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 babysat for a family with 4 children aged 7, 5 and 2 year old twins when I was 14. Once one of the twins threw up everywhere and the parents weren’t answering their phones. Do you know what, I figured it out and it was fine. As long as they know what to do in an emergency, 16 is plenty old enough as long as it’s really clear that they are in charge and they’re happy to do it.

I wouldn't do that without the children to worry about. What do you want to do at the gym that you couldn't do at home with a few weights etc?

EDIT: really sorry, I hadn't read your other post. There must be someone locally who has a gym set up that could let you train there, have you asked in 'Nextdoor'?

Sibling dynamics are different than hiring a babysitter. I wouldn't leave a 2 yo with 3 older siblings for 3-4 hours & be so far away (time wise not distance wise)

Bloody hell where do you live that some 16 year old are on their 3rd child? 🤣 don’t believe everything you read…

I feel your pain because I’m an avid gym goer. But I really think you need to adapt, at least until the children were older. Make do with kettle bells, TRX equipment, and jogging.

4 hours to go to the gym is a bonkers amount of time.

Find another way to stay fit. Go for a run, buy a bike or an exercise bike, do an exercise class online-it’ll take an hour and you can do it when your 2 year old is asleep.

If you really must go to the gym for some reason, find one with a crèche and take your toddler with you.

No, not for the gym. I used to compromise and work out at home, and I only had one child.

My neighbour sometimes leaves his 17 year old son alone with 3 younger ones (none anywhere near as young as 2) and he can never manage to get them to behave. It's always chaos.

Why do you want to go to the gym?

Its it 3-4 hours away and you can only go once a week, I wouldn’t bother with it.

Can you not go on your lunch break or after work?
Could you not start running in a more local area instead?

No that's way too long.

For an hours run around the local area maybe but not to be far enough away that in an emergency you've gotta get a bus back.

3 to 4 hours requires them to do some form of care too beyond playing, ie toileting or nappy change, probably feeding them something.

I got really fit pre baby by doing a 12 weeks Joe wicks plan, all at home with some cardio like running in there too so you'd still get some you time out of the house. 30 min sessions so much more achievable than one long gym session a week.

The 16 year old is old enough to babysit the 2 year old. You should check with them that they are happy to do it though and if it’s appropriate- if the 2 year old is awake it’s not appropriate when they need to get homework done for example. I would probably offer them some money (maybe to be split between them) in exchange for it.

I think it depends on the 16 yr old and the 2 year year old tbh.
Some 16 yr olds are responsible, mature and capable, some not so much.
I wouldn't for a non essential 3-4 hr period or where i couldnt get back quickly in the event of difficulties.
It wouldn't be worth the risk for me personally.

Don’t be so patronising. At my school there was someone who had 4 kids (including a set of twins) by the time she was about 17. She had her first at 14 and it carried on from there.

The gym commute is madness.

The 16 year old could babysit the 2 year old. I used to pay my 16 year old niece to babysit my toddler in our home during the day if I needed to go to an appointment, although never for four hours. I was always a ten minute drive away at the most and she was extremely responsible (has since gone on to qualify in childcare and works in a nursery).

Depending on how your 16 year old is, I would go for that. I wouldn’t, however, leave the 16 year old in charge of all the younger kids and I would pay them to encourage the sense of responsibility.

My fear at those ages would be the older 3 fighting or getting distracted. I think 16yo and 2yo alone for 3-4h is safe! Give him/her a list of what to do in an emergency and it’s okay. 15yo I’d start with an hour maybe?

Also try to pay them if you can. My SIL lays my oldest 2 (or buys them expensive takeout if they prefer) and they love getting some “easy” money.

No I wouldn't do this. The older 3, fine, but not that length of time with a 2 year old and it's not an emergency or a one-off.

I'd look for a gym with a creche, a gym that was close to work so I could go when they were in school/nursery on my lunchbreak or I'd stick with exercising at home.

I don't think they are too young in the sense of it not being safe. After all the 16 year old could live alone with their own baby if you said yes. However unless they really want to be alone and responsible for all that time, it's a long time to expect them to give up. Pay them well.

No way. A 2 year old needs full supervision from a competent adult.

Good grief. How on earth did that happen? Was she vulnerable? How did it turn out for her?

Go for a walk from your house for an hour! You don’t need to go to a gym you have lots of things you can do from home and also AT home!

Yeah, I’m not going to do it. Just going to get more weight. I already walk a lot but I wanted to lift heavy weights and get stronger. Their dad is abroad for a few months so can’t help.

Thats awful, poor child. But surely you can see that is a sad rare case. Teenage pregnancies go down year on year and multiple children by the age of 16 must be incredibly rare

Get some adjustable dumbbells. Mine are 30kg, so plenty there to challenge me and don’t take up much space.

That's irresponsible! No way would i leave my two year old to go to the gym that takes 4 buses. What if there is an emergency. 16 or not I would put my own needs and wants aside.

They would be fine. There is no ways I would spend hours travelling to a gym, buy a set of weights for go walking.