When do you think kids are old enough not to need a babysitter?

BraveDonut

I have no immediate plans to do this, but I guess my kids are approaching the age where we could go out locally at night for a few hours and they would not need a sitter.

At what age do you think this is acceptable? - bearing in mind that the older one is essentially sitting for the younger. (3 years apart).

Moonbeam

It really depends on the children and on their relationship with each other and you.
Back in the day 12 was the baby sitting age but a lot has changed since. I think at 14/15 they should be well old enough though.

Shekira

I leave my almost 13 year old minding his 10 year old sister and it's working out fine. It started gradually during the summer, he would mind her while I went for a 20 minute walk, then if I went for an hour to do the shopping. He is very responsible so it just seem odd to get a 14/15 year old in to mind him!

LegacyUser

I thought legally you are not supposed to leave a child under 14 alone in a house. I myself have a 12 year old heading up to the secondary next year who is minded by a neighbour after school. I've done a bit of research and it looks like there is no minimum age once the child can look after his/her self. I suppose if it looks like they can't you could be prosecuted. I will probably leave my daughter with the sitter until after first year and after that maybe let her stay on her own - will have to teach her to cook!

Quality

My 13 year old is very sensible and I allow her to babysit for my friends.

She is a good kid, and is used to helping with her brothers,


All kids are different though, If i thought my friends kids were too wild for her to babysit I wouldnt allow her, so it is down to her and who she is minding..

Once your contactable, and not miles or hours away, they are only kids after all..

Piliger

As a parent of a 20yo - I think people need to give this question some serious thought that goes past simple age.

Any child can babysit when things are going well.

What needs to be considered is whether this child is capable of dealing with an emergency and making a sensible decision to make a phone call immediately or calling a neighbour immediately. I am thinking of accidents, blood, any kind of unusual behaviour in the child.

My reason for saying this is NOT just the health of the child being minded, but the traumatic effect on the minding child. An accident or health emergency can have a really traumatic effect on a minding child's life for many many years afterward, and this is all too often ignored. A minding child needs to be old enough and mature enough to understand this kind of situation and cope with it.

My two cents