14 year old babysitting sibling ?

[Eighteight]

My son is 14 ( he’s very responsible ) I’m just wondering if it’s an okay age to let him babysit his younger brother who is 7? Every weekend I have to drag my poor 7 year old along to his brothers football and rugby games at 8am and he hates going ! I would too at his age ( it’s cold , rainy and boring ) I’m already taking my baby as I’m a single parent to 4 kids ! Just thinking 2 hours tops on a sat and Sunday morning . Do you think he is too young for this responsibility? I don’t have anyone else to help me and it’s such hard work as it is . Would this be unfair on him ? Was thinking I could pay him 🤣🤔

Would a neighbour near by know and how does your 14 year old feel about this....

Of course it's fine. My dds have both been babysitting our neighbours kids (4&6) since they were 13.

Sounds absolutely fine to me as long as he's happy to do it.

Disclaimer that my DC are younger so I'm not in touch with current norms but sure at 14 we were all babysitting for the neighbours.

You know your son best. I suppose you could think how would he behave if there was an emergency? Would he know what to do? I used to babysit at 14 and never thought anything of it

I know many 14 year olds who pick up younger siblings from primary school and care for them until parents finish work, not much difference in amount of time.
Guessing 14 year old has a mobile to alert you to any emergency?

Why wouldn’t it be ok?

Of course a 14 yo can look after a 7 yo for a couple of hours.

I think that's fine. My 7yo can get herself a drink, some cereal and would happily colour, draw, watch screens for the rest of the time on a Saturday morning. Assuming they get on well enough that they won't spend the whole time arguing, I think that's fine.

Would the 7 year old behave/donas they're told or would they play up?

Try it one week and see how it goes.

Thanks ! Yes my neighbour doesn’t go anywhere and she would always be on call if needed so I thought of that in case . My son wouldn’t mind if I paid him I just don’t want to be seen as irresponsible. I’m just wondering if this is the norm ? I’m the youngest of three and I never had a babysitter growing up and I don’t remember what age my brothers were watching me as they were a lot older than me 🤔

Mine is 14 and I'd trust her to do it absolutely as she is very sensible but I think I'd feel bad putting the responsibility on her. Unless I paid her. She's a kid too so she should get to spend her morning on Snapchat or asleep if she wants.

I know exactly what you mean 😉 that’s why I’m thinking if I pay him he might be happy too . I would never force him to do anything he didn’t want to just to benifit me of course 😊

Also, i never paid my eldest when I left the two of mine at home, though I guess as the older she was 'in charge'. Never crossed my mind, it's just a chore you do for the house, same as stacking the dishwasher.

I think asking him if he wants to is fine, I wouldn't insist that he does.

It's a good way for him to earn a bit of money and learn a bit of responsibility, it could be a win-win.

My 14 year old is in charge of her younger brother fairly frequently if they don’t want to walk the dog with me. However, she wouldn’t be awake at 8am on a Saturday or Sunday so that wouldn’t work!

Haha that’s my thinking ! Not sure he would want to be up so early 🤣

No idea why you would pay your child to do this. It's just a meaningful contribution to the home within their capabilities. 2 hours, they are home anyway.

This was my thinking too.

All of mine would have been absolutely fine doing this in the afternoon or evening, but two of them would not be keen on waking up at 8am on a Saturday to do it.

Depends on the 14yo and what your 7yo is like. My mum left me at 11 with my 9yo sister but our neighbour was next door we were super close with.

I wouldn’t even question it.

Of course he’s old enough . You are a family and he’s old enough to understand that families help each other. I don’t believe he should be paid .

I pay my nearly 14 year old to collect his 8 year old siblings from school then walk them home and babysit for 20 mins until I get home!

If a child is responsible, feels safe and happy doing it then that's fine.

If he is sensible and this doesn’t get in the way of things he wants to do on a Saturday morning (activities, seeing friends etc) then this is fine.

It's difficult for 14 year old to make a bit of cash these days - a bit of babysitting sounds great. There are no legal restrictions but you need to consider things like maturity and safety. I'd run though a safety plan with them, neighbours, calling you, police or ambulance service depending on the issue. Where keys are kept for different routes out of the house.

At 8am on Saturday and Sunday? I think that is very unfair unless he gets up early at weekends.

Unless my kids needed to be up, they like to sleep in at weekends as they're up early during the week.

If you ask him, even if you offer to pay, he may feel obliged, so unless he is up early anyway, I wouldn't even ask. Your kids, your responsibility.