Older siblings babysitting

[Anonymous]

My sisters are 11 and 14 years younger. I took care of them a lot and did this kind of thing ALL the time. Sit the younger one down, say big bro is in charge. Done.

[Anonymous]

Give him a chance and he will likely rise to the occasion. My 13 year old has been watching my 7 year old for the last few months and its been better than I imagined. I pay her an hourly rate that we agreed on in advance. She is a completely different person when she is on duty and I find her to be super duper responsible and patient even though before we started she wasn't exactly a doting big sister. My little one begs to have her watch him and would be the first one to report if she were being mean. I think that having her babysit has actually improved their relationship.

[Anonymous]

Pay him to babysit and be explicit with your younger dd that for this time DSS is the babysitter and in charge. At other times, but clear with both that you appreciate DS's help, but that you are in charge. We have a similar situation and do not have our teen DD babysit often, but when we do we are clear that she is the babysitter. We usually pay her, especially if we are doing something fun and for ourselves. If she is sitting so that we can take care of something for the family then she doesn't get paid.

[Anonymous]

My 15yo son and 7-year-old daughter have exactly the dynamic you describe. we occasionally ask him to babysit (not very often) and we don't pay him (although we usually end up giving him extra allowance or get him something he wants so he does get a reward of sorts). Usually they get along much better when we are not around, and my dd never complained. I would let your stepson do it-- it would show trust on your pt, and he will rise to the occasion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 15yo son and 7-year-old daughter have exactly the dynamic you describe. we occasionally ask him to babysit (not very often) and we don't pay him (although we usually end up giving him extra allowance or get him something he wants so he does get a reward of sorts). Usually they get along much better when we are not around, and my dd never complained. I would let your stepson do it-- it would show trust on your pt, and he will rise to the occasion.

Similar dynamic between my two boys (full siblings), who are 6 years apart. Sometimes they play like peers, sometimes DC1 thinks he's the boss, sometimes they squabble like, well, siblings. DC1 babysits frequently (we don't pay, but I'm not opposed to the idea; DC1 has actually never asked); they almost never have problems when DC1 is babysitting.