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Original poster

Would you be happy to use a 14 year old babysitter?

43 replies

Ponka · 15/03/2007 12:36

What is the youngest babysitter you have ever used?

OP posts:
harpsichordcarrier · 15/03/2007 14:34

I was certainly babysitting at 14. I use a group of three sisters, whose ages are something of a mystery to me tbh but I expect the youngest is just turned 14. perfectly able to look after children imho

harpsichordcarrier · 15/03/2007 14:35

sorry I should say just turned 15
also left dd1 with her 13 year old cousin while we went to Ikea, but again loads of people around, neighbours close by, we could have been back in ten minutes type of scenario

Ceolas · 15/03/2007 14:36

Not unless it was someone I knew very well. And I was going to be round the corner or something.

I am very bad at leaving my children though, especially babies

EllieK · 15/03/2007 14:37

i think you're right to be wary if you don't know them. My bro has been sitting for my son since ds was about 18mths and bro was 14 but never for very long, and never when i was far away, and obviously, i know him very well

Original poster
Ponka · 15/03/2007 22:05

Gin custardo. That puts a different slant on it.

OP posts:
JustUsTwo · 15/03/2007 22:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Ponka · 15/03/2007 22:06

Argh. I mean .........

No, actually, Gin would be very nice come to think of it!

OP posts:
Aloha · 15/03/2007 22:06

My stepdaughter is 15 and I'd recommend her to anyone.

wpcanniecartwright · 15/03/2007 22:07

i was a veyr young baby sitter, but not that young i dont think

Jackaroo · 15/03/2007 22:25

I know this is going to change the mood somewhat but I really don't think that under 16, or actually 18 is a good idea.

I had a set up that sounds identical to Alicerose, in terms of helping several local families from the age of 12, and it all seemed perfectly simple (why don't I feel like that about babies now?!)... but then a few months before I turned 15 I was looking after a very new baby (3 months), and his elder brother, when the youngest died of SIDS.

Neither of the parents was as contactable as they would be now, because we have mobiles, but it was the single most traumatic thing ever to have happened to me and came back to haunt me many years later in the middle of a horrible labour and delivery. I was the original child born middle-aged, so my parents (and everyone else's) thought I was an angel, and so mature... but nothing, nothing prepared me for that.

I'm sorry, I realise this isn't exactly what you were looking for, but if you think of a worst-case scenario, would you either a - want a 14 year old in charge of it, or want to put them in that position.

Obviously my experiences colour the kind of help we get (my brother, a 26 year old au pair, that's pretty much it), but it feels impt. to show what can happen (how ever much you don't want to think about it).

edam · 15/03/2007 22:27

Jackaroo, that's a terrible story.

But, I was babysitting when I was 14 and I would probably still use a 14yo if I knew any. I can't live my life if I am always fearful of very remote chances of disasters. I'd never get in a car, for instance.

ScummyMummy · 15/03/2007 22:31

How utterly tragic and horrendous, jackaroo.

The 14 year old downstairs is v keen to babysit and i am tempted but trying to think of a date that doesn't involve rolling home v late and drunken.

funnypeculiar · 15/03/2007 22:33

Jackaroo, I can't imagine I could have coped with that easily at any age. How awful for you. And the family, obviously.

Jackaroo · 15/03/2007 22:40

Absolutely true edam, and I really don't think anyone else should have to think the way I do about it, I was just adding in my experiences, and what led to my current childcare decision making.

I guess I am more aware of the responsibility one has for the teenager than I might otherwise, and I wish someone had thought about that for me (including my parents). The parents still had to deal with the tragedy of it, whoever they employed.

Sorry, too many tenses there....

edam · 15/03/2007 22:45

Take your point Jackaroo, important to think about your responsibility for the babysitter too. Cannot begin to imagine what that must have been like for you. Very glad the worst that ever happened to me was being told off for playing with the lego! (Little boy was upset the next day that I'd messed with his creations - didn't look like anything he'd actually made to me. Oops.)

Jackaroo · 15/03/2007 22:49

lol at the Lego...

Interestingly it hasn't made me over-cautious in any other area of DS's life (that I can think of). He's 18 months, no stairgate (I know, BM award due), I don't stop him from playing with pens, etc etc.. other mothers leap to his rescue, and then realise I'm not doing so, and actually so far he hasn't needed rescuing from anything

I think the most impt. thing about babysitting might be that the child knows them well enough that if they wake up in the night they don't freak out (baby either).

On which note, I'm being called to my boudoir, as DH has obviously decided to stop replaying football matches......

Original poster
Ponka · 16/03/2007 15:14

Jackaroo,

What an absolutely terrible thing to have to cope with, even as an adult, never mind just a young teenager. It's true that you need to think of the worst case scenario when deciding who to leave your children with.

OP posts:
Jackaroo · 17/03/2007 12:11

Thanks Ponka

I'm off to the sahara for a 10 day trek this arvo, so I'm trying not to think of worse case scenarios for whilst I'm away!!

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