NRR, but thoughts from my run: parenting question (moved from ITM)
Editted: moved from ITM. And, frankly, I have no need to further discuss the issue because it is pointless on my end.
Original: I'm asking here because I think my particular line of thinking might be not so out there here.
Has to do with at what age would you start letting your oldest (I'm assuming) watch the littler(s)? This has been discussed on the main board, but I was thinking about it specifically about my kids.
My mother started having me watch my two younger siblings when I was 6. Now, this was more a "I have to run around the corner to the store" or "stop off at the swimming pool association three blocks away" and I'm betting it was likely more for MY benefit than my mother's.
I actually see value in this. I think that it would be good for Lauren to start having the opportunity to "babysit" her three-year-old brother for short periods of time.
We tried this today. I knew I was going to put in a three mile run today, but I could have waited until later or I could have gone to the gym where they have childcare. But, I decided that we would have our first "practice" session for babysitting. I talked it over with Lauren and she was all for it. So, we pretended that I was going for a run outside, but we all knew that I was really in the basement on the treadmill. She was the boss while I was "out for my run."
She came and got me 1.24 miles into my run because she couldn't put the TV on a kids show, but after that I was left alone. I'm thinking of trying this more and more and for increasingly longer time. At some point, however, I'm going to have to transition from pretending to being gone to actually being gone.
So, for you and your family, what and how did you go about this learning process?
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Rebecca, wife and mother
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Not a minute sooner than the law allows in my case. The big one is legally allowed to be home alone during daylight for under 3 hours, but not to watch other people. Once he reaches THAT age (I think it's 12 or 13?), I'll take advantage of his supervisory nature at times.
Of course, the law is unclear on the subject in some states. As for when I was left alone with my sister while mom ran, it started when I was 7, almost 8. But we were asleep.
Not a minute sooner than the law allows in my case. The big one is legally allowed to be home alone during daylight for under 3 hours, but not to watch other people. Once he reaches THAT age (I think it's 12 or 13?), I'll take advantage of his supervisory nature at times.
Of course, the law is unclear on the subject in some states. As for when I was left alone with my sister while mom ran, it started when I was 7, almost 8. But we were asleep.
There are laws bout what age they are allowed to be at home unsupervised? I had no clue!
I was thinking about the sleep thing while I was running and I'm not sure about that. I would worry that they would wake up and freak out that I wasn't there as opposed to telling them that I'm leaving so they know.
Hmmm. . . intruiged about the law thing. Off to go research that one.
Not a runner, but this has come up for us recently. When my sister and I were left alone for 1/2 hour to an hour while my parents were at the coffee shop 3 miles away, we were five (me) and 10 (sis). We were pretty good kids, never did anything besides sneak Star Crunches that were set aside for our lunches.
Nico, now at 10, is hot to trot to babysit Luna and Kaya every now and then. Personally, I feel that she would be pretty good at it. She's taken 2 different babysitting courses. We've run through about 20 different emergency scenarios asking her what she would do if.... happened. I don;t know when we would actually let her stay alone, though. I think she could do it, we;ve just never had a need for it. I also believe the NY law is age specific.
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Well, I'm not finding any Kansas law that specifies a minimum age, but I am finding Kansas SafeKids recommends not leaving any child under the age of 12 home alone and I think that is wack. Really, by 12 I was a competent babysitter. Shoot, half of our babysitters have been 12 when they started babysitting for us. I would hate to have a 12 year old babysitter who had never been left alone with their siblings prior to watching my kids.
Oh, and I saw a bill that was brought before the Kansas House that tried to make it a misdemeanor to leave any child under the age of 13 unattended in a parked car.
Texas is one of those vague states. There is no age specified in the law, it just references the maturity of the child. EXCEPT for when you are talking about leaving them in a car. Then they can't be younger than 7 unless there is someone older than 14 in the car with them. You can step away from the car for 5 minutes without penalty.
Not a runner, but this has come up for us recently. When my sister and I were left alone for 1/2 hour to an hour while my parents were at the coffee shop 3 miles away, we were five (me) and 10 (sis). We were pretty good kids, never did anything besides sneak Star Crunches that were set aside for our lunches.
Nico, now at 10, is hot to trot to babysit Luna and Kaya every now and then. Personally, I feel that she would be pretty good at it. She's taken 2 different babysitting courses. We've run through about 20 different emergency scenarios asking her what she would do if.... happened. I don;t know when we would actually let her stay alone, though. I think she could do it, we;ve just never had a need for it. I also believe the NY law is age specific.
See, I'm thinking that your parents going to the coffee shop three miles away for a half hour was probably more for your experience than theirs. Maybe Nico could start "babysitting" the girls while you and Jay go for a walk in the woods for 30 minutes. I'd bet it would be really good for her.
DANG! I had no idea MN didn't have an age requirement, I thought it was 12. My oldest is 11 and I still haven't left her alone with the other two. I guess we could practice soon.
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Liz~ single mama to Kaitlyn Logan and Christine
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I'm almost positive that 11yo is the age for babysitting in the state of CA. either that, or 12. Connor was over 13 before I started leaving them alone. But my kids are also older. Curran was 5. All I need to do is let them watch tv or play xbox and they are happy as clams for hours...but I don't leave them for hours.
Part of it too, is that my 11yo is waaaay more inclined to take over and make sure everyone minds their p's and q's so I don't feel like I'm dumping a job on my oldest.
I also have neighbors who are home all of the time and if/when I do leave the kids, I pop over and let them know, JIC there is an immediate problem.
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~Jennifer~
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I also have neighbors who are home all of the time and if/when I do leave the kids, I pop over and let them know, JIC there is an immediate problem.
Yeah, absolutely.
For us as well, there would be certain things that would have to be demonstrated first: including Lauren knowing her address, phone number, how to use a phone, etc. We're still working on that so clearly we've got a ways to go.
Carl may or may not have left Erik and Anders at home one evening for 20 minutes while Anders was already sleeping and Erik was reading. He thinks we could do that more, but we don't.
I "practice" a lot when I go over to the church for something and they are home. Just the two olders--CeeCee is too little. Though I do shower and let them "watch" her.
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Heather
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