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Would you let a teenage boy babysit your preschool girl?
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Anonymous
| OP, I wouldn't ask a boy who wasn't otherwise interested; not taking CPR classes, not trying to get into the business of being a babysitter, etc. |
Anonymous
| My friend and I shared a babysitter for our little girls ages 4, 5, and 6. He is a great babysitter, and we, and our daughters, just adore him. We were so sad when left for college a month and a half ago. |
Anonymous
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I would if I knew the boy and trusted him. I babysat when I was a teenager and sometimes my best friend babysat for my families when I wasn't available. He was/is wonderful.
I wouldn't hire a boy I didn't know well, though. |
Anonymous
| No, I wouldn't. I just wouldn't...and all I can say as a rationale for my knee-jerk, admittedly sexist attitude, is belief in my gut instinct. While the odds are probably that nothing untoward would happen, if it DID, I would never forgive myself. |
Anonymous
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And should we not hire a teen girl for our little guys?? Please, hormones aren't limited to the male of the species and as a HS teacher I see it every day.
As a mother of boys, I think it is sad that anyone would suggest that everyone exclude boys from the list of babysitter possibilities. On the other had, the OP DID ask for opinions and everyone is entitled... Certainly if someone had a horrible experience as some PP's have mentioned (and what happened was horrible!!!) it's understandable that they would never want a teen boy in the house with their daughter. If someone has misgivings, it is their right to say no to this. But there are some wonderful, caring teenage boys who would never think of harming ANYONE, and would like to be given a chance. I had to address this question some years ago. Same thing, girl was sitter, couldn't sit one evening, offered 16yr old brother, I hesitated, hubby said he would call EEOC if I didn't give him a chance, we got a good chuckle out of that, hired the brother, hired the brother again, hired him again and felt at a loss when his military dad was transferred to CO. There went THE best sitter we've ever had. I learned a lesson. Hope there will be some people able to see my boys as more than potential predators. But you've got to go with your gut. |
Anonymous
| no |
Anonymous
Agree, no way! It might be sad, but reality is that the majority of sexual offenders are male and I would never take that chance with my kids - boy or girl (I have one of each). I also will not even leave my kids with most of our male relatives. My brother and one grandfather are the only ones they have ever been with them alone. Granted we don't live near family so the fact that the kids don't know our extended family that well is also a factor. My dad was molested by a teenage boy of a family friend when they dropped him off at their house to stay while they went out. The boy wasn't even home alone with him. The primary babaysitter was supposed to be the family friend (the mom) and it still happened. I know logically not every male is a sexual predator,but it's just not an experience you can reverse or fix if something happened. |
Anonymous
| Hell no. My greatest duty is to my daughter. I am black but if I were white and distrusted black people I would not hire a black babysitter. I reserve the right to say no for any reason when it comes to my kids even if that makes me racist or sexist or ageist. Their violation is ten times worse than my moral turpitude. |
Anonymous
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Sadly, no.
Not a risk I'm willing to take when there are plenty of female sitters available. |
Anonymous
| We did - our best babysitter when my kids were little was the son of good friends. He's a great kid, still is. And I would certainly trust my now teenage son with young kids. |
Anonymous
| no way |
Anonymous
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In your case, I wouldn't put the teenage boy on the spot and ask HIM to sit. So no.
But I'm not opposed to it like some other posters. But in all honestly, I'd probably only let it happen if it were family member I knew well. |
Anonymous
Oh for goodness sake! Just because you are black you are allowed to say that it would be ok to rule out the entire race of black people from baby sitting for your child "if you did not trust them"???? I would hire a sitter based on knowing and trusting them regardless of their race or gender. I am not saying I would hire a baby I did not trust because they were a different race and I did not want to seem racist, but I would not ever rule out a whole race. I think you have to trust your gut and if you have any hesitation you need not to hire that person but that is a separate issue from distrusting all male baby sitters. FWIW, my nephew was a really sought after baby sitter in his neighborhood. He is at college now, but he loves kids and the kids (boys and girls) love him - which if there were something horrible going on would not be the case. My son adores him and asks about him almost daily even though he is away. I would hire a kid like that in a heartbeat to baby sit for my son or daughter. |
Anonymous
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When my husband was a teenager, he "took over" some of his sister's families when she went away to school. He really enjoyed babysitting. By some PPs reasonings, I should feel weird about leaving him at home w/ our children!
And, my older brother babysat for me millions of times when I was growing up. Nothing creepy every happened. |
Anonymous
a father or brother is a different story than a neighbor's kid. Are you really that innocent? |