Babysitting for 13 year old

[Anonymous]

Feel bad for your DD. She went through the trouble of taking a course, and *now* dad says she can't do it? I'd be very upset in her shoes. You should involve her in any discussion of boundaries (like only families you know, etc) and make sure she feels respected, or you'll have a very angry teenager on your hands.

[Anonymous]

It is not a question if something might go wrong. The answer is ALWAYS yes.

The question is if it is reasonable for someone responsible enough to take a baby sitting course can use those skills under a particular set of circumstances.

2 well behaved kids 5 and 7 .... sounds good

3 kids with he youngest being 2 .... maybe

2 twins three months old .... Nope!

Requires a responsible adult to set reasonable parameters. If this is not the case why let her take the course?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not a question if something might go wrong. The answer is ALWAYS yes.

The question is if it is reasonable for someone responsible enough to take a baby sitting course can use those skills under a particular set of circumstances.

2 well behaved kids 5 and 7 .... sounds good

3 kids with he youngest being 2 .... maybe

2 twins three months old .... Nope!

Requires a responsible adult to set reasonable parameters. If this is not the case why let her take the course?

I babysat through half of middle school, all of high school and most of college, and never had anything go wrong beyond a house alarm going off because a moth flew into the window. No big deal. But I didn't consider a gas leak, a stranger dropping off something at the house, or a sick kid something going wrong. They were just things that I handled as a teenager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not a question if something might go wrong. The answer is ALWAYS yes.

The question is if it is reasonable for someone responsible enough to take a baby sitting course can use those skills under a particular set of circumstances.

2 well behaved kids 5 and 7 .... sounds good

3 kids with he youngest being 2 .... maybe

2 twins three months old .... Nope!

Requires a responsible adult to set reasonable parameters. If this is not the case why let her take the course?

I babysat through half of middle school, all of high school and most of college, and never had anything go wrong beyond a house alarm going off because a moth flew into the window. No big deal. But I didn't consider a gas leak, a stranger dropping off something at the house, or a sick kid something going wrong. They were just things that I handled as a teenager.

I can see handling packages, sick child and house alarm going off unexpectedly. But the gas leak? A teenager babysitting someone's kids isn't authorized to call the gas company, and a young teen won't have any way to take the kids anywhere else. Depending on where the leak is and how far the sitter needs to evacuate the children... That's a situation where I hope the teen has the common sense to get the kids out, call the kids' parents and then call their own parent. But many teens aren't calm in that kind of situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not a question if something might go wrong. The answer is ALWAYS yes.

The question is if it is reasonable for someone responsible enough to take a baby sitting course can use those skills under a particular set of circumstances.

2 well behaved kids 5 and 7 .... sounds good

3 kids with he youngest being 2 .... maybe

2 twins three months old .... Nope!

Requires a responsible adult to set reasonable parameters. If this is not the case why let her take the course?

I babysat through half of middle school, all of high school and most of college, and never had anything go wrong beyond a house alarm going off because a moth flew into the window. No big deal. But I didn't consider a gas leak, a stranger dropping off something at the house, or a sick kid something going wrong. They were just things that I handled as a teenager.

I can see handling packages, sick child and house alarm going off unexpectedly. But the gas leak? A teenager babysitting someone's kids isn't authorized to call the gas company, and a young teen won't have any way to take the kids anywhere else. Depending on where the leak is and how far the sitter needs to evacuate the children... That's a situation where I hope the teen has the common sense to get the kids out, call the kids' parents and then call their own parent. But many teens aren't calm in that kind of situation.

What kind of gas leak are you used to? In my case, the pilot light went out and I just needed to re-light it. I opened doors and windows, and told the kids to tell me if they got a headache. No big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not a question if something might go wrong. The answer is ALWAYS yes.

The question is if it is reasonable for someone responsible enough to take a baby sitting course can use those skills under a particular set of circumstances.

2 well behaved kids 5 and 7 .... sounds good

3 kids with he youngest being 2 .... maybe

2 twins three months old .... Nope!

Requires a responsible adult to set reasonable parameters. If this is not the case why let her take the course?

I babysat through half of middle school, all of high school and most of college, and never had anything go wrong beyond a house alarm going off because a moth flew into the window. No big deal. But I didn't consider a gas leak, a stranger dropping off something at the house, or a sick kid something going wrong. They were just things that I handled as a teenager.

I can see handling packages, sick child and house alarm going off unexpectedly. But the gas leak? A teenager babysitting someone's kids isn't authorized to call the gas company, and a young teen won't have any way to take the kids anywhere else. Depending on where the leak is and how far the sitter needs to evacuate the children... That's a situation where I hope the teen has the common sense to get the kids out, call the kids' parents and then call their own parent. But many teens aren't calm in that kind of situation.

What kind of gas leak are you used to? In my case, the pilot light went out and I just needed to re-light it. I opened doors and windows, and told the kids to tell me if they got a headache. No big deal.

Ok, to me, pilot light going out isn't a gas leak, that's an easy fix that I would show a teen how to handle if they didn't already know. I've had a pipe joint start to leak gas, we had to evacuate the house.