Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe everyone is saying you need to pay your kid to contribute to the family. I pay for the house, clothes, food, electronics, etc. I’m not paying him to babysit.

We don’t require it all the time and are sensitive if he has something special that night, but for normal evenings he can get work done, be online with friends, or watch TV. We aren’t paying him more for that.

I'm the one with four kids who pays them but allows them to say no. They contribute to the family in many other ways. Taking care of the kids is an adult's job.

Oldrst of six siblings. 14 year gap between 1st and 6th. I agree with others that you should pay. I love all of my siblings but when the baby came along, I remember being 14 and doing lots of diaper changes, feedings, etc, beyond helping other siblings with day to day stuff.
Regular household chores? Absolutely, everyone should contribute. Occasional sitting here and there for siblings? Yep, part of being a family. Wanting the older child to watch younger ones on a regular basis should be a choice and some sort of payment, even if $5/hour.

I was a teen sister to younger siblings, and my mom did not pay me when I was home anyway say after school. She did pay me for date nights.

Your kids should all have chores, and you can reduce down the teens chore expectations. If she/he doesn’t want to babysit, then they can instead take leaves or do 3 loads of laundry or whatever comparable time consuming job . They will probably pick babysitting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone here with kids who have an age gap? How do you handle it when the older sibling no longer wants to babysit or look out for the younger one?

I don' force my oldest kid to babysit the younger. They are 3yr.s apart. But...
Why are you making it their job? you chose to have them. That's your job. My sister and I are 6yrs apart and I had to babysit her since I was 14. I hated it. I didn't like being a "mother figure" to her. I always got blamed for things she did because she was on my watch. Siblings should be there to support each other and have fun, not to be "parents" to each other.

Similar situation except I was expected to watch my niece as if she was my sibling (her and her mother lived with us). The whole thing was super dysfunctional.

If I'm running to the store or other quick errand then I don't pay. When DH and I go out in the evening then we pay.