Its fine to say no. JFC get off your high horse though.

The last person I would ask to babysit my kids is a teenager! The only people I see regularly gathering in large groups are teenagers. My own teenager swore he always wore his mask and stays six feet from his friends came home with a hickey on his neck. Not sure how that happened from a distance.

We hired a college age sitter. Other than her, we are not seeing anyone else and we continue to minimize trips to the store. She says she is doing the same although I suspect she is a little looser than we are about food delivery / drive thru. We've emphasized she should stay home, paid, if sick.

For us, it's an acceptable risk. It's certainly lower risk than sending kids to school 2 days a week in the fall, which appears to be the plan in our area.

I'm thinking that if I am speaking to a college student, then I am speaking to an adult who can drink, vote, buy a gun, serve in the military, drive, serve as a nurse, become a lifeguard, fly a plane, get a tattoo, go parachuting, hire an attorney, operate a forklift, buy marijuana, sign over power of attorney, become an organ donor, participate in an orgy, and take a knee during the National Anthem.

In other words, if I want to make a phone call to another adult, I will, and it has nothing to do with you.

Whether they accept my offer is between me and them.

Thank you, OP. You wrote this very nicely.

My humble opinion is that only families who NEED childcare should take the risk. The perennial DCUM problem is separating WANTS vs. NEEDS, because boy aren’t people spoiled brats on here.

OP, if people still want your daughters to babysit, even though they are probably being exposed to the coronavirus via protests, why not do it?

As long as they know you all are not social distancing and that they are hiring someone who could spread asymptomatic COVID, that is up to them at this point. I would not think of hiring a sitter right now, but some people are risk takers.

I am thinking I need a babysitter and I thought maybe your kid might want to earn a little money. What kind of question is this?

We have a college age sitter we have used for 4 summers now. I am so grateful that she still babysits for us. I am a 1st responder and spouse and I both work out of the home doing different shifts. Our other option was to send DD to an unkown daycare with unk children and an unknown provider where she has to play 6 feet apart from everyone.
I am grateful. OP you can say no, or your kids can, but don't judge others and our situations

OP, you posting to "inform" makes sense. You preaching, does not.

All it takes is a simple, "no". And further you should be more gracious and have more humility since clearly they think highly of your daughter

OP, we are distancing carefully but I agree with the feedback here. Other families are not. These are teenagers receiving requests. What did your daughters say before when they already had plans on Saturday but a parent texted them asking if they were available? Or if someone wanted to know if they were looking for a regular gig and they were too busy with school?

If they couldn't handle those situations on their own, and cannot handle current requests on their own, the problem is with you and them, not other families.

Here's a hint: "I'm sorry but I'm not babysitting this summer. Take care!" will suffice in pretty much every situation. If the parent repeats their request, your teens can repeat what they wrote, or ignore. Done.

Anonymous wrote:Nice for you that they don't need the money. Some do.

+1
Is this really that hard to understand, OP?

Anonymous wrote:Your college aged daughters are adults.

I can't believe OP would even write this. OP, what about babysitting do you think is dangerous for your daughters? Do they have diabetes, obesity? Do you? Otherwise, what's your problem? Also, you live in an entitled, liberal bubble.

If you've taught your daughters and sons basic manners and agency, they should be able to open their mouths and say "No, but thank you for thinking of me."

If they can't manage to do that, you might need to work on your family and parenting a bit. Good luck with that.

I love the privilege that lies beneath the logic - we will go to BLM events because those are essential but not work a menial job because that is a risk. My teen is babysitting this Summer because she won’t be able to buy books next semester if she doesn’t. She is not going to BLM events because she is working.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Teenagers are the least restrictive in terms of social distancing and hygiene. They never think anything bad will happen to them. Give me an old lady babysitter any day.