I’ve left my five year old with a 12(?) year old (just finished fifth grade), but for short times when I and her mom will be nearby. Like to walk the dog.

In Maryland this is illegal. The child supervising has to be at least 13 years old.
Virginia and DC do not have laws specifying how old unsupervised children have to be.

Anonymous wrote:Hmm depends. A responsible 12 yr old should be capable of watching a 3 yr old for a short time. But how disciplined are they? If they have a cell phone and start getting some messages from friends are they going to zone out and not pay attention to toddler?

My 10yo is super responsible. He is like 10 going on 35.

I would probably never leave youngest with my middle child ever.

Hmm depends. A responsible 12 yr old should be capable of watching a 3 yr old for a short time. But how disciplined are they? If they have a cell phone and start getting some messages from friends are they going to zone out and not pay attention to toddler?

There are laws. It depends on the kid. We had a friend's kid who was 14 at the time visiting and we left our 7 year old with her and she ended up sleeping and ignoring him the entire time so never again. Had I know she was like that I would have taken him. He was fine playing video games but she offered so it made sense. I was babysitting at 13 and was very attentive.

Anonymous wrote:I have very responsible 12 year old but wouldn’t leave him alone with his 3 year old brother if I were more than just a moment or two away. For us, I’m comfortable with leaving both while I walk the dog down the block or drive 1/2 mile to the neighborhood pool to drop off for swim team, but not with driving 2 miles away for camp pickup.

Op here. We have mix of camp and tennis team. One camp is at their school. Pool, school and camp are all about 1.5-2.5 miles away.

I have a very responsible 11-year-old and I would feel comfortable in certain circumstances, depending on how close I was, how long I’d be done, the age and disposition of the second child, the time of day.

I have very responsible 12 year old but wouldn’t leave him alone with his 3 year old brother if I were more than just a moment or two away. For us, I’m comfortable with leaving both while I walk the dog down the block or drive 1/2 mile to the neighborhood pool to drop off for swim team, but not with driving 2 miles away for camp pickup.

I’d say 12 is the earliest, but they would need to be strong enough to carry the toddler out of the house. That would be my test.

Not for my kids, because the oldest is a pushover and the youngest is really strong-willed.

It might depend on how far away I was going for that 30 minutes.

If I was just out in the yard (shoveling the driveway after a snow storm or gardening)--well, I did that when my oldest was about 9 and youngest was 3. I had to--Dh was travelling for work and we got a massive snow storm.

But more than a mile away, like a a store or something? I'd say 13.

When I was 11,12,and 13 my parents would leave the baby/toddler (who’d they’d put to bed) and walk to a local bar for a drink. Literally minutes away walking, and we had close neighbor friends, too. I watched TV -which is what I’d be doing anyway - and he never woke up. This was in the late nineties.

Anonymous wrote:At what age.

My youngest is 2.5 and oldest is 10.5. I remember being shocked that other parent let an 11yo watch a toddler but now that my kids are nearing that age, I can’t believe I’m considering it.

The situation is when toddler is napping and I have to either pick up or drop off middle child at nearby camp (2 miles) and don’t want to wake up toddler.

At what age.

I know a paid babysitter has to be 13. I knew a mom who left an almost 3yo with an 11yo for an hour. I also know families allowing kindergartener to stay with fifth grade sibling alone. I remember the dad saying the age guidelines are just guidelines, not the law.