Would you leave a 2 year old with older siblings for hours?

[Wouldcou]

Would you leave 4 children age 16, 15, 11 and 2 alone to go to the gym. It will take 3-4 hours due to public transport?

Mostly the issue is with the 2 year old I have left the other three together before to go shopping. Have never left the 2 year old.

I don’t either in fact most of the parents I know only use adult family members not even adult registered baby sitters.

Definitely not!

Would your 16 year old be willing to baby sit and are you willing to pay her? Has she looked after then younger ones before?
Are the younger ones likely to listen to the 16 year old or argue with her?
I think it's ok for a 16 year old to babysit but it can be more difficult for siblings as they have a different relationship.

No. I don't think your 16yo should be responsible for your three other children.

I'm always baffled by where people live on MN. There's 4 gyms I could walk to within 15 minutes of my house and I live in a pretty average town.

At 16 I had been babysitting for years.

For your own kids, if the 16 and 15yo are responsible enough and could get hold of someone who could come quickly in an emergency, yes. I would.

it’s not different to paying a teenager to babysit expect you are asking a sibling instead.

as you’re relying on public transport, you do need to make sure someone could get to them quickly if they called for help though.

If you've already got a bar you can look to buy more weights second and - I recently bought some assorted weights adding to 90kg and a bar for £50! Also look at adjustable dumbbells for home workouts.

Surely there’s a closer gym? Or one with a crèche?

It sounds fine to me as long as the older ones are fairly sensible.

In an emergency yes of course, but not for the gym. As the parent you need to figure out childcare and not defer your responsibility to your child.

The 16 year old could occasionally babysit the 2 year old alone for a couple of hours but its not fair to also be responsible for another 2 children.

No, although I know 16 year olds are having their own babies now, I don’t believe they should be help responsible for their siblings. They don’t have the ability to assess safety like we do, I don’t even think a lot of non parents in their 20’s do, when it’s your child you spot hazards/risks immediately. Also if something did happen it’s not fair on them.

I would ask the the two older ones to babysit and also give them payment for it which you would if it was another teen babysitting

I think this is a good insight into the difference between a 16 year old looking after a younger sibling for 3-4 hours, ( presumably during the day,not when they are asleep in bed) and a parent who's watchfulness and automatic risk assessing is ingrained. They would probably be fine.... But I don't think I would be able to relax. An hour or so maybe, but a 2 year old' behaviour could get very tedious very quickly, and they need nearly constant supervision.

Amazing how people will defend two 16yo having sex on here as if it’s their right, yet can’t be trusted to look after a baby - you know the thing that’s created by them old enough to have sex 🤣

The height of stupidity and downright selfishness to even consider it.

No. 16 year olds mostly cannot realise how much watching 2 year olds need.

Sure if one of the older two are prepared to take charge of the two year old. I was babysitting at 12 at night.

Of course the big ones are capable of it (assuming they’re reasonably sensible), but do they want to? It’s actually quite a big chunk of time, every week.

You are using buses so can’t get home quickly if the eldest called you with an emergency so for that reason I say no

I babysat most of the neighbours’ babies and toddlers and children from the age of 16. But minding siblings is completely different. It’s a no from me.

At 16 I was babysitting children than age quite often, so as long as they’re responsible and willing to I’d say yes BUT I would offer money so it was seen as a job. I felt quite taken advantage of by family as I’d miss out on things with my friends because I had to look after the younger ones. If I was being offered money I think I’d have probably been less bothered. I do think you’d need to say no friends allowed over in that time though.

Yes 16yo have babies by then some are having their third

Does not mean the op has decided to have one and wants to use the 2 year as baby practice so is it relevant?

Babysitters choose to be babysitters, older siblings don’t,
A few hours when little ones are asleep in bed at night would be better than this. Also put the youngest in nursery then you can gym somewhere in the day

I think it depends on the person rather than the age. At 16 anyway, they could have their own child by 16, but there are 35 year old that shouldn’t be left in charge of a toddler.

I do think the 16 year old needs to be happy to do it and should be paid though. Maybe not NMW or anything. But it’s not his responsibility and he’s old enough for a part-time job, but not so old that he should be expected to contribute significantly to the household / pay rent and board (18/19)