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Thread: What age can you babysit a toddler?

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    What age can you babysit a toddler?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12380329

    This mother was given a warning by the police for leaving her eldest son of 14 looking after her youngest son of 3 while she popped out for 30mins.

    Is this another case of bubble wrapping our kids or is it wrong?

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    Ken Clarke was also talking about this case on Jeremy Vine yesterday (I know, I should get out more).

    Ken was a barrister in a previous life and his answer to the question you've asked was "It depends on the teenager and how sensible they are".

    Basically, you leave yourself wide open, as one persons definition of sensible would be different to someone else, not to mention the questions that would be raised by social services and/or the police if there had been some kind of accident or incident while the teenager was in charge, no matter how sensible they were.

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12380329

    This mother was given a warning by the police for leaving her eldest son of 14 looking after her youngest son of 3 while she popped out for 30mins.

    Is this another case of bubble wrapping our kids or is it wrong?
    Interesting I would have been about 14.5/15 when I started babysitting for our neighbour

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    It's hard to remember back that far, but I think I was 15 when I started earning money by babysitting. Most of my peers were out every week or two looking after someone's kids.

    Admittedly it was older than toddlers - only babysat for a child still in nappies once, and didn't have to deal with that even then.

    It might have been interesting had the mother declined the police caution, and sought a trial. I suspect a jury of her peers would've found her innocent.

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12380329

    This mother was given a warning by the police for leaving her eldest son of 14 looking after her youngest son of 3 while she popped out for 30mins.

    Is this another case of bubble wrapping our kids or is it wrong?
    "Younger than she are happy mothers made."

    In the Middle Ages a girl might already have her own baby or two by the time she was 14. Even now she can legally marry and have children only two years later, though not without a chorus of social disapproval, of course.

    I'm not advocating marriage at puberty as a good thing but, yes, I think this is a case of over-protectiveness.

    I appreciate that for legal clarity there has to be cut-off point and I would have thought 14 is about right for most people - there will always be exceptions both above and below that age, of course, but I'm not sure if you can legislate for the vagaries of human nature.

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    Quote Originally Posted by jivecat View Post
    In the Middle Ages a girl might already have her own baby or two by the time she was 14. Even now she can legally marry and have children only two years later, though not without a chorus of social disapproval, of course.
    And some girls have children before they're aged 16 even today - are they not allowed to look after their own children?
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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    I started babysitting at about the age of 13 for a neighbour's son and daughter. She must've been about 5, he was a year or two younger - just finishing his toilet training at the time. I earned a fortune, and their mum still says I did a good job bringing them up

    I think this caution is madness.

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    I say lets throw the caution to the wind, and the baby out with the bath water

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    madness. all of it.


    that is all.

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    It totally depends on the 14yr old! They all mature at different rates, especially girls vs boys!
    Also, surely it depends on the relationship between the toddler and the babysitter.
    What if its a big sister?

    Its all plain daft if you ask me!
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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    The fundamental problem seems to be with the CRB system itself - there's no right of appeal, it's effectively a blacklist to which you can be added, without any form of due process.

    So, for example, the woman in this case has a real problem with her chosen profession (healthcare assistant), and she may effectively be unemployable in that profession, because she's been added to that blacklist.

    From here:

    She has also remained suspended from her job in the Thames Valley since September 2009 because the caution is revealed under Criminal Records Bureau checks.

    The woman, in her mid-40s, who is fighting for a law change and reinstatement, claims the system makes her “unemployable”. As well as being unable to pass a CRB check, the caution automatically bars her from working with children for 10 years.

    This was despite her being taken off the barred list by the Independent Safeguarding Authority after a year-long social services probe produced a “glowing” report which confirmed her children were healthy and well looked after.
    So she's been heavily penalised already, just for receiving a caution - which, possibly, she did simply to get it over with.

    And it gets worse.

    Even if she had fought the caution, if it had gone to court, and even if she had won in court, then there'd still be an entry in the CRB list, as a "suspected abuser" or whatever. Despite her being proven innocent.

    So you can be penalised simply by being suspected or accused.

    I'm hoping that there's more to this story than appears - that there's a good reason for the caution. In fact, I suspect there must be more to it. If only because someone raised the alarm which led to the caution.

    But even so, the system seems incredibly draconian - from here:

    One of the nurses taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, named only as "Mr O", was sacked last year after being cautioned when his wife left their children alone for a short time while he was at work – even though he was unaware that his wife had done this.

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    I don't remember Madeleine McCann's parents being blacklisted...or maybe that would be because they weren't in the UK when their disaster occurred.

    I did a huge amount of babysitting starting age 14.

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    Quote Originally Posted by Aleks View Post
    I don't remember Madeleine McCann's parents being blacklisted...or maybe that would be because they weren't in the UK when their disaster occurred.


    I did a huge amount of babysitting starting age 14.
    Good point regarding McCanns

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    Ken Clarke was also talking about this case on Jeremy Vine yesterday (I know, I should get out more).

    Ken was a barrister in a previous life and his answer to the question you've asked was "It depends on the teenager and how sensible they are".

    Basically, you leave yourself wide open, as one persons definition of sensible would be different to someone else, not to mention the questions that would be raised by social services and/or the police if there had been some kind of accident or incident while the teenager was in charge, no matter how sensible they were.
    I think that the "how sensible they are" argument is a difficult one to make stick. Once you start saying that people who look after children have to be measured to see if they are "sensible" you open a whole can of worms.

    Was it "sensible" to get preganant at 13/14/15? No? Therefore they are not "sensible" and should not be looking after children. Take their child into care.

    Was it "sensible" to feed your child fast food every day. No? Same arguent. Take their child away.

    Was it "sensible" to drive at 125 MPH? Do they have children? Take the children away because they aren't "sensible".

    Are they wearaing a black belt with a blue suit or carrying a handbag that clashes with their shoes - shoot them on sight!

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    Re: What age can you babysit a toddler?

    And my considered opinion is that the police over-reacted.

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