What age can older siblings reasonably babysit a younger child?

[Phonicshaskilledmeoff]

My kids are 5, 9 and 11. The 11 year old is often left in house by himself for 1-2 hours. He’s very responsible. He also goes to the park etc independently and walks to school by himself.

The 9 year old will be left with the 11 year old occasionally but only for 15/20 mins. And I don’t consider that the 11 year old is in charge of her - she’s looking after herself in those instances.

How old would be ok for the two oldest to jointly babysit the youngest? 13/11/7…14/12/8?

Oldest at least needs to be 14/15 you also need to consider if they even want to babysit.

It will depend entirely on how mature and responsible each of them are.

So many variables- how long for, how far away will you be, is there a neighbour who could help out in an emergency, what are the personalities of the children?

depends on what you mean by babysitting. DD is 11 and no one would bat an eye at her being left with my 6 year od neice for an hour.... but she would be properly engaging and hanging out with her. But I'd be more concerned about a sibling who is likely just to leave the 5 or 6 tyear old to their own devices and not supervise! I think basically it's getting the balance right between how independent the younger child is vs how responsible the older one is.

I think 14/12/8 is the absolute minimum.

The age that you would be happy with someone else using your eldest as a babysitter, and the age of babysitter you would hire for the youngest.

So if thats 14 for your eldest, and you would hire another 14yo, then that age is fine.

I think I was about 14 or 15 when I started babysitting my younger siblings who were 9 and 8 ish. I’d say I was a pretty sensible teenager and my siblings would mostly play with each other. Maybe depends on the relationship between siblings as well as age?

14 minimum

I'd say 15/16 to properly babysit for the evening and have to do anything particular (make sure younger kid is bathed/fed/get them to sleep).

In terms of popping out to the shop for 20 mins while kids are playing, are you confident the older two would be ok if the younger one cut themselves/threw up/ banged their head hard? I only have one kid 13, but was have young godchildren 6 and 8. In terms of playing together, they've done it nicely for years, I could leave them for 2/3 hours and they'd probably barely realise I'd gone...but I'd still worry about the pressure leaving them would put on my teen if something happened even if I was only gone for 20 mins!

My eldest is 15 and I would say she is responsible enough to look after a 5 year old for a couple of hours.
I am the eldest of 3 and we were left alone together for the day while my parents were working once the youngest was secondary school age so we would have been 11/15/17

Totally depends on the maturity of the children and how easily they could get help if they need it. We leave DC ages 13 and 9 1/2 for a few hours at a time. Both sensible kids, and we live in a row of Victorian terraces where we know all the neighbours who would help out in an emergency. Immediate next door neighbours always have someone home caring for an older housebound family member with dementia. Oldest has a flip phone so can call us, we have a ring doorbell so we’d know if anyone left the house and can log on line in real time to see what is happening if someone rings the bell. They aren’t allowed to use the stove if we are out (toaster and microwave ok).

I have your gap without the middle one. Oldest is very capable and can be left alone at age 11. I had 13 in mind for her babysitting the youngest so two years away. The youngest would then be 7 which sounds like a pretty easy babysitting job to me. The youngest is fairly well behaved.

I did when oldest was 14 youngest was 7.

My two girls are currently 14 and 6. Eldest is very sensible, younger one is a bit more feral. I’d leave them together if I was just popping to the shop, or max maybe half an hour. Not because I think my eldest wouldn’t handle it, but more because the younger one just finds trouble. I’d say in six months when they’re 7 and nearly 15 will be much better.

Daytime for a couple of hours then 14, evening 15 or 16.

Thank you very much - sounds like I’m in the right ball park then.

My MIL went off on one about leaving the very sensible 11 year old alone with his 12 year old cousin for a couple hours and made me question myself!

Loads of variables and I think it’s fair to ask the older sibling and not expect it. We’ve recently started leaving our 13/9 year olds during the day for a few hours but we pay them both - my daughter for being in charge and my son for listening. £4/£2 an hour so enough for some sweets or a lipstick or whatever. They love it. But we are on a culdesac and know every single one of our neighbours and both kids have phones (my son has a smartwatch) so have multiple options if anything happens.

There didn't used to be a legal age (everyone used to say it was 14), but my judgement would go by this: is the child in charge able to deal with a fire. If not; shouldn't be left as the responsible person.

I don’t think it’s fair to leave kids in charge of others/alone for more than a short amount of time as if the other acts up then they don’t have the tools parents have and it potentially it could lead to fighting/ upset. It doesn’t matter how mature they are, they’re still kids

I’d say 8/12/14 would be fine. But I wouldn’t leave a 9 year old with a 11 year old

I think it depends entirely on their maturity. If they're sensible and mature then I'd say 13/11/7 is fine, maybe 12/10/6 for shorter periods.

I think from about 14 for siblings if sensible and the others listen to them.

Used to look after sibling from much younger but disagree. It was too young.

Toaster and microwave more likely to cause a fire though?

Varies down to the personalities and abilities of the children, length of time and time of day plus if another trusted adult is fairly close by. Most children can babysit a younger sibling for a short time by 12/13 eg parent nips to closest shop for 20-30 minutes type scenario and by 13/14 for 2-3 hours especially in the daytime but only if they are sensible of cause. My dd was babysitting a friends children (2&4) at 14 and was regularly left with her older sister from about 10&12, she was very sensible but crucially knew we had neighbours who she could go to in emergency

An electrical fire, true, but low chance of that and you could just run out of the house. We have a gas hob and I think it’s pretty easy to accidentally burn yourself on the open flames or leave something too close to them which then catches fire, which is my real worry. Although maybe that is driven by DH’s accidental scorching of my favourite tea towel some years ago…