To have 83 year old babysit for from morning to lunchtime?

[Bloopsie]

Hello all, MIL is happy to babysit 9,7,5 and a 2 year old for half a day when I an at the hospital and my husband would come along. She is mentally well,physucally quite fit minus arthritis but very active goes 3x a week to social club,carries her own shopping home,dosent use any walking aids etc. Is this fine plan or should we be looking to hire a child
minder?

I think as a one off, as long as she's happy to do so, it's fine.

Sounds fine?

As a one off it’s fine

4 kids? No I would get a babysitter.

As a one off I think it will be fine. She sounds fab.

I assume it will be in your house so it will be childproof?

I think this is fine, surely she knows her own limits.

I personally wouldn't, that's a lot of children and all quite young, it's a bit much.

Isn't Joe Biden 84?
If physically well and thinks she can do it, I would say yes.

My grandma is 83 and could easily manage this. The older kids will surely help if necessary anyway?

My parents are not quite 80, fit active, go to the gym etc. I have stopped leaving all 3 of mine with them. In fact I stopped a while back and mine are older now. I think it's a big ask to leave her with 4.

But only you know your MiL and what she is capable of. But my concern would be what happens if the little one falls over and needs picking up, can she do that? What if they argue? What support would she have locally if needed? Also - what are your kids like? Some are well behaved, some would be climbing off the walls, and swinging from the lamp shade.

Fine. Every day would be a bit different.

No, he's not.

I wouldn't even have considered it. Can your DH not look after them?

I would assume your older 3 can look after themselves for a morning and the older 2 can help with the 2 year old. I think it's fine if the 83 year old is ok with it.

I have a friend who is 87 and regularly minds her dsgc for a few hours at a time. She’s an unusually sharp and active 87 yo and I would never say all 87 year olds would be ok with this, but also many 83 yo will be fine.

My grandmother is 83 and she often watches her neighbours children etc but I honestly think it depends how on the children, are they hard work or are they generally be well behaved?

A 2 year old can pick themselves up surely?
If they argue they can sort it out themselves, or grandma can talk to them.

It's the 2 year old that might be the issue for me. I'd hope older children would be sensible enough to manage for a few hours

Depends on what the kids are like, particularly the older two. You know them best.

I think as a one off it would be okay, as long as it's at your house so the kids have all their toys.

He shouldn't be in charge of wiping his own behind, not a great example of being competent in your 80s.

She'll be fine. It's better to leave them with their gran they know than a stranger.

What a load of nonsense! He is incredibly competent.

Absolutely fine! Good on her, hope I’m that capable at her age.

My gran is this age, walks/hikes for miles in a choir, WI , gardens, drives all over, holidays regularly with friends (grandpa died). She was a nursery teacher for 40 years. She's driving 250 miles to visit us this weekend, last time we walked more than six miles on the beach and she was fine. She'd be more than capable of minding a dozen children.
My NDN is 86 falls regularly, has been hospitalised twice in the last six months after being unable to shake colds/viruses I wouldn't leave DS with her for an hour.
You know your MIL better than we do