When you are a mother living in an area where childcare is scarce, you learn to worship at the altar of the teenage babysitter. Mine has saved my sanity, my sense of humor, and then some. But the Connecticut mom who just got arrested for leaving her 13-year-old home alone to watch over her three youngest kids scared the dickens out of me.
Considering I -- and most former babysitters I know -- started watching over kids at 13 or even younger, if this is now criminal behavior, we're all in trouble. This is not like leaving a house full of toddlers! Using the oldest kid to watch the younger kids, especially, is a time-honored tradition.
Young's neighbor apparently called the cops to say the 4-year-old who lived across the street had wandered into her yard. They arrived to find Young's 13-year-old was alone in their house with siblings aged 10 and 1 1/2, plus the wandering 4-year-old, and charged Young -- who'd left to go to church but said a real babysitter was on the way to relieve the young teen -- with risk of injury to a minor.
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I get it ... sort of. Just because they're "old enough" to babysit doesn't mean they're necessarily good at it. At least Rebecca Young's teenager wasn't good enough at the gig to handle a handful of kids. That's where a parent has to make some tough decisions: whether it's the parent of the kids being babysat saying, "OK, this teen is great, but not so great with kids" or the mother of a teenager saying, "Sorry, but my child isn't mature enough to handle that many kids."
Not to mention: a teenager needs to know where to draw the line when they take on a babysitting gig, even if it is watching their own siblings. Three kids is a lot!
I love my babysitter in part because she knows her limits. I always ask her if she feels comfortable with a few more kids when my daughter is going to have a playdate, and I trust her to be honest with me. She usually says yes, but she has told me what kids she does NOT think she could handle.
I'm still uneasy about calling this criminal behavior. As CNN's Ashleigh Banfield pointed out in a debate over Young's arrest, even good moms have had a toddler wander out of the house. It happens. But it's certainly a wake-up call for parents.
What's the maximum number of kids you'd put in the hands of one teenage babysitter?
Image via petercastleton/Flickr
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Comments 154
I think it was too many kids for a 13 year old, not to mention two of the kids were very young - 1 1/2 and 4. Also, sometimes younger kids don't want to listen to an older sibling. "You're not my mom!" I definitely think 13 can be old enough to babysit, depending on the maturity of the 13 year old. But, that is just too many kids and too young.
I started babysitting at 10, but that was "in the old days", and there were a couple of situations that although they turned out OK, were of concern. I just wasn't old enough to handle the situations that take a little bit older mind to deal with. Once my older brother was with me, thank goodness. A man came to the door and said he was friends with the couple and could he come in and "wait for them to get back". I said OK and started to unlatch the door. Didn't know this guy at all! My brother came up behind me and stopped me from unlatching the door and told the guy to come back when the couple was home. Was I dumb or what? Well, I was only 10! My brother was only 12, but the 2 years older made a big difference! Turned out he was their friend, but we didn't know him! Yikes!
Please, get a life! I called Child Protective Service to find out how old a child could be left home to babysitting! I had awful in-laws and I had to make sure it was ok, to have my 12 1/2 years old daughter to watch her younger brother and sisters. They told me 12 years old, if I felt she was old and mature enough to take of any emergency. My daughter Carolann was nasty to babysitters and they would quit, I was besides myself, so I made a crock pot dinners and they could eat dinner at 5 or wait for me. They where not allowed to used the gas stove or oven, but there was a toaster over, to heat what ever they wanted when they came home from school. I worked until 5pm and with traffic, I was home by 6 the very latest. Most of the time homework was done and so where the dishes.
Michelle has been doing this for the past 10 years at least and she is on tv now with her grandchildren. We don't know the whole story and maybe the children have made it ACROSS the street before and the neighbor was concerned and fed up with the youngsters able to 'visit' so freely.
Some states do have stipulations about the the age that a young person should be to babysit. Usually, it's around 13, and if they take a childcare course, to learn what to do in certain emergencies, such as fire, specific injuries, when to call 911. Also for possible drowings, burns, and if the child swallowed something poisonous. Once they recieve their certificate, they can legally babysit, although according regulations, regarding how many children, depending on the sitter's age. The older the sitter, the more children she can watch. However, if the girl's mother had left the oldest child to sit b/4, without any problems, then the neighbor should have walked the child back to his house, and checked to make sure everything was okay. There shouldn't have been a need to call police. What a bi`ch!