An Agreeable Nanny

The Parker kids are sure they're old enough to stay home alone - so their parents hire a babysitter to find out. Maria, a cheerful English nanny, agrees to whatever Olivia, Matthew, and Camilla want, and the choices pile up fast: fried bananas for dinner, a banana fight in the kitchen, dishes blasted across the yard with a garden hose, and a scary movie Camilla can't handle. Then Bruno the Great Dane buries the pots, charges into the house, and the frying pan bursts into flames. Maria calmly smothers the fire... just as Mom and Dad walk in on the smoke, the wreckage, and one very muddy dog. That's when "Maria" drops the accent - she's really a theater student named Charlotte, hired to test whether the kids would choose wisely with no one telling them no. A week of grounding, a top-to-bottom house cleaning, and repairs paid from their own allowance leave the Parkers admitting to Whit that they weren't as grown up as they thought.

Found on Cause and Effect Album 52 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

0670 Stage Fright When an eerie voice haunts the theater during rehearsals for their middle school musical, Emily and Matthew must unmask the phantom before fear shuts down the show.

0671 Fast As I Can When Whit explains the spiritual discipline of fasting, the Whit's End gang each give up something they love for a week - and discover their sacrifices are far harder, and stranger, than expected.

0672 Opposite Day On school Spirit Week's Opposite Day, Olivia's game of doing everything backward lands her in a friendship she never meant to start - while Barrett discovers his five hundred online friends may not add up to much.

0673 The Owlnapping When the Odyssey Owls' beloved mascot vanishes before a critical stretch of games, team captain Ryan must decide whether to chase a ransom-demanding kidnapper or convince his superstitious teammates that their luck was never in a stuffed bird.

0674 Square One When Matthew is invited into a secret club of boys who take machines apart to see how they work, one broken promise puts his new friendships - and a rare pinball machine - on the line.

0675 A Thankstaking Story When an ice storm strands Whit and his friends at Whit's End on Thanksgiving, they pass the time by inventing a tale about villains scheming to steal the holiday from a cheerful town.

0676 An Agreeable Nanny A polished new babysitter seems to agree with everything the Parker kids want - which turns out to be exactly the problem.

0677 The Malted Milkball Falcon A church fundraiser turns into an all-night mystery when the candy prize at the center of a rock-a-thon vanishes without a trace.

0678 Grandma's Christmas Visit A grandmother's holiday visit turns a hoped-for quiet Christmas into Odyssey's biggest, messiest celebration yet.

1 of 12 0679 The Green Ring Conspiracy A plane crash outside Odyssey scatters a fortune in cash, a dangerous smartphone, and a fugitive with a gun - and the town's young detectives are already picking up the pieces.

2 of 12 0680 The Green Ring Conspiracy When a suspicious phone call and a hospital X-ray reveal hidden identities, the kids of Odyssey find themselves holding the one device a dangerous conspiracy will do anything to recover.

3 of 12 0681 The Green Ring Conspiracy When a graphic-design class reveals Connie's hidden talent, a wounded man's disappearance from the hospital pulls Whit deeper into a counterfeit-money mystery with millions at stake.

4 of 12 0682 The Green Ring Conspiracy An injured undercover agent turns to Whit for help, claiming the real traitor behind a counterfeiting ring is hiding inside his own team.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 1 more roles

1 supporting role

Charlotte Maria Kari Wahlgren

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Bob Hoose Writer · Producer Paul McCusker Writer Dave Arnold Director · Executive Producer Christopher Diehl Sound Designer

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

Olivia, Matthew, and Camilla are grounded when they visit Whit's End and explain how a new babysitter caused their trouble. They had insisted they were old enough to stay home alone, so David and Eva challenged them to prove their responsibility while a college student named Maria watched them. Maria arrives with a polished English accent and a promise to let Olivia guide the evening meal.

The children decide that their parents' night off should also be theirs. Instead of the planned salad and asparagus, Olivia persuades Maria to serve sweet fried bananas as the main course. A quarrel over peeling the fruit turns into a banana fight, leaving the kitchen and the children covered in a sticky mess.

Matthew must wash dishes by hand because the dishwasher is broken. He takes them outside and blasts them with a high-pressure hose, sending plastic plates flying across the yard. Olivia remembers that she has left the neighbors' Great Dane, Bruno, outside and decides he can lick food from the pots and pans.

Camilla watches the frightening War of the Jurassic Aliens after Maria tells her only to choose something appropriate. The movie terrifies her, but she does not admit it. Maria repeatedly questions the children's choices without directly forbidding them, and they treat her agreement as permission to keep making worse decisions.

Bruno begins burying the cookware and then charges into the house. At the same time, frying oil catches fire on the stove. Maria's emergency training allows her to cover the pan with a metal lid and turn off the heat, but smoke fills the room, the alarm blares, Bruno tears through the furniture, and the children scramble to catch him.

David and Eva return to the chaos. Olivia accepts responsibility, but the parents reveal that Maria has behaved exactly as instructed. They wanted to learn whether the children would make wise choices when given unusual freedom. Maria has also telephoned them as the situation grew dangerous.

The sitter then drops her act. Her real name is Charlotte Maria, and she is a college theater student playing an English nanny for the evening. The Parker children have not merely been watched; their judgment has been tested. Their choices lead to a week of grounding, a complete house cleaning, and allowance money spent on repairs.

The children admit to Whit that they are not as grown up as they imagined. When authority became agreeable, they tried to get away with things instead of choosing what was responsible. Their parents' refusal to leave them alone is not an insult but loving recognition that they are not ready for more freedom. Regaining trust will require dependable behavior over time.