Absolutely, yes!

My oldest yes (when she was 3 I mean). My youngest NO WAY! Not even now when she is 6!!! My oldest was superstar - so matured.


And before anyone say anything, I report that now, at 10, she is very annoying - to say the least.

My 11.5 year old - yes. We have emergency plans and a land line so she could call me.

Anonymous wrote:I started babysitting when I was 11. I had two regular families that each had two kids.

With all the extra safety measures today and the ability to have someone on the phone immediately, an 11 year old can handle it.

Same!

I know one year can make a difference, but I leave my 11.5 yo home with a 4.5 yo and a 7.5 yo for an hour pretty regularly. Main rule is NO EATING because I'm worried about choking. Otherwise they are totally fine. We do have neighbors all around us who they could go to in an emergency.

Yes for sure.

YES

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was babysitting for 3 year olds all day long as a mother's helper when I was 11. WTF with the snowflakes?

A mother's helper means the mom is around.

Not when i was doing it.

6-8 long boring hours 3 days per week.

Then it was babysitting. Mother’s helper implies limited authority/responsibility.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, OP.

I was babysitting infants from the time I was 11.

I was too but people were letting 5 yr olds be latchkey kids, smoking around babies and not wearing seatbelts back then.