What is the youngest age babysitter you would use

[firstpregnancy1]

I know this topic is heavily debated and standards now are vastly different from 10,20,30 years ago.

I have a 7month old and a 2.5 year old.

My husband and I would like to start getting fitter and pre babies we would regularly play tennis in the summer evenings.

My children both go to bed at 7pm and very very rarely wake up once in bed. If the baby did it would be a quick dummy plug in and job done.

We have never used any kind of babysitter before.

I see 'ofsted registered' childminders offering babysitting services but we don't really need a whole evening and would they even be interested in coming for just 1-1.5 hours.

It got me thinking about whether it would be ok to consider a neighbour teenager?

Both kids would be in bed.
We would be gone roughly 60-70 minutes.
We would be about a 2 minute drive from home if they did wake up and sitter called us could come home immediately.
My toddler knows this teen ('not amazingly well) but wouldn't be startled or scared if they woke up as we would tell him that 'x' is coming round tonight . The 7m old wouldn't really know.

In this situation, with these set of circumstances, how old would this teenager need to be in order for you to agree to this.

13?14?15?16?17?18? Not at all unless an ofsted registered professional?

I consider myself quite overprotective and I can't tell if my judgement is normal.

If it's relevant, the teenager is sensible, reliable, has basic common sense and a 4 year old sibling so she's 'good' with children.

We asked our friend's daughters to babysit for us from 15 - but DS was quite a bit older than this . At that age we only left him with adult babysitters - family, a close friend and at one point we paid a member of staff from his nursery .

Agreed. If teens want work experience with children there are plenty of opportunities in schools/ nurseries to do this - not looking after a 7 month old one-on-one with no other supervision.

@firstpregnancy1

Boys in the house / resulting in sex in the adults bed , and alcohol.
Other times a few friends around who would have fashion shows by wearing ( piss taking ) of the mum's clothes .

I was babysitting at 13. Three small kids including a baby, all in bed. My niece babysat for my 3 kids at 13. We were both sensible teens.

If the teen is a neighbour, will her family be home in case of an emergency? You are only 2 mins away anyway, as long as you are contactable I would be OK with 13.

I think a 16+ teen is fine with a preschool aged child (3ish) if their parents are happy to be on standby in an emergency - but I absolutely would not leave a baby or toddler with a neighbourhood teen. Especially not a 7 month old baby.

Too much responsibility on a teen with zero childcare qualifications. I wouldn’t care how many baby siblings they have.

My DD1 attended a two day course at our local college when she was 15. It covered first aid and basic health and safety in a household. It was brilliant and I think cost £25.
Until then, I had not been happy for her to babysit neighbours DC. They were desperate to have her, particularly as she was good with her own younger siblings. She was in great demand from being 15 and 10 months.

Probably 14, but only because you say you can get home in a few minutes if anything happened and presumably their parents would be on hand too. Otherwise I'd never allow a teenager to look after a 7 month old.

Agree 100%, @Trimalata

My DCs babysat independently at 14, having done (paid) 'mother's help' work from about 12. This involved keeping an eye on a baby/ playing with small children and keeping them entertained while the mothers got work done around the house or garden or did a wfh project.

They had references from babysitting families when they applied for PT summer jobs in offices, cafés, or shops (we get just under three months off school here in the US).

It also gave them a taste for work that paid more than the minimum wage and made them think twice about frittering away their hard earned money.

Personally I wouldn’t feel comfortable with any younger than 16 but everyone’s boundaries are so different.

I've never used a babysitter ever. If I had to go somewhere I'd ask my mum or sister. If they were unavailable I wouldn't go.

I wouldn’t let a teen babysit at all. We only use the women from my children’s nursery who kids know well and they are therefore DBS checked and in their 20s at least. Our brains and rationale thinking isn’t fully formed until mid 20s so I’d want someone older in case of any emergencies - fire, break in, accident etc.

Separately, that’s incredible your kids don’t wake up in the evening after bedtime!!!

I think it depends on the maturity of the person, probably 16 or 17. I'd have to know the person, I wouldn't want it to be some random teenager. You really have to think about the tiny risk of worst case scenario. My friend will only use a babysitter that has a first aid certificate.

Youngest babysitter we used was a hugely sensible, first aid trained 16 year old for our toddler, when I was literally next door. I was so close my baby monitor still worked. She only really needed to know what to do if there was a fire, as for any other reason I’d just pop home and settle them. I took my 3/4month with me though in a sling, as the baby was unlikely to be asleep the whole time.

For all other babysitting we have had 25plus, qualified people. Not sure I have a set view on minimum ages as does depend so much on the maturity and skills of the person. But I think under 16 would be a definite no for me.

I did a lot of babysitting as a teenager even memorably a 2 week old baby at 14! Which horrifies me now.

In the circumstances you describe, I'd be happy with a sensible 12 year old. My sister and I were both good babysitters at that age and so was one of my own kids.

However, I wouldn't expect a teen to manage to wrangle two children of that age at the same time if they were both awake. That's a hard job! Reassure them that in the unlikely event that both children are awake (say if the baby wails and wakes the toddler) it is okay to leave one in the cot crying while sorting the other or ringing you for help!

Also, do they have any experience at all with babies?

14-15. But only on the basis they'd call you the minute your baby woke up and you'd go straight back.
I was a 14 year old babysitter for a baby and I wasn't very good. In retrospect it was crazy that I was left with that responsibility.

NSPCC guidance suggests 16

16 would be the absolute minimum for me, and I have been babysitting since I was about 12. My dd is 14 and I wouldn't leave her in charge of the cat.

We had a 15yr old neighbour, I called him my human baby monitor. Kids were always in bed asleep before I left, his mum was across the road and if anyone woke up he’d ring me and I’m come home (happened once in 2 years of babysitting!)

For a 2.5 year old, 16 would probably be ok.
For a 7 month old, it would have to be a woman with own children or grandchildren, a close relative, or a professional such as nursery worker or nanny. It's very young if anything happened.
I guess you need to think through what might happen and would the teenager be able to deal with it. E.g. would they know what to do in a fire, what if one of the children vomited in their bed etc. They would have to manage two small children, would they be able to do it safely. Not just waking up as that wouldn't really matter, worst case scenario the child would cry for 10 minutes till you got back.
Personally I'd wait another year I think.

I used to babysit from when I was 15. I had little cousins and loved young children, and used to volunteer in a nursery through my school.

Nothing bad ever happened, I used to really enjoy it and I earned quite good money sometimes. I think the youngest I ever babysat for was 2, though.

This was 21 years ago now I have my own children, I only ever use my mum for babysitting but if she wasn't around I'd consider a sensible 15 year old, like I was, but probably no younger.

I'd be fine with a 14 year old.

I was babysitting baby twins at age 18 and was excellent at it. I also babysat older children when I was age 13, they were probably around 3-4, it was fine but wouldn’t have been in an emergency - I would stick to 18 plus

We used 14yo family member at those ages. I looked after a 5yo, 3 yo and 3 mo from 13, that was from late afternoon till early hours every week (for them to work, not going out).

I think with a young baby, 16+. If the children were older, say around 5+ and therefore more independent then they could be 13/14+.