What age can a child babysit?

nwsflash · Jan 22, 2006, 06:23 AM

Most States do not have regulations or laws about when a child is considered old enough to care for him/herself or to care for other children.States may have guidelines or recommendations. These guidelines are most often distributed through child protective services and are administered at the county level.
Contact the National Clearinghouse (NCCAN) at 800-394-3366, and staff there will refer you to your local child protective services agency to learn about age guidelines in your area.

Hope that helps also please look at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/poptopics/homealone.htmlthere is some good info there. Hope you manage to get the problem sorted with your Ex.

marc greenhalgh · Jan 22, 2006, 08:20 AM

Thank you this is the information I have needed! I love the quote and I have been implementing this in my life recently so it is very profound to me! Again thnak you

nwsflash · Jan 22, 2006, 08:45 AM

Quote:

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience by which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to
Yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."

Thank you I'm pleased that I could help you! This is a good forum and I'm sure you will enjoy spending time here.

If you like what members say or don't like it, you can click on the right hand corner top of post(s) & "Comment on this post" and leave member feed back.

Good luck with sorting things out.

fredg · Jan 22, 2006, 08:51 AM

Hi, Marc,
Welcome to this site; it's a lot of fun, with a lot of good information.
Nwsflash's answer is very good.
I would like to add that a child can babysit at any age....... Of course, I'm sure you know that means the child knows what to do or call in case of an emergency. At 13, I see no reason why your child can't babysit!
I am 64 yrs old, and have 3 children (all grown and moved away now), and they did the same thing when they were young.
You ex seems to be giving you a lot of trouble, for no reason. There are some like that! My first marriage ended in divorce after 7 yrs, and this is my second, to a wonderful woman, now going on 29 years. Her ex-husband was one of those!
Fortunately, we moved 400 miles away from him!
That solved all the idiotic problems he kept coming up with, with her 6 yr old daughter, my step-daughter. Because of him, the daughter is now 36 yrs old, and looks at me like her own "father". She is respectful of her real father, on the phone, but only wants to see him maybe once a year, just out of respect.
Hang in there, and hopefully, eventually your ex will realize that a fool acts like that! I do wish you best.

Fr_Chuck · Jan 22, 2006, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc greenhalgh

My child with my ex is 13. I have remarried and have 3 other children that my 13yr old babysits for occasionally. I returned to work part-time. Usually it is for 1-2 hrs but one day it eneded up being 4 hrs. My ex threatened to call the police and said it is illegal to have a 13 responsible for other children. I need to be free of this man's threats to take custody away from me and have been dealing with this for 13 yrs. Can someone please tell me what the law is, so I can be clear and take a course of action. Thank you. I live in NH

First most likely until the kids are grown you will not be away from his threats, if it is not this issue there will be something else. He sounds like many men or women I deal with often that want and try to use the children to control the other spouse after they are divorced.

As for as the child issue, Iwould check with the local social welfare department, Here it would be the Department of Children and Family services ( they are the ones that investigate child issues not the police at least locally here)

He will most likely look for reasons to "push your buttons" the rest of your life if he can. This is just something he found to use.

baybi_boo101 · Nov 19, 2007, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc greenhalgh

My child with my ex is 13. I have remarried and have 3 other children that my 13yr old babysits for occasionally. I returned to work part-time. Usually it is for 1-2 hrs but one day it eneded up being 4 hrs. My ex threatened to call the police and said it is illegal to have a 13 responsible for other children. I need to be free of this man's threats to take custody away from me and have been dealing with this for 13 yrs. Can someone please tell me what the law is, so I can be clear and take a course of action. Thank you. I live in NH

What I think you shoud do is talk to a judge or something because I think when she is at your house then you are the one in charge of her not him! I also think that you might be able to sit down and tolk to him on the phone and try to work something out! And if that doesn't work then I guess you can talk to me again. I will try to come up with more answers to all of your questions!

Sincerally,
Shelby♥

skysky · Mar 1, 2008, 06:05 PM

I think you should be at least 12.

DAVIDSROGERS · Jun 17, 2010, 02:24 AM

The laws are so varied, if there was an accident, the child baby sitter would not be culpable but the parents would be. Conmon sense shoould prevail. For short periods ie 2_3 hours is OK for someone at the age of 12 especially girls however, 16 should be recognized as a legal age. In France it is law and the province of Quebec, I have had the same issue as a father, my 2 boys 7, and 11 being baby sat at night by a 13 yr old, the 13 yr old was bored and decided to go out and play at 10.30 at night with my 7 yr old. We live in Ontario. The law says 12 yrs old can. I intend to have it changed to 16. The world has changed. Our children must be protected. I would say 16 with a certificate would be good, common sense should dictate

richoicles · Jan 7, 2011, 05:50 AM

My Daughter who lives with us leaves my 11 yr old grand daughter at home to care for a 2yr old .a 3 yr old and a 5 yr old . This drives me crazy and I feel that if I leave and knowing this that heaven forbid if anything happened because the 3 yr old has ADHD and the 2 yr old gets into everything,that I would be responsible and that if something did happen my poor grand daughter would have to live with it.When I say how I feel my daughter will yell at me or my wife ,my daughter has a drug problem and has to go to a clinic every morning for a dose of meth.We don't know what to do .We took custody of the 2 older kids from her husband and then she had 3 children with another man who now is serving 25 yrs for drug trafficing.My daughter is trying to get him out and I know they will go back to it ,but this is not about her and him its about the 3 younger ones and the way she thinks .She has told me she would have me killed ,but I am more afraid of her doing something to her mother.Can anything be done about her leaving the younger children with the 11 yr old ?

What age can a child babysit?

Add your answer here.

Check out some similar questions!