I could have managed it at 19, but it would have sucked. How much are you planning to compensate her, and did she have other plans for that time?

Omg no. What is wrong with you?

No, take the kids or pay someone.

No. That is all.

Nope.
This is not the responsibility of your your 19 yo OP

Hire help or drag all your kids along on this trip you and your husband are trying to jet set off to.

My oldest sister is 60 and still resents my parents for making her look over her many younger siblings.

I did it for my cousins who were middle school age while I was home from college and my aunt and uncle were skiing for a week. I had done lots of babysitting for them earlier, so we knew they would mind me. Make sure the 19 year old agrees and pay her well. If the younger siblings won’t obey her, then unlikely to work well.

Just posted but I’ll also add that when my parents did it, I was 4 but the only one under 10 at that point, so I guess it wasn’t nearly so bad so the teens really only had me to watch. (The other one that was under 10 was away fo the week.) I agree with PP that it would be better if you put at least a couple of the younger kids in day camp for the week so the 19 year old isn’t watching all of them the whole week. Getting them dinner, letting them watch some tv and putting them to bed seems more manageable. And I’d still pay her.

Anonymous wrote:Unless the 9,6, and 4 year old are in all day camp I would not even consider it.

Put the 4 youngest in the same all day camp so there's 1 pick up and 1 drop off.

Pay the 19 year old a lot, and only do it if they agree.

Pay the 15 year old and the 13 year old and maybe the 11 year old a smaller amount to take specific tasks off the 19 year old's hands. So, 11 year old packs her lunch and the 4 year old's every day. 9 and 7 pack their own. Put in advance orders through doordash for dinner each night, and pay the 15 year old to plate the food and set the table, and clean up afterwards. That kind of thing.

My parents did something similar in the 70s and it was basically okay (my 16 year old brother threw a major rager and some stuff was broken). We had a similar sized family. But part of the deal is that the older teens were responsible for much of the babysitting of the younger ones — it wasn’t all on the 19 year old (who actually had a summer job and wasn’t home during the day anyway, so the 14-16 year old teens were watching us younger kids during the day). How trustworthy are the other teens? We never had a nanny or anything so in my family the teens all were pretty used to watching younger kids. (And when I was a teen, I then watched their kids so it came full circle.).

I guess I would say it’s okay, but would pay the oldest for her time like you’d pay a nanny if she’s really expected to be responsible.

Lady, you had too many kids. That’s just excessive.

19-year-old daughter take care of her 6 younger siblings (ages 15, 13, 11, 9, 6, and 4) over 5 days with no school. That is crazy hard. Even giving them unlimited screentime and uber eats delivery for lunch/dinner over 5 days stuck at home, that is still crazy hard. That can only work if you put the youngest three or four kids at day camps for that week, that might work.

Where are you going that both of you you have to travel during the kids' spring break without them? This is a very bad idea.

Anonymous wrote:Is this her spring break? I’d resent the hell out of you.

Yes, look, I'm not saying this can never work but this isn't remotely something you drop last minute. This has to be negotiated and cleared when you're booking the trip.

And she has the full right to say no. Not "I pay her school tuition so she has to say yes." That's a crappy way to view it. This is a huge thing you're asking and she may already be planning to write some papers or meet up with friends during her break. Last second will be disruptive.

Unless the 9,6, and 4 year old are in all day camp I would not even consider it.