further been used to discuss the difficulties in letting children babysit themselves. The episode received mostly positive reviews.

Inspired by "The Babysitter Twins" books, Lisa decides to become a babysitter. Despite this, because of her age, no one takes her seriously. One day, Ned mentions that Maude has been taken hostage in Lebanon and he must leave to get his wife released, and he agrees to let Lisa babysit Rod and Todd. After a relatively uneventful night, Ned puts out the good word for Lisa, who experiences a business boom.

Meanwhile, the Springfield Squidport reopens and throws a gala. Homer and Marge decide to go and they leave Lisa to babysit Bart and Maggie. Bart is annoyed by the fact that his younger sister is going to be babysitting him. To prevent this, Bart torments her by, among other things, ordering a giant sandwich, hiring Krusty for a bachelor party, dialing 9-1-1 for a "sisterectomy", and having Maggie eat coffee ice cream for dinner. Eventually, Lisa angrily attempts to jump at Bart, but misses, causing him to fall backwards down the stairs, dislocating his arm and getting a large bump on his head. Bart then realizes that if Lisa fails to take him to a hospital, she will no longer be able to babysit anymore. To make his condition worse, Bart locks himself in his room and hits his head on the door, then falls unconscious.