Anonymous wrote:So are you paying the 13 year old? It’s no funny being the free babysitter for your parents. If it is free parents but no value on it.

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way, wouldn't do it. What if the fire alarm goes off? Or one or all 3 leave the room and get locked out? What if someone gets injured? Staying in a hotel is totally different and riskier than leaving them at home.

Fire alarm: They would leave the room.
Locked out: the 13 year old would talk to someone at the front desk and get let back into the room.

Worst case, 13 year old calls parents. It's fine.

If I was working at a hotel front desk and 13 year old came to me with a 5 year old in tow, telling me he was locked out of the room and his parents were both off premesis at a show, I would call the police. Most hotels have a policy that minors under 18 can not be left alone in a room.

So I can never leave my 15-16 or 17-year-old alone in a hotel room in case he gets locked out and some nosy manager reports me to the police?

Come on. My kid has been getting his own hotel room since he turned 12. No way am I sharing a room with him?.

A 13-year-old is more than responsible enough to hang out in the hotel room for 3 hours.

When my son was 11, We were down at the pool while he stayed in the room to take a shower and get dressed for dinner

The fire alarm went off. We met outside of the giant resort where we agreed to meet in case something happened.

He also knows not to answer the door to anyone. If it's housekeeping, the answer always is: My mom is in the shower. No thank you.

I would not even address the insane idea that someone is going to break into your room and steal or assault your kids.

I've been in a hotel when a fire alarm was pulled. Thankfully it was a false alarm. But even as an adult, it was stressful to get myself out the door, down multiple flights of stairs, and wait outside for the ~30 min (at night, cold weather) it took for the event to be considered a false alarm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way, wouldn't do it. What if the fire alarm goes off? Or one or all 3 leave the room and get locked out? What if someone gets injured? Staying in a hotel is totally different and riskier than leaving them at home.

Fire alarm: They would leave the room.
Locked out: the 13 year old would talk to someone at the front desk and get let back into the room.

Worst case, 13 year old calls parents. It's fine.

If I was working at a hotel front desk and 13 year old came to me with a 5 year old in tow, telling me he was locked out of the room and his parents were both off premesis at a show, I would call the police. Most hotels have a policy that minors under 18 can not be left alone in a room.

Definitely check the hotel policy. I just checked a few major brands and they have policies about minors under age 12 requiring an adult chaperone at all times within the hotel.

So are you paying the 13 year old? It’s no funny being the free babysitter for your parents. If it is free parents but no value on it.

I started babysitting my sibling at 10
I got tired of always being the default babysitter, but parents are not perfect and I accepted the situation
I decided not to do the same to my kids

My best friend’s 12 year old was completely fine watching her 7 year old sister at the time, for long stretches, while they were recently on vacation. But the older is very responsible and the sisters get along, and 7 is much more reasonable than 5. 13 and 5 in a new city would give me pause. 14 and 6 seems much better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 kids ages 5, 10 and 13. We just recently started leaving our 5yo with our 12yo for very short times (10-20 min). Oldest is turning 13 soon.

We have a trip planned for April. I’m wondering if we can leave kids alone in hotel room while Dh and I go to a show. Kids would be alone for 3 hours. We would be 2 miles away.

What city? Personally I wouldn't do it. What if someone comes to the door and tricks them? Just hire someone for piece of mind.

It's PEACE OF MIND!

Fine, I made a mistake! Calm the F down.

Anonymous wrote:What on earth? It’s a 13 year old!!! Isn’t that when you all started babysitting?

Not in a strange city in a hotel!

I was left alone so often in a hotel room growing up (very responsible child) that I find some of these responses over the top. Basically it depends on the maturity of the 13 year old and the sibling dynamics. So can't give a simple yes or no.

I like the idea of you taking the older two and leaving DH with the youngest though...

It really isn’t a question of is a 13 yr old can babsit. Of course most can. But the sibling dynamic makes it an entirely different scenario. Do they fight a lot OP? Exclude the 5 yr old? Only you know their dynamic and if they can be trusted to be peaceful and kind to one another when left in a hotel room.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way, wouldn't do it. What if the fire alarm goes off? Or one or all 3 leave the room and get locked out? What if someone gets injured? Staying in a hotel is totally different and riskier than leaving them at home.

Fire alarm: They would leave the room.
Locked out: the 13 year old would talk to someone at the front desk and get let back into the room.

Worst case, 13 year old calls parents. It's fine.

If I was working at a hotel front desk and 13 year old came to me with a 5 year old in tow, telling me he was locked out of the room and his parents were both off premesis at a show, I would call the police. Most hotels have a policy that minors under 18 can not be left alone in a room.

Anonymous wrote:No way, wouldn't do it. What if the fire alarm goes off? Or one or all 3 leave the room and get locked out? What if someone gets injured? Staying in a hotel is totally different and riskier than leaving them at home.

Fire alarm: They would leave the room.
Locked out: the 13 year old would talk to someone at the front desk and get let back into the room.

Worst case, 13 year old calls parents. It's fine.

I would definitely do this. No problem. My 13 year olds were very responsible. I was babysitting at 13. It's a hotel room, fairly limited opportunities for things to go horribly wrong.

Yes of course!