Babysitting | Table for Five

April 22, 2010 By Elizabeth

One of my sponsors, JuiceBoxJungle, wants to know what we think is the right age for a child to babysit. Does it depend on the age of the child? State law? The child’s level of responsibility? It’s certainly an interesting question!

Before I answer the question myself, I thought I would check to see what, if any, laws there are here in Michigan about babysitters. I found a blog written by Jeanne M. Hannah, a Family Lawyer in Traverse City that addresses this issue. Ms. Hannah says that while there is no specific law related to babysitting, “Michigan child support orders provide for child care reimbursements up the a child’s 12th birthday. While I could not find any law on point, this seems to be the age at which the courts deem a child old enough to stay home alone.”

Whether or not a child is really ready to be left alone at age 12 is totally dependent on the maturity level of the child. My oldest son was responsible enough that I could have left him home alone for short periods of time when he was about nine. To be honest, when Chris was traveling on business for a year and a half, there were times when I just wanted to run up to the store for milk BY MYSELF, and I would leave the boys watching TV, with instructions to not answer the door or the phone, make sure all the deadbolts were locked, and run up to the store. At age 10, Ryan was an extremely responsible kid, although I wouldn’t call what he was doing “babysitting”, really.

We didn’t start asking Ryan to officially babysit his siblings during the day until he was 12, and he only started babysitting at night after he turned 13. What I consider babysitting is when Chris and I want to be gone for a couple of hours, like when we went shopping for Easter stuff, and Ryan is in charge of Nathan and Kaitlyn. Heck, if he was asked to babysit a younger kid in the neighborhood and wanted to do it, I would totally let him.

Ultimately, I think it’s up to the individual parent to decide when their kids are old enough to babysit younger siblings. The child left in charge needs to know how to call 911, what do do if they smell smoke, what to do if someone gets cut and is bleeding, what to do if someone knocks on the door that they don’t know. Sometimes Fire Departments have laminated cards that show basic first aid and a place to write in emergency phone numbers that you can post by the phone, or you can make your own. And, it’s important to ASK the older child if they feel ready to be left in charge. We can’t just assume that our oldest children are our built-in babysitters! Although it certainly is convenient

So what about you, dear reader? Do you have a child that babysits either younger siblings or for other families? How old were they when they started? Any thoughts you want to share? Leave a comment!