At what age did YOU babysit?

[Anonymous]

1995/96 when I was 10 or 11... I started with one of my cousins who was 6 months old and my business was booming two or three years later. I could heat a mean frozen pizza with tater tots... In high school I babysat for a divorcee who would come home at all hours of the night to me sleeping on the couch or smoking cigarettes on the back porch. I had boyfriends over all the time. I babysat for extra cash through college. With some of the parents, I had more experience with babies and knew tricks they didn't know like tepid baths for fevers and how to swaddle. I think I was pretty well prepared for my DC but it's still just not the same.

[Anonymous]

At age 13 in the 80s. Youngest kids were around 3.

However, no way I'd leave my 3 year old with a kid that young. Maybe once he is closer to 7 I would.

[Anonymous]

Wow. When I was 11, my parents would HIRE a babysitter if they went out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was reading the babysitters-in-cab thread, and noticed many people think 13 is too young to babysit. I'll admit, there are many 13 year olds that are too immature to take care of children-- but there also 18 year olds who are too immature!

When I was 11 (in the early '80's), I was booked every weekend for babysitting. On a typical Saturday night, I'd be playing with the kiddies, warming (in a real oven!) and serving their dinner, feeding and rocking the baby to sleep, getting the 2-10 year old crew into pj's and into bed, then watching cable tv until the parents came home after midnight. I certainly wasn't the only pre-teen babysitter in the neighborhood, either.

Anyone else?

Parking my pod right here. I posted in the other thread that it's no wonder young adults today are so incapable of taking care of themselves. The average, emotionally on point 13 year old is perfectly capable of babysitting!

[Anonymous]

I started babysitting at 12, after devouring the Baby Sitters Club series and thinking babysitting was the coolest thing ever. I even took a babysitting class at our local hospital. Now that I'm a parent, I kind of can't believe anyone hired me so young, even though I'm pretty sure that at my first few jobs, I was more of a mother's helper entertaining the kids while the parents did work around the house. I wonder if part of the reason I'm not comfortable with a teenager as a babysitter is because I don't know many kids that age - I'd let my 16 year old niece babysit my daughter, but she lives on the west coast.

[Anonymous]

Interesting thread. I started babysitting at 11 for people that had three kids under the age of 5. We don't live in DC yet, but had asked a co-worker of my DH if their daughter would babysit for us. She is 16! and her parents wouldn't let her.

I agree completely with PPs about the immaturity of today's kids which is caused, in part, by overprotective parents who want to pave their children's lives with golden bricks...

[Anonymous]

First babysat my 4 younger siblings when I was 10, mom would go out to do errands, etc - then started babysitting for other families for pay when I was 12 (this was mid 80s). By college I was hired to sit for kids while their parents went on vacation for a couple of weeks.

I now think 10 is WAY too young, but 13 is not too young if the teen is mature and you know them and their parents well. Totally depends on the situation, how long you're going to be gone, where you're going, etc. I was also working as a cashier at 14 and a lifeguard by 15 - I think kids need to do some work not only to learn responsibility, but also to feel confident that they can handle responsibility. The idea that a kid can go off to college without having ever tried a part time job or babysitting is crazy to me...and it won't be the case with my kid.

[Anonymous]

Never. Never changed a diaper until I had my first. Boy, was I shocked at what all was involved in infant care

[Anonymous]

My husband's brother is still footing some of the bills for his late twenty-something kids, one of whom is married and has kids of her own!

No one seems to have high school/summer jobs anymore, nor do I see many kids out cutting lawns like I had to do in the summer. Remember saving to buy a used car after getting your driver's license? Do people still do that or do mom and dad just buy them a new car? I do think that a lot of kids today are not given enough freedom and responsibility and this results in a lack of maturity and too much dependence on mom and dad when they hit college years.

[Anonymous]

11, late 80s. I started babysitting for a family of 4 (yes, 4) every Friday night. This was also the first time I ever changed a diaper. lol I don't think the parents knew I had never changed a diaper.
I babysat for them for years. I added on multiple other families, and was booked most weekends. Some parents drove 10 miles to come pick me up and drop me off. I was a summer nanny for an 8 year old when I was 14.
As far as bad things that happened or that I did... nothing noteworthy. A couple times kids got injured playing, but nothing that would not have happened had the parents been home (falling of bike, tripping on playground).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12 and I can remember leaving the baby in the bathtub to answer the phone. I'm so glad he survived!

I did this many,many times.

[Anonymous]

Age 10 in the early '60s. 25 cents an hour! Yeah, baby!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband's brother is still footing some of the bills for his late twenty-something kids, one of whom is married and has kids of her own!

No one seems to have high school/summer jobs anymore, nor do I see many kids out cutting lawns like I had to do in the summer. Remember saving to buy a used car after getting your driver's license? Do people still do that or do mom and dad just buy them a new car? I do think that a lot of kids today are not given enough freedom and responsibility and this results in a lack of maturity and too much dependence on mom and dad when they hit college years.

Okay, let someone's 12 year old practice on YOUR kid, not mine. Puh-leeze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, let someone's 12 year old practice on YOUR kid, not mine. Puh-leeze.

I've used a 12 year old for a couple hours before. I wouldn't call just any old 12 year old, though. You could always have a younger sitter come over and help you while you are home. That way you can observe their interaction with your child and feel more comfortable with them. That is how I got to know our teenage sitters - they used to just come hang out to play with my daughter, which was helpful when my husband was out a lot at night while he was going to school.

We still haven't had our child put to bed by anyone but us or grandparents - she's 5. We only need sitters on a very rare occasion for an hour or two.

[Anonymous]

I started when I was 12, for a four-month old baby girl. Very soon, I was sitting for her every Friday or Saturday night. My parents were always directly across the street, however. I sat for just that one girl, until she had a baby sister three years later. This was in the late 80s/early 90s. I think I was plenty mature for it, but the fact that my parents were right there was, in retrospect, a good thing. And I never had to have anyone drive me home (for which I am grateful -- I was shy, and I would have felt awkward). How I wish I could find a weekly sitter for my children for $4 per hour! I admit, though, I probably wouldn't trust a 12-year-old. Don't know any kids well enough anyway.