At what age did YOU babysit?

[Anonymous]

In 1994 at age 13 and it was for twins!

[Anonymous]

in 1994 at age 13 for twins! I did not feel too young and think I did a good job! I always brought arts and crafts and we had a good time!

[Anonymous]

I was about 13-14 and I was often told I was good with kids and mature for my age. Yet I do remember times where I was over my head (ie: a baby crying for hours, a baby who fell off the couch, etc).

I don't think I'd consider a babysitter under the age of 16.

[Anonymous]

I was 11 in the early 80's. Maybe a little young but I was very responsible and didn't babysit infants. I see no reason that a mature 12 or 13 year old shouldn't babysit.

[Anonymous]

I was in the 5th grade, so 11/12? I had to take the babysitting course offered by the Red Cross before my mom would let me other people's kids (besides my younger siblings). I had several families that I sat for on a regular basis, including a weekly job during the school year. There's no way I would let an 11 year old watch DC.

[Anonymous]

12 or 13. Regularly babysat for a 6 year old deaf boy and his infant brother.

[Anonymous]

11. My babysitting services were auctioned at an Arlington school in the late 80s.

[Anonymous]

11, in big, 5 story brownstones in NYC.

[Anonymous]

Tangentially related, I was responsible for way more of my own expenses than kids today seem to be. I had to buy my own sports equipment (track spikes were the biggie), and paid my own way to a fancy language-immersion summer camp. Though the deal was, if I could save up the fee, my parents would pay the airfare. I couldn't get a dairy-queen type job til I was 16, and lawn mowing and car washing for my parents only made me $15-20/ week. So what's left for a kid? Baby sitting, and lots of it, starting at age 12.

[Anonymous]

11 or 12? I was still in middle school, but had just taken the red cross course. It was for girls who were 5 and 7, I think, daughters of my mom's co-worker.

By 14, I was sitting quite regularly. My friend and I were the only 2 teenage girls in our development, so we shared the jobs.

I have used teenagers for my daughter. They lived in our neighborhood for a while and have known my daughter since she was 1. She loves them - begs for them to come over.

I do think people are a little uptight about teenagers watching their kids.

[Anonymous]

I babysat starting around 11-12-- nighttime gigs, too. This was the mid-80s. I took a babysitting course through our local hospital and frankly, felt pretty confident.

Age-wise, it totally depends on the person: I wouldn't hesitate to have my 12yo niece watch my 3 and 1 yo; her 18 yo sister OTOH I wouldn't trust with them unsupervised for more than 5 minutes-- she can't even hold a conversation without looking/typing at her effing iphone!!!

[Anonymous]

11 - 1986. Babysat pretty often for three families that we knew well. My parents were always a phone call away. I was a responsible kid. At 12 I started babysitting more for friends of friends.

The only thing was trying to stay awake until the parents got home as I didn't want them to come in and find me asleep on their couch!

Once when I was 13 I babysat a newborn (and sibling) while her parents went to a wedding. She cried and cried and then the 18 month old started crying too. After a couple hours of a crying toddler and infant I called my mom and she came over. They both still cried but at least there were two of us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tangentially related, I was responsible for way more of my own expenses than kids today seem to be. I had to buy my own sports equipment (track spikes were the biggie), and paid my own way to a fancy language-immersion summer camp. Though the deal was, if I could save up the fee, my parents would pay the airfare. I couldn't get a dairy-queen type job til I was 16, and lawn mowing and car washing for my parents only made me $15-20/ week. So what's left for a kid? Baby sitting, and lots of it, starting at age 12.

You sound like me - bought my first "real" bike at 10 with money from my paper route. I was babysitting by 12 for the neighbor's baby (my mom could see their house from our house). By 16 I was an EMT and working on a local rescue squad.

It all depends on the kid- I was pretty mature and responsible.

[Anonymous]

I was 10 when my mom left me alone w/ a 3 yr old niece (being raised as my sister since my actual sister died when I was almost 8) and then 12 when I started babysitting outside the family....regularly 4-7 kids, almost never fewer than 4. This was in the mid-late 80's. I was 12 when my mom let me stay home alone for 3 days (2 nights.)

[Anonymous]

I posted earlier-- like many, I started babysitting around age 12. And THEN! When I was 16, friends of my parents, whose kids I had babysat before, went away for a long weekend, and I was solely responsible for a five- and seven-year-old for four days. I had to wait til their schoolbus picked them up, then drive back to my hometown, 15 miles away, to get to school on time myself. I got special permission to miss last period those two schooldays, so that I could tear-ass back to their house and be there when the bus dropped them off. The mind just boggles... the kids' parents, my parents, my teacher and principal all thought this was just a fine thing for a 16-year-old to be doing. And we're not even talking about the 1950s, when a 16-year-old could reasonably be a couple years from becoming a mother herself. This was 1993.