12 year old babysitter?

sarah_grl

What do you think of a 12 year old babysitter?............she is a very responsible girl, she knows first aid and she is very reliable.......just want to know what other people think?

MagicMarker

Who's gonna babysit the babysitter?

seamus

Depends on the length of time she'll be babysitting, what she'll have to do and the age of the child being looked after.

That is, if she's a twelve year old sitting in watching TV for two hours while your 3-year-old sleeps in the next room, then I can't see any problem.

But if you're expecting her to look after a one-year-old for half a day, then I think you're pushing it a bit. At 12 she might be responsible enough to look after herself, but not to tend to a vulnerable child, IMHO.

Moonbeam

Back in the 80s and 90s 12 is when we all started babysitting and we were all fine.
Personally my girls are only little so have only ever had adults mind them but it depends on how far away you will be,is there someone nearby for her if something goes wrong?is she used to kids?how old are the kids?

Macker1

Too young in my opinion...... even if the 12 year old is responsible.

January

I have to agree... I think she's too young, whether she's responsible or not. She's still a child herself and I used to babysit my twelve year old cousins!

pwurple

I think 12 is slightly too young for looking after babies. I think I was about 14 when I started babysitting, and I remember feeling out of my depth when a small baby I was minding woke up and I couldn't settle her after about half an hour. I called my mum who came over and helped me.

But, if the children being looked after are older, and it doesn't go on too late, or last too long, maybe. I would have been left at home with younger brothers during the afternoon at that age.

cynder

I have a 12 year old who.is 13 this month, she will watch my other 2 sons ages 5 and 7 for up to an hour now and then, this started about 3 months ago. It's Maybe once every 2 week's when I have to pop out for a little while. I would not trust another 12 year old.

When she hits 14 I might get her to mind them for up to 2 hours and at 16 up to 4 hours.

The boys behave when they are with her.

Moonbeam

MagicMarker wrote: »

Who's gonna babysit the babysitter?

unhelpful comments are not welcome

Mnmfan

I agree that 12 is too young. It was different when we were kids and were minded by 12 year olds. Times have changed.

Redpunto

I think its too young - wouldnt have to maturity to deal with an emergency.

Mnmfan

Although I do agree that it depends on the situation. If you're just nipping around to the shop for 20 minutes while the child is asleep in bed then i don't see a problem but if you're going to work for 8 hours leaving your baby with a 12 year old then definitely not.

m'lady

I think it's too young, and regardless of the length of time she is minding the kids for/age of your children etc I still think its too much responsibility for a 12 year old. I do think it's different if she's minding her siblings though. Personally if someone asked if my 12 year old would babysit I'd refuse point blank..

The Big Red Button

I think that the fact that she has first aid is pretty much irrelevant - firstly, how much first aid training could a twelve-year-old child have?! Secondly, given her age, it would be very likely and completely understandable that she'd just panic in the case of an emergency, and never even think of the training.

I have a sister who's almost twelve, very well-behaved, always does what she's told, extremely responsible and grown-up for her age, and great with younger kids/toddlers/babies. However, while we might leave her home alone for an hour or two, we would not be happy for her to be responsible for other peoples' kids. It simply would not be fair on the kids or on her - she's only a child herself, accidents happen, and wouldn't it be awful if one of the younger children got injured while she was in charge? Whether or not she could cope appropriately with the situation is irrelevant - it just wouldn't be right to leave her with that sort of responsibility.

If the girl likes minding kids and wants to get babysitting experience - great, let her mind the kids while the parent is another part of the house, or very close by, and can check in every now and then. And, this way, you'll have a well trained-in babysitter a couple of years from now! Obviously, it would only be right to pay her some token amount for helping out.

In my opinion, it just wouldn't be fair on either the babies/children or on the twelve-year-old to give her that sort of responsibility at such a very young age.

djh2009

Is it not illegal to leave a child so young in charge of other children ?

The Big Red Button

djh2009 wrote: »

Is it not illegal to leave a child so young in charge of other children ?

Don't think there are any laws regarding this.

sarah_grl

djh2009 wrote: »

Is it not illegal to leave a child so young in charge of other children ?

no its illegal to have a babysitter of any age by the law but like your hardly going to leave like a 5 year old in charge ????

The Big Red Button

sarah_grl wrote: »

no its illegal to have a babysitter of any age by the law but like your hardly going to leave like a 5 year old in charge ????

Or, for that matter, a 12 year old ????

3ndahalfof6

some 12yr old girls can have more scruples than an 18 year old ( they have not been poisoned), plus it depends how they have developed, if they were brought up in a big family they could probably do a better job than an 18yr old (brought up with 1 or 2 siblings),

and to have some sort of first aid training is a massive plus, so much better than having none.

movingsucks

How old is the child/children she'd be looking after?
When my sister was 12 she'd be left "in charge" of me (10) and my bro (8) for a few hours.
When I was 12/13 I was left with our much younger sister once or twice and I wasn't very capable until we were both a bit older!

Maybe let the girl watch your child/children a couple of times when you are there to see how she gets on?

Also do her parents live near by? When I started babysitting for others my parents were just up the road so if there was an emergency I could call them

caprilicious

I was babysitting my younger cousins & neighbours kids from that age. However I wouldn't leave a 12 year old mind my own child.

As has been mentioned already, it's in the event of an accident that the 12 year old probably wont possess the maturity or life experience to know how to deal with the situation.

Sleepy

It very much depends on the situation. If I knew her mum was only down the road and could be called on in an emergency, I'd have no problem with it for smaller children. Throw a baby into the mix and it wouldn't be acceptable to me. How long is it for? How late? Is the 12 year old being expected to feed the others? What kind of neighbourhood are you talking about: a tower block? a quiet cul-de-sac in the suburbs? a stand-alone house miles out in the countryside?

I'd need a lot more info to make a reasonable decision on this one OP!

dub_skav

Mnmfan wrote: »

I agree that 12 is too young. It was different when we were kids and were minded by 12 year olds. Times have changed.

I'm genuinely interested, what do you think has changed that makes things different?

With my own child I think it would depend on a lot of factors, but I probably would not use a 12 year old to babysit, moreso because I would hope to be able to get an aunt or uncle to do it - being in that lucky position for now at least.

HeyThereDeliah

I think she is still a child herself and far too young to be responsible for looking after a child.
First aid means nothing because if anything happened she will panic same as many adults do in the same situation.

Tipsygypsy

I certainly would not leave my kids with a 12 year old. But I do have to say I live out in the backarse of beyond and have 3 VERY energetic boys and Im very particular about who minds them. I only leave them with people who I am certain are responsible and completely capable of dealing with anything that might arise, including proper first aid skills etc. This means that getting a babysitter is pretty expensive, but i just dont think it worth the risk.

implausible

It really depends on the age of the children and the length of time. I have left my 12 year old neighbour sitting in my home watching tv while my 2 year old was sound asleep. He is a child who never wakes and he knows her. She also knows that if there is an issue, she is NOT to try and deal with it herself, ring me first - we'd be a mile away in the local pub.

Each child is different. If he was a kid who regularly woke up, I'd be getting someone older.

SusieBlue

I babysat at that age, so long as she's mature and responsible I don't think there should be an issue. I'd give her a test run the first time and only leave her there for an hour with the kids, just to see how it goes. I don't think times have changed too much.

meoklmrk91

As far as I am aware nobody under the age of 16 is legally allowed to look after a child, I know as family that got I trouble for this, social services were called as sisters under the age of 16 were looking after their younger siblings. Social service told the parents that it was not to happen again and if it did action would be taken.

I wouldn't leave a 12 year old with my kid, I don't have one yet but if I did, I don't think it's the age that matters but the maturity level, I know some 16 year olds that wouldn't be much better than a 12 year old. They have to be able to understand what a massive responsibility minding other peoples children is, and most importantly you should be able to gauge how they would deal with an emergency.

cynder

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

As far as I am aware nobody under the age of 16 is legally allowed to look after a child, I know as family that got I trouble for this, social services were called as sisters under the age of 16 were looking after their younger siblings. Social service told the parents that it was not to happen again and if it did action would be taken.

I wouldn't leave a 12 year old with my kid, I don't have one yet but if I did, I don't think it's the age that matters but the maturity level, I know some 16 year olds that wouldn't be much better than a 12 year old. They have to be able to understand what a massive responsibility minding other peoples children is, and most importantly you should be able to gauge how they would deal with an emergency.

There is no legal minimum age in which a child can babysit or mind siblings

meoklmrk91

cynder wrote: »

There is no legal minimum age in which a child can babysit or mind siblings

Maybe it was just something social services told the parents to make them buck up so, because they were talking about child endangerment law etc. I assume it must have been to try and scare them.

123 LC

I think twelves ok, i mean they could be in 1st year in secondary school, and i used to babysit in 1st year,i don't see a problem.