Why do they need a babysitter?

There is a difference between babysitting and child rearing. The point of having Charles around wasn't just that he would babysit, it was that he would help raise the kids right and teach them good lessons when otherwise they could get into trouble.

Because its the 80's lol

Yeah but there would be no discipline and stability in the household. Most households that have no adults around all of the time are the ones where the kids are doing whatever they want whenever they want and coming in at different hours and having all kinds of trouble so I understood it just fine. That said I don't think I would hire a college student to do this though with two pretty teenage girls around. A 14 and 13 year old shouldn't spend all of their time taking care of their little brother anyway. Plus I thought Charles was a good role model for the teens unlike the Fran character on The Nanny who was teaching the teen daughter how to sneak things past her dad and how to cover her hickeys.

"Who lives, who dies, who tells your story "

Walter Powell wasn't always home there have been episodes that he would have a date, and I believe he was a member of a lodge so every so often he might have had a meeting to attend to. But like EmilyTheDramaQueen says with no adults around at least some of the time or most of the time kids can get themselves in trouble with no discipline and stability. And Charles I would say would hardly be an adult I mean are you really an adult when you are in college? I don't know if you could have even counted Charles as being a guardian to the children.