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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think my 16 year old babysitter can walk home by herself?

35 replies

Heket · 29/01/2008 19:38

She lives 5 doors away from us - approx 100m.

Surely she can walk back by herself at 9.30pm? I can watch her until she gets into her driveway but it seems this isn't enough for her mum and I have to escort her to the door.

OP posts:
yurt1 · 29/01/2008 19:40

Could she ring her mum as she leaves so her mum can stand at the door as well?

scorpio1 · 29/01/2008 19:40

5 doors away??

i used to stay out all hours at 16....

princessmel · 29/01/2008 19:41

That sounds fine to me but if she was a good babysitter then I'd just walk her back. It would only take you a minute.

oxocube · 29/01/2008 19:41

YANBU

Hulababy · 29/01/2008 19:41

I can't see why you can't just watch her from your driveway until she is back. Why does her mum think this is not enough?

SparklyGothKat · 29/01/2008 19:42

5 doors? i thought it was going to be a mile or so..

luckylady74 · 29/01/2008 19:43

This sort of thing really annoys me - teaching women(at 16 she is a women) to be afraid - statistically men should be more afraid. 100 yrds YANBU good plan yurt1

Original poster
Heket · 29/01/2008 19:44

I can't really leave them - my DS's are only toddlers and it rather irks me to leave them alone in the house just to walk a perfectly able 16 year old down the street.

OP posts:
Cappuccino · 29/01/2008 19:45

it's just polite surely

Original poster
Heket · 29/01/2008 19:46

Hulababy - I'm not sure. I suppose she thinks I'm not going to run out and save her should the bogeyman leap out of the bushes on her way home, or something!

OP posts:
princessmel · 29/01/2008 19:46

Oh, I meant if you had a partner at home. No way should you walk her if you have to leave children alone. That is unreasonable.

Original poster
Heket · 29/01/2008 19:48

Do you mean it's polite to leave my own two children alone in the house whilst I walk her home? Surely safety overrides politeness in this circumstance. I know that very little is likely to happen in the 3 mins it takes to go there and back but that isn't really the point.

OP posts:
Fizzylemonade · 29/01/2008 19:48

My God, what street do you live on?? I assume it must be full of gun weilding drug dealers and prostitutes

Her mother needs to get a life, she is 16 years old FFS not 6. YANBU. You watch her to her door, that is enough.

Original poster
Heket · 29/01/2008 19:49

I'd walk her home if DP was there but he's not so I can't. I've not used her before so something's telling me I won't be bothering again!

OP posts:
Psychomum5 · 29/01/2008 19:50

personally, if she is not confident enough to walk that short a distance after babysitting, then are you sure is she is confident to look after your children???

and if it is because of her mother insisting, then her mother can come collect her!!

Hulababy · 29/01/2008 19:50

Why would the mum think it was acceptable for you to leave your young chldren alone whilst you accompanied a 16yo? Seems an odd thing to suggest, esp coming from another mum,

Original poster
Heket · 29/01/2008 19:51

It's very dangerous round here. So dangerous that I often leave my car unlocked on the road and have been known to go out leaving the front door wide open.

OP posts:
Original poster
Heket · 29/01/2008 19:52

I feel bad suggesting that her mum should collect her - I don't want to be an imposition. I appreciate the irony of that.

Good point about confidence though. I'm desperate for a sitter though and my regular can't do it.

OP posts:
SparklyGothKat · 29/01/2008 19:54

i watch the 12 year old girl, who pops in to see us sometimes and lives 4 doors up, from my door. Her mum doesn't expect me to walk her back

brimfull · 29/01/2008 19:54

Her mother is a loon

I have a 16 yr old.

She would die of embarrassment if you walked her home that short distance.

mylovelymonster · 29/01/2008 19:57

When I was young.........if I can remember that far back.......I was always driven or walked back home even if just around the corner, and I would have been 18 at the time. Doesn't have to be a bad area. Not a big deal to make sure she gets home safely even if just down the road?

I would always ask taxi drivers to wait until I got in the front door before leaving as well after a night out. Just sensible IMO.

Psychomum5 · 29/01/2008 19:58

what would she do tho if you said you really cannot possibly leave the kiddies just to walk her home?

My feeling is she would then just go, but you may need to be prepared for her to say she'd sleep instead and go when it is light.

ow does she get to you tho.....surely at the moment it is actually dark when she arrives at your house?? Or does her mum bring her then?

LadyMuck · 29/01/2008 20:00

When I've used one of the neighbours 16/17yo daughters I usually just stay and wtch them unitl they get into their drive. But in both cases the distance is somewhat less than 100yds I think.

mylovelymonster · 29/01/2008 20:00

Sorry - Heket - of course you shouldn't leave your LOs on their own. Can't her mum pop down to fetch her? I'd be surprised if her mum thought you should leave your children...

Pennies · 29/01/2008 20:03

My babysitter is the same age and I walk her home but then I live in a rural area and it's pitch black on the walk home. It's not ideal but it's hardly a big hassle.

Not sure what I'd do though if DH wasn't there though because I certainly wouldn't leave my DDs alone.