Babysitting age

[shootingstar]

Article suggests it depends..of course. Could be a 12-yr. old or 14 yr. old.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...rticle1562356/

Even mentions a lawsuit where case was dropped. Unbelievable.

I vaguely recall there is actual law for minimal age, a child can be left alone in their home for a few hrs., much less looking after other kids. I think it is around 10 yrs. old.

I was left ..as a 11 yr. old for about 1-2 hrs. to look after 4 younger siblings (there were total of 6 of us, with me as eldest) while mother had to do an errand or grocery shop. (She brought along 1 child to accompany her. Therefore 1 less child for me to look after.) Father was at work. Best situation was the youngest baby would be napping in crib and rest of us glued to the tv...which didn't function too well. So the tv is kind of useful actually to quell any concerns of rambunctious playing where kids might accidentally hurt themselves.

I got enough stern instruction about what to do about crank calls, strangers at door, pots on stove (never) and if there was a fire. Older I got, the longer I was trusted to look after younger ones.

We could not afford to get paid outside babysitter nor did my parent(s) trust anyone else.

[lph]

I was alone at home for the space of a weekend when I was 11. Single mom with odd working hours.

To be honest, I can't really figure out how I feel about this now. I have a 12 yr. old going on 13, and we would still prefer he have a babysitter if we're to be out past his bedtime. Not because we worry about strangers or any other danger from outside, just for his own peace of mind.

I remember worrying about my mother (!) when I was a young teenager and alone when I was expecting her to be home.

[Crankin]

My brother was adopted (4 months old) when I was 11 and I began babysitting right away.
Both of my kids took the Red Cross babysitting course when they were 10 (minimum age) and started sitting when they were 12 or so. As boys, they were very much in demand by parents of boys. They both started with the son of a friend (sometimes they went together) who was quite a bit younger.
My younger son made tons of money and was so popular as a sitter, I had to "field" his calls from parents. He bought his first bike with babysitting money in 8th grade. So, in a way, babysitting is responsible for me cycling!
Seriously, I think many parents don't give their kids enough credit or give them much responsibility; obviously there are some kids I would trust at that age, but it was such a positive experience for my boys. They will both be great parents. And they saw an eyeful of different parenting styles...

[sfa]

My parents started leaving us home without a sitter when I was 9, which meant my eldest sibling was 13 or 14, but really it was my 11 year old sister who was the one in charge, primarily of our baby sister who was about a year old. She was one of these babies who never took to strangers and would howl when left with a sitter. Every time my parents hired a babysitter after my little sister was born, the sitter sat around doing nothing while my older sister took care of the baby, so eventually my parents gave up paying for sitters for the six of us and left us alone. We were pretty priggish and responsible kids, though, so the biggest danger was that we might (gasp!) turn on the television while they were out. We weren't allowed to watch television, so that was a big deal.

We all started babysitting for pay when we were 12, usually with short daytime gigs at that age and then evening hours when we were 13. I made some pretty decent money babysitting as a teenager.

My own daughter is 11 now and (Lord knows I love her) she's a complete flake. I can't imagine leaving her in charge of children at this point! She loves playing with younger kids, but if she gets distracted by something more interesting (a good book, a movie, someone's Facebook farm, etc.) she gets sucked in and is completely unaware of anything else going on around her. I've tried leaving her "in charge" of her younger brother while I do things like take a shower or switch off the laundry in the basement, with instructions to just let me know if he goes outside or gets into something. She's great for 5 minutes and then gets distracted and I'll come back upstairs and find that my son is out on the roof naked or something like that. So I think it'll be a while before she's left in charge of other kids with no adults around!

Sarah

[limewave]

I took the red cross babysitting class a couple of times and started babysitting when I was 11 or 12. Looking back, I cannot believe people left me with their children. Of course, I was timid and really unsure of myself at the time. I remember babysitting kids that were just 2-3 years younger than me.

We've had a 14 year old babysit for us a few times (I have a 1 yo and 4 yo). I really like her because she doesn't hesitate to call us if she thinks there may be a problem.

[shootingstar]

My brother was adopted (4 months old) when I was 11 and I began babysitting right away.
Both of my kids took the Red Cross babysitting course when they were 10 (minimum age) and started sitting when they were 12 or so. As boys, they were very much in demand by parents of boys. They both started with the son of a friend (sometimes they went together) who was quite a bit younger.
My younger son made tons of money and was so popular as a sitter, I had to "field" his calls from parents. He bought his first bike with babysitting money in 8th grade. So, in a way, babysitting is responsible for me cycling!
Seriously, I think many parents don't give their kids enough credit or give them much responsibility; obviously there are some kids I would trust at that age, but it was such a positive experience for my boys. They will both be great parents. And they saw an eyeful of different parenting styles...

Very interesting about your sons, Crankin. My dearie started looking after his baby brother by himself when he was 11. (There is a 10 yr. gap between the 2 guys.) Changing his diaper, etc. Again no outside babysitter since his family couldn't afford one.

I wasn't allowed to change diapers. My mother used cloth diapers. So she was probably afraid I might poke the baby accidentally with safety pins.

I was so used to being delegated to look after my younger siblings that when we occasionally (only twice in my life) were looked after by an adult woman friend, I felt very lost, bereft. I lost my "role". My world felt turned upside down. I felt sad. I yearned my parents to return so that things would fall back into my "order" of the world.

I think my mother trusted me..because often I did have to have an eye on little ones even when she was around at home. She had to do housework and couldn't look after children/keep them occupied. So it was me in conjunction with 1-2 sisters younger than I. So trusting a child is slowly built up for the parent.

I was never expected to do housework, while a parent was away from home while I was babysitting younger siblings. Good thing and a safety tactic.

But think of all the photos we see of children in the developing countries, looking after baby siblings, etc.

While true I don't have children, there are some real practical life experiences that some childless folks did have so that they aren't totally helpless.

[Crankin]

Agree totally with you, Shootingstar. I had no "transition" to parenting because of all of my sitting experience, starting with my brother and continuing through college, when I was a mother's helper after class.
My younger son really put himself in a position to get babysitting jobs; he was a teacher assistant at our synagogue preschool, once a month program, where the parents stay with the kids, for 2 years and then he was an assistant in the Hebrew School kindergarten class for 2 years, until his racing schedule precluded him working on Sundays.He also took child development in HS, where they had a preschool on campus. He was the only boy in the program. The first family he sat for (he was in 8th grade) had a 4 month old, a 4 year old and a 8 year old. He changed diapers from the beginning. And this is the one who is the big, tough Marine, now! He still relates stories of how some of his co-workers don't have a clue about child rearing, as occasionally he and his wife will babysit for another couple. I essentially got the older one his first babysitting job, and he also worked for them for years, after the couple got divorced, etc. The oldest one of those kids is now at the same university my son went to! I remember the first time he sat for them, the kids were so wild, one knocked over a lamp and Josh called me, frantically worried about what the parents would think. They didn't care at all and it seemed "normal" to them. He knew that if he and his brother had done that, we would have been pissed if they acted that way with a sitter. But, they calmed down, eventually, and my son became a part of that family for a time.