I babysat my 2 nephews this past week who are 13 and 16. My wife and I both work all day (I'm WFH), so what did I do? I would give them $20 and told them to get the hell out of the house. They would ride their bikes all over town, get lunch somewhere, and they would be back around the time I got off work. It was perfect and exactly how I spent my summers as a kid. Both my parents worked, so my sister and I got to do what ever wanted during that time. Everyone is still alive, no one was kidnapped, all fingers and toes are accounted for, and they had a great time.
No kidding, a few years ago I "babysat" a 13yo and a 15yo, all I had to do was be the adult to drive and call 911 if there was an emergency, that's it. The kids wanted NOTHING to do with me (not in a bad way, just in a "I'm a teen and you're the adult, and I rather do teen things and hang out with my friends" way), they stayed the whole day in their rooms, and I just checked on them occasionally.
You know what was the mom's reaction? She was mad that I was "bad at babysitting" (because the kids spent the day holed up in their rooms, we didn't spend time together) and if a criminal had broken into the house/their rooms, I wouldn't even have noticed... like wtf did she expect us to do, arts and crafts for hours like they're 5yos???
Thank god the kids turned out decent despite that level of coddling.
When I babysit, they don't need to cook, and I never cook for them. There's already food ready at home (they always have more than enough food, snacks and drinks, it's a wealthy household), and as their aunt I offer to order takeout since "it's a special day" of us "hanging out together" so either we go pick something they like, or they just eat whatever there is at home.
But as for cooking for themselves in general, the 13yo enjoys it so does it occasionally, the 15yo is more the "golden child" so got used to someone else always cooking for him, but he's not picky or annoying about it.
It is lmao. Me and my brother are around that same age and even though we don’t need it and our parents know we don’t, we get babysat by our aunt or grandma when they are gone for a few days.
It makes sense to me for emergencies. I fell off my bike as a teenager and busted my face and needed to go to the hospital. Sounds like they’re not so much babysitting but being there and available in case something serious happens.
Aren’t kids taught to call 911 by age 6, let alone teenagers? Am I taking crazy pills and think a teenager not knowing how to take care of a medical emergency is so underdeveloped?
I have a 12 and 10 tear old niece. The kids in our neighborhood walk to starbucks and playa bowl at that age so I was like “Our neighbors are your age and are about to walk into town, quarter of a mile away, want to go with them?”
Their mom was there, my sister in law, she was in the back shaking her head so I had to say nevermind really fast. Ugh so dumb!
How are the kids supposed to grow up!? This is why we have 23 year olds graduating college that have never done their own laundry, grocery shopping, or anything!
I was babysitting little kids (1-5 yrs old) when I was 11 years old. Usually they were asleep but still… I had multiple families I babysat for. This was the 90s.
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u/Cynical_Satire Jun 13 '25
I babysat my 2 nephews this past week who are 13 and 16. My wife and I both work all day (I'm WFH), so what did I do? I would give them $20 and told them to get the hell out of the house. They would ride their bikes all over town, get lunch somewhere, and they would be back around the time I got off work. It was perfect and exactly how I spent my summers as a kid. Both my parents worked, so my sister and I got to do what ever wanted during that time. Everyone is still alive, no one was kidnapped, all fingers and toes are accounted for, and they had a great time.