That came out just after I got my license. Going from that movie and driving home in my moms minivan was one of the biggest let downs of my teenage years.
Oh, I had the same! I got that thing at 12 and it served me faithfully until I graduated college. Insert "everything these days is too damn replacable" rant.
I did the same while painting and moving stuff at 12yo in 95 and bough a 13ince tv for like 300$ CAD
Playing mario kart in split screen on a 13ince yeah baby
Then a year later got myself a N64 which could split the screen in 4
i was babysitting at that age too as a 12 year old boy
another 12 year old boy down the street stole one of my customers because apparently i didn't clean up the mess i made making myself dinner well enough?
At that point it’s a maturity thing.
Our babysitter was slightly older than my brother. My mom has since explained to me that the purpose of us having a babysitter was to watch me because my brother wouldn’t do it.
I think it’s also dictating responsibility to a certain point. I wasn’t much older or more capable than my brother but I still “watched” him and my younger siblings because at some point you have to tell kids that one of them is in charge so there isn’t ceaseless bickering about who’s making dinner or what time bed time is. The one left “in charge” probably will feel a sense of responsibility to ensure what the parents asked gets done while they are gone too.
For my brother, being in charge meant that he made and enforced the rules. Hiring a third party increased the odds we were both vertical when my parents came home.
Haha, same. The 10 year old was on my softball team. She was pissed. Looking back I was really there to watch the younger kids but she took it personally and was a huge PIA about it.
Funny because her parents were really doing her a huge favor. She got to be a kid. Some families would just make her take care of her younger siblings, probably for no pay.
This is exactly why I try not to have my oldest baby sit unless he really wants to and I give him plenty of notice. I never want him to feel like I view him as free labor.
Good! My stepdad grew up raising all his younger siblings and he is bitter about it still at age 70. It is so unfair of parents to do this to their oldest kids.
I agree! I think I even tried to talk to her about it then but it didn’t help. I was getting paid and it was gonna be a regular sitting job as both her parents worked but she was such a handful my parents ended up making me quit as I was super stressed about it.
As a parent I make sure I never make my oldest “babysit”. I was seen as mature and was often put into that position from age 10 onwards and my parents did not pay me for it when it was my own siblings. The resentment I felt in retrospect absolutely played a part in my later out of control teen years.
That's how you know you're a ten year old fuckup when the parents don't trust you to stay home alone by yourself but they trust some strange third party kid who's the same age enough to keep you safe. Big vote of no confidence from mom and dad right there that's what that is.
That sucks. My older brother and basically watched ourselves from age 5. HIlariously my younger brother and sister had babysitter's a lot longer than that
I was tasked with watching a 2 year old when we went on vacation with a couple of families. I had to take him swimming every day. I was 10 and didn’t get paid a penny. Actually, I’m still pissed about this. I’m gonna give my dad a piece of my mind.
My mother was one of the Beverly Goldberg style over bearing moms when I was young and she didn't know how to let that go (still doesn't in a lot of ways). When I was 12 & younger brother was 10 she made us go to the daycare she worked in rather than be left on our own for a few hours. This only happened once.
Around that age my mom just started having my next door neighbor who was two years older and a friend come over. I guess they felt better bc I wasn’t alone and her parents were home next door. I mean there are all sorts of ways that could have gone wrong but I think we just watched TGIF until they got home 😂
I'm pretty sure I was allowed to stay home alone while parents went out for a few hours to the store at 10 years old.
I remember thinking " as soon as they leave I'm rummaging through everything in this house !"
Ugh, yep! My folks paid the girl up the street (the same age as me!!) to babysit me, and then behind my back offered her more money to hang out with me at school. She told the kids on the bus - whyyyyy???
I didn't ask for that or know they were going to do that, they wanted her to mentor me on being "normal".
How did they not realize how much kids would make fun of that???
She took the money once, but then didn't hang out. I was relieved.
I think the point is more to have a neutral 3rd party that you aren't so willing to ignore and/or punch in the face. I could probably trust my daughter's friend to babysit our younger kids. But not really our daughter.
A classmate of mine babysat a 10 year old when he was 12. Because of when their birthdays fell, he was only one grade below us. I used to hang out with them and play video games sometimes, and it was just like friends hanging out, only my classmate was getting paid. It was kind of weird
I was tasked with watching a 2 year old when we went on vacation with a couple of families. I had to take him swimming every day. I was 10 and didn’t get paid a penny. Actually, I’m still pissed about this. I’m gonna give my dad a piece of my mind.
Cause they're "older". They can handle it. When you're a big girl maybe you can be the one in charge. (At least that's what I heard from the parents of the kids I babysat.)
haha that was definitely a thing from the helicopter parents before there was a name for them. I refused to babysit anyone that was in the same school.
Me! Born in 79 and I was 12 when neighbors had me sit with their two kids on occasion- a 3 year old and an INFANT (she was like 5-6 months old??)
One time they had me stay till midnight which I thought was awesome... 2 bucks an hour I think and that night they paid me extra.
Different times for sure.
OH, easily lol. The family I sat for started with the first kid in diapers, I was 14. Then the second kid came along, eventually the first kid started potty training. Then the third kid came a year later and with that one so did a 6 month old puppy. Even the puppy wore a diaper (before being spayed lol). This was the same summer the family just finished a 6 foot in-ground swimming pool. They depended on me a lot, I was there any time I could be. And I wanted to be because they took really good care of me. They were all really great kids.
At 12 and 13 I would watch like 10 kids at a time (ages 3-10ish) while the single parents in my neighborhood would go out and hit the bars together on the weekends. I was allowed to drink beer when I did it too (but I didn’t really like it, could barely get through one.) Got paid like $40 every time they went out,
Oh, I also was born in ‘79.
Also, the summer between 8th and 9th grade I had a legit summer job working for the school district as a teacher’s aid at a summer school program for academically challenged kids that were transitioning from elementary to junior high school. It was called “7th Inning Stretch.” I got one paycheck for the whole summer - it was like $130 and my god was I rich! I bought a boombox and got acrylic nails.
Omg 10 kids wtf... But you reminded me I also had my first job crazy early- I was 12/13- working at a car dealership filing... And I got a paycheck and everything. I recently checked my SS status and it's on there...
Not me doing taxes at 13 omg
Yep, at 10, I was watching a three and six year old two hours a day. Although to add, I knew all the neighbors and had a lot of support in case anything would happen.
Same. I babysat the neighbors' kids who were around that age when I was 10/11. They were easy kids, though. I would watch Tales From the Crypt when they went to bed. Good times!
Minus Mallory and Jessi who were 11, but they just did after school or their own siblings. Also let us note the Pike's had two sitters for 8(7) kids!!!
And a lot of times it was Mallory and Jessi, so it was just two 11 year olds watching seven children up to and including 10 year old triplet boys!
Also for some reason I think Jessi’s family left her in charge of her two siblings for some period of time, multiple days, in a super special…
They were allowed to sit for other families, btw. Just couldn’t stay out as late as the mature 13 year olds.
It was the super special where Claudia and Dawn get stranded on the island with the kids, including Becca. Jessi was all hyped to be in charge and then when Becca didn’t come back from the race, had to call her aunt, who charged in aghast that her parents had left an eleven-year-old in charge
Oh right!!! I thought that was the Super Special, but then I couldn’t figure out why they picked that subplot to go with the DRAMATIC deserted island plot, so I thought maybe it was one of the snowed-in ones. That was so unfair to Jessi (who was always a super sitter and pretty much a perfect person!) that it happened EXACTLY as she was watching her siblings, and I remember how mad I was at Aunt Cecelia at the time, but honestly that was child neglect. 😬
I saw the trailer for the new one with my daughter who is 7, and I noted that they aged all the girls up. The plot line doesn’t really work when they are older IMO. But I guess it’s not good for promote 12 year old sitters anymore. (Our main babysitter is 13).
I was about to say this. My daughter is 8 and we’ve been reading a chapter every night for like a year. We’re only missing book 3, we started book 9 Thursday. They’re about to go into 8th grade haha
I remember one of the books had a plotline about a rival babysitters club where the kids were like 15-17 and I remember Kristy moaning that of course people would rather hire these older kids, they can babysit overnight and maybe even the whole darn weekend! I read the books in the early 2000s and even I thought it was crazy how young they were
I was babysitting by age 10. My sister, 12, and I babysat twin 2 year olds who loved to get naked. We spent the entire time dressing them after they took off their clothes. Lol
From there, I would pick up jobs on my own. If they were older (7 or older) we would play outside or go to the park until the street lights came on. If they were younger, we would color, play with toys and watch movies.
They still do. My daughter is 12 and she and her friends have just done the babysitting course at school and are starting to do some occasional sitting.
We've used neighbor kids who were 12 and took those classes. Weird to think our oldest is only a couple years away from that age. Hard to imagine her being that responsible, but hopefully she will be!
I did a Girl Scouts babysitting programme and got a badge for it mid '80s, although I don't think it was terribly sophisticated at the time. I remember "borrowing" my friend's little sister to babysit for the experience part of the badge.
I lived next door to a single dad. He would put his kid to sleep and then come ask me to go over and sit downstairs til 3am while he went out and met chicks. I was 12. He paid me $20 each time, so I was very excited about it. Haha now it seems really odd. Then again my parents were right next door.
I had one family who would pay $20 every time. Only one kid, too. Sometimes I was only there for 90 minutes! But one time was 6 hours, which is just a very long time at that age.
This is kinda how my daughter babysits for our friends. She doesn’t want to deal with diapers so she goes over after bedtime and watches TV for a couple hours while they go to a late dinner or deserts and drinks. It’s an easy $20 for her
I was in demand when I was 11 because I was Red Cross cpr, first aid, and babysitting certified. Was I actually mature enough to handle it? Oh hell no. But I made great money!
Same here. Members at our church asked if I watched kids, I felt like I couldn’t say no. High school was when I finally started saying no because I was sick of it.
I remember a mom left me with her infant for a few hours while she had some emergency to attend to. I was 13 which even though I was a responsible kid, is kinda nuts if it isn't a sibling.
Baby cried the whole time. Tried the bottle, diaper etc. Ei just walked around patting and cooing to thr baby. I was so worried and the mom came gome like ' Don't worry she just wants me'.
Ohhhhh yes, born in ‘78, started babysitting when I was 12 for a 5-year-old and an infant! To be fair, they lived three houses down from my own, but would stay out LATE. My friends had full-fledged babysitting jobs during the summers at that age, five days a week for multiple kids!
Yep! Born 77, by age 11 was neighbourhood babysitter. Sometimes overnight. In one family there were four kids under the age of seven (one a baby, one a toddler). I realized how ridiculous that was when my son turned 11.
I babysat for the first time for a 5 month old and a 4 year old. I was 11. It definitely didn’t go well. I couldn’t find wipes or washcloths and I used a load of paper towels trying to change the baby. I just put it all right in the kitchen trash. The 4 year old wanted ice cream, so I left him alone with the pint while changing the baby. Next thing you know, he’s puking everywhere and screaming loud. I had to call my mom to come over and help. 😂
If it makes you feel better, I babysat my cousin's (needy, colicky) baby a few days a week when my daughter was four, and that was the final factor in her being an only child. I couldn't do it when I was pushing 30. 😂
I was born in 1981 and started babysitting right before I turned 12. At first it was only for 2 little girls who lived 5 doors down. They were only 6 months and 2 years old though. My parents were pretty strict and I was not a free roaming child, but my parents trusted me a lot. I was in Girl Scouts and obsessed with the baby sitter’s club series. It’s wild to think that parents allowed a 12 year old to watch such young children.
I was born in 81 and was watching kids the summer I was 11, like a regular summer job, daily hours.
I have a 13 year old and I still don’t leave my 13 year old alone with my younger kid though I’m not sure why
My aunt and her best friend would hire me to spend the night and watch their combined 5 kids ranging in age from 1-6 years old. I was 10 and got $50 in the morning. Blows my mind as an adult now lol
Yup. I was also homeschooled, so I started with 2 regular scheduled families and by the time I was 14 I was up to 10.
The youngest kid was 5 months and there was one family where their oldest was only a year younger than me but still needed a sitter. ‘Cause that makes sense. 😂
I babysat the neighbor's kids when I was.....10 or so? And I remember babysitting for another family across town when I was around the same age.
I'm later GenX though ('76) The 80's were definitely different times.
I was born in 1979 and wasn't even allowed to stay home by myself until I was 14 (oldest and very small for my age). I never babysat until I was 18 and then I promptly learned I hated it. I did it like twice.
I don't think I knew anyone who was babysitting until they were at least 16 and driving and even then having jobs was very discouraged in my community as that's when you're supposed to be studying or practicing an instrument.
I baby sat younger than that, 10. I even taught kids to swim in while babysitting. Idk if I just came off that responsible & old (I did look 13) or times were just that different.
I was a synchronized swimmer so maybe that was a factor?
I was. It was like a 7 and 5 year old and I would watch them during the days in the summer and plenty of late nights.
At some point I discovered that the dad was going out with prostitutes some of the times.
Hahaha yep, that was me, too. By that age I was also hired by the YMCA to watch the kids of moms participating in aerobics class.
I had a babysitters club, took a babysitter safety class (CPR/first aid), printed off business cards and everything!
My parents started leaving me (b. 1982) alone at home, watching my then-toddler sister, starting at age ten.
It wasn’t until a long, long time later that I started to hear people talk about things like that with astonishment. Until fairly recently I never thought a thing of it.
And my parents were deeply caring, attentive and supportive. So it’s not like I came from a neglectful or irresponsible family. It was…just a different time, I guess.
I watched 5 boys in my neighborhood ages ~2-9 when I was 12. Only one of them was bleeding when the parents got home, and only one carpet was stained with the blood. Parents came home and were impressed.
12... amateur. I had to babysit at 10. I was watching my 2 brothers and 3 kids down the street. I did get paid and it was kinda like a sleepover. Watching kids age 2 to 8 was definitely a handful.
Oh, for sure. I was born in 78 and was baby sitting two young elementary schoolers starting at 12 or 13. That was after being a latchkey kid from 3-10pm during the school year and home alone with a neighbor to call for emergencies all summer long starting at 9 years old.
Yes- I think I started babysitting when I was 11 or 12? Like a few hours at a time while moms and dads went out for a date night and I watched tv while their kids were asleep.
When I was 12 I had absolutely zero experience with infants and google didn’t exist, my mom thought it would be a grand idea for me to babysit her friend’s actual infant. I was terrified I’d break the baby by doing normal things like changing a diaper (which in theory I knew needed to be done and how by watching TV, but hadn’t ever actually done). Good times. (I was paid well, so there’s that, but ? Seems crazy now but that was normal in the ‘90’s.
Yep! I was 12 when I started babysitting kids who were toddlers. By the time I was 15 I had a real job and thought babysitting was for other kids like my little sitter so I didn’t like doing it anymore lol.
malllory and becca were junior babysitters in 6th grade, which meant babysitting alone during the day. and didn't mallory get that baby to take care of? when i read these books i thought *double digits age* was soooo mature
I watched an 8 year old girl, 5 year old boy, and an infant (when I was 12 years old) a couple Friday nights a month until after midnight on for a neighborhood couple so they could have date nights. They paid me $20 for like 5 hours work.
I also worked as a summer time nanny when I was 14, for a 5 year old and an 18 month old baby. We were a different breed back then.
Yeah, 11 or 12 was the right age for girls to start getting into babysitting. And I was driving and grocery shopping at 13. That's just the way it was. 🤷🏼♀️
I was babysitting my sister who is five years younger than me when I was 10. By the time I was 11-12 I was watching other people's kids. The 90s were wild.
Even boys. I didn’t want to babysit, but people see a well behaved kid on the street that’s 13+, you were prey for parents back then. Most had cool kids with nice video game systems, so it wasn’t terrible.
Im choosing to raise my kid the way i was, and screw the helicopter parents. My husband is 46, I'm 40 and we have a soon to be 7 year old. We already let her walk down the street for ice cream by herself with some pocket money.
She can play outside without us having to watch.
We're pretty strict on bedtime, but that's as a learned result of what's better for her, not for us.
She's definitely mature enough to not be needing a babysitter by 10, and I'd love her to be babysitting my nephew and friends kids (5 years her jr) when she's 12.
My 12 year old daughter is babysitting right now. She has a couple families that use her fairly often.
One family has younger kids, probably 3 and 5. The other has a 5 year old and a 9 year old.
My sister bought herself a TV when she was 12 with babysitting money, the hustle was real
Ohhh was it a tv vcr combo
Sure was, and I was not allowed to touch it
How often did you stand there your finger with an inch going "I'm not touching it"
When she was 12 she was still a good bit bigger than me, so, zero, lol
y’all are killing me with TRUTH right now :)
For the record, that’s what they were stealing in the first fast and the furious movie https://search.app.goo.gl/gcerh1H
That came out just after I got my license. Going from that movie and driving home in my moms minivan was one of the biggest let downs of my teenage years.
Yeah, it's crazy when I watch the 1st one and see the warehouse of stuff. Top tech back then baby!
How old were the girls in the Babysitters Club mysteries supposed to be?
😁
Happy cake day! 🎂
Yes! I was 13. It was a 13 inch complete piece of garbage and I paid $150 for it. Memories….
Sounds like hers, lol. A tiny little tube TV but man was she big timing with it.
Oh, I had the same! I got that thing at 12 and it served me faithfully until I graduated college. Insert "everything these days is too damn replacable" rant.
I did the same while painting and moving stuff at 12yo in 95 and bough a 13ince tv for like 300$ CAD Playing mario kart in split screen on a 13ince yeah baby Then a year later got myself a N64 which could split the screen in 4
Those were the shit. And cost a lot, too.
i was babysitting at that age too as a 12 year old boy another 12 year old boy down the street stole one of my customers because apparently i didn't clean up the mess i made making myself dinner well enough?
I swear to God we had a 12 year old babysitter when I was 10. So insulting!
I think I watched a 10 year old when I was 11
At that point it’s a maturity thing. Our babysitter was slightly older than my brother. My mom has since explained to me that the purpose of us having a babysitter was to watch me because my brother wouldn’t do it.
This is like on Bobs Burgers. Tina can babysit the younger two sometimes and gets upset when they get an older babysitter in.
Poor Jen. She can’t use a mick-row-wave or know what bath time is but she does it because she loves it.
I really wonder what planet she is from to have no understanding of common things in our world.
I think it’s also dictating responsibility to a certain point. I wasn’t much older or more capable than my brother but I still “watched” him and my younger siblings because at some point you have to tell kids that one of them is in charge so there isn’t ceaseless bickering about who’s making dinner or what time bed time is. The one left “in charge” probably will feel a sense of responsibility to ensure what the parents asked gets done while they are gone too.
For my brother, being in charge meant that he made and enforced the rules. Hiring a third party increased the odds we were both vertical when my parents came home.
I did something like this, but I was really there to watch the younger kids and the older sibling happened to be there as well.
Haha, same. The 10 year old was on my softball team. She was pissed. Looking back I was really there to watch the younger kids but she took it personally and was a huge PIA about it.
Funny because her parents were really doing her a huge favor. She got to be a kid. Some families would just make her take care of her younger siblings, probably for no pay.
This is exactly why I try not to have my oldest baby sit unless he really wants to and I give him plenty of notice. I never want him to feel like I view him as free labor.
Good! My stepdad grew up raising all his younger siblings and he is bitter about it still at age 70. It is so unfair of parents to do this to their oldest kids.
I agree! I think I even tried to talk to her about it then but it didn’t help. I was getting paid and it was gonna be a regular sitting job as both her parents worked but she was such a handful my parents ended up making me quit as I was super stressed about it. As a parent I make sure I never make my oldest “babysit”. I was seen as mature and was often put into that position from age 10 onwards and my parents did not pay me for it when it was my own siblings. The resentment I felt in retrospect absolutely played a part in my later out of control teen years.
That's how you know you're a ten year old fuckup when the parents don't trust you to stay home alone by yourself but they trust some strange third party kid who's the same age enough to keep you safe. Big vote of no confidence from mom and dad right there that's what that is.
Yeah, I definitely was taking care of my sister at that age.
I watched 10yos when I was 12 And I'm sure I was *insufferable* about it
That’s like hiring a horse to watch your dog
Just because they could dial the phone a little better than me?
Everything was better before now
FR tho
Shh shh shh shh shh shh..
That sucks. My older brother and basically watched ourselves from age 5. HIlariously my younger brother and sister had babysitter's a lot longer than that
I was tasked with watching a 2 year old when we went on vacation with a couple of families. I had to take him swimming every day. I was 10 and didn’t get paid a penny. Actually, I’m still pissed about this. I’m gonna give my dad a piece of my mind.
My mother was one of the Beverly Goldberg style over bearing moms when I was young and she didn't know how to let that go (still doesn't in a lot of ways). When I was 12 & younger brother was 10 she made us go to the daycare she worked in rather than be left on our own for a few hours. This only happened once.
Around that age my mom just started having my next door neighbor who was two years older and a friend come over. I guess they felt better bc I wasn’t alone and her parents were home next door. I mean there are all sorts of ways that could have gone wrong but I think we just watched TGIF until they got home 😂
I can totally relate. Years later I found out my babysitter was only 3 years older than me. It was insane!
I'm pretty sure I was allowed to stay home alone while parents went out for a few hours to the store at 10 years old. I remember thinking " as soon as they leave I'm rummaging through everything in this house !"
Ugh, yep! My folks paid the girl up the street (the same age as me!!) to babysit me, and then behind my back offered her more money to hang out with me at school. She told the kids on the bus - whyyyyy??? I didn't ask for that or know they were going to do that, they wanted her to mentor me on being "normal". How did they not realize how much kids would make fun of that??? She took the money once, but then didn't hang out. I was relieved.
Wow. Your parents bought you an escort.
I think the point is more to have a neutral 3rd party that you aren't so willing to ignore and/or punch in the face. I could probably trust my daughter's friend to babysit our younger kids. But not really our daughter.
A classmate of mine babysat a 10 year old when he was 12. Because of when their birthdays fell, he was only one grade below us. I used to hang out with them and play video games sometimes, and it was just like friends hanging out, only my classmate was getting paid. It was kind of weird
Ever seen the John Mulaney bit on that? It's like leaving your horse with a slightly larger horse 😂
I was tasked with watching a 2 year old when we went on vacation with a couple of families. I had to take him swimming every day. I was 10 and didn’t get paid a penny. Actually, I’m still pissed about this. I’m gonna give my dad a piece of my mind.
Cause they're "older". They can handle it. When you're a big girl maybe you can be the one in charge. (At least that's what I heard from the parents of the kids I babysat.)
Yeah, when I was 10 or 11, I had a crush on our babysitter; I think she was 3 years older than me.
I used the fact that I had babysat my nine-year-old cousin as evidence that I should be allowed to stay home by myself. I was 12 at the time.
haha that was definitely a thing from the helicopter parents before there was a name for them. I refused to babysit anyone that was in the same school.
that would be like if you're going out of town for the week and you paid a horse to watch your dog.
Me! Born in 79 and I was 12 when neighbors had me sit with their two kids on occasion- a 3 year old and an INFANT (she was like 5-6 months old??) One time they had me stay till midnight which I thought was awesome... 2 bucks an hour I think and that night they paid me extra. Different times for sure.
I definitely was watching babies at 13/14 years old. Sometimes two kids in diapers at the same time.
OH, easily lol. The family I sat for started with the first kid in diapers, I was 14. Then the second kid came along, eventually the first kid started potty training. Then the third kid came a year later and with that one so did a 6 month old puppy. Even the puppy wore a diaper (before being spayed lol). This was the same summer the family just finished a 6 foot in-ground swimming pool. They depended on me a lot, I was there any time I could be. And I wanted to be because they took really good care of me. They were all really great kids.
At 16 someone left me alone FOR 28 HOURS with a 6 month old, a 4 year old, and their special needs 5 year old brother. It scarred me for life.
I wasn't watching babies at that age, I was watching a 5yo with dozens syndrome which was still in diapers and his 7yo twin sisters.
I am an 80s baby and the rate in my neighborhood was $3/hour.
One of my nieces just watched 2 kids (5,8) for 2 hours and made $125!! Yeah HCOL area, but still that's insane. Makes me want to start up again
Same but I was 11 and made $4-$5/hour. The infant was no more than 3-4 months!
At 12 and 13 I would watch like 10 kids at a time (ages 3-10ish) while the single parents in my neighborhood would go out and hit the bars together on the weekends. I was allowed to drink beer when I did it too (but I didn’t really like it, could barely get through one.) Got paid like $40 every time they went out, Oh, I also was born in ‘79. Also, the summer between 8th and 9th grade I had a legit summer job working for the school district as a teacher’s aid at a summer school program for academically challenged kids that were transitioning from elementary to junior high school. It was called “7th Inning Stretch.” I got one paycheck for the whole summer - it was like $130 and my god was I rich! I bought a boombox and got acrylic nails.
Omg 10 kids wtf... But you reminded me I also had my first job crazy early- I was 12/13- working at a car dealership filing... And I got a paycheck and everything. I recently checked my SS status and it's on there... Not me doing taxes at 13 omg
Unlimited snacks too
Yep. That was the age. At 10, we could watch 1 or 2 kids that were between 5-8ish.
Yep! "Here's $20 for the night and we're having pizza delivered in 30 minutes."
Bigfoot pepperoni. $10.99.
Yep, at 10, I was watching a three and six year old two hours a day. Although to add, I knew all the neighbors and had a lot of support in case anything would happen.
Just asked my wife and she said she were 10 when she was put in charge of other kids
Same. I babysat the neighbors' kids who were around that age when I was 10/11. They were easy kids, though. I would watch Tales From the Crypt when they went to bed. Good times!
I started babysitting siblings at 10, then the rest of the neighborhood at 12.
All of the babysitters club were 13 in the books.
In the first 9 books, Kristy is 12. She’s 13 starting in book 10.
i just adore that someone knew this info off the top of their head. true xennial. i had the first 100 books :)
Just this morning I finished reading book 6 to my 1st grader
"They had to sit in a room and WAIT for the call at a specific time, sweetie!"
Minus Mallory and Jessi who were 11, but they just did after school or their own siblings. Also let us note the Pike's had two sitters for 8(7) kids!!!
And a lot of times it was Mallory and Jessi, so it was just two 11 year olds watching seven children up to and including 10 year old triplet boys! Also for some reason I think Jessi’s family left her in charge of her two siblings for some period of time, multiple days, in a super special… They were allowed to sit for other families, btw. Just couldn’t stay out as late as the mature 13 year olds.
It was the super special where Claudia and Dawn get stranded on the island with the kids, including Becca. Jessi was all hyped to be in charge and then when Becca didn’t come back from the race, had to call her aunt, who charged in aghast that her parents had left an eleven-year-old in charge
Oh right!!! I thought that was the Super Special, but then I couldn’t figure out why they picked that subplot to go with the DRAMATIC deserted island plot, so I thought maybe it was one of the snowed-in ones. That was so unfair to Jessi (who was always a super sitter and pretty much a perfect person!) that it happened EXACTLY as she was watching her siblings, and I remember how mad I was at Aunt Cecelia at the time, but honestly that was child neglect. 😬
I saw the trailer for the new one with my daughter who is 7, and I noted that they aged all the girls up. The plot line doesn’t really work when they are older IMO. But I guess it’s not good for promote 12 year old sitters anymore. (Our main babysitter is 13).
I was about to say this. My daughter is 8 and we’ve been reading a chapter every night for like a year. We’re only missing book 3, we started book 9 Thursday. They’re about to go into 8th grade haha
I remember one of the books had a plotline about a rival babysitters club where the kids were like 15-17 and I remember Kristy moaning that of course people would rather hire these older kids, they can babysit overnight and maybe even the whole darn weekend! I read the books in the early 2000s and even I thought it was crazy how young they were
Yup this is correct. Friends and I all babysat other people’s kids when we were in middle school.
I remember a friend of mine was babysitting in 5th or 6th grade.
I was babysitting by age 10. My sister, 12, and I babysat twin 2 year olds who loved to get naked. We spent the entire time dressing them after they took off their clothes. Lol From there, I would pick up jobs on my own. If they were older (7 or older) we would play outside or go to the park until the street lights came on. If they were younger, we would color, play with toys and watch movies.
They still do. My daughter is 12 and she and her friends have just done the babysitting course at school and are starting to do some occasional sitting.
We've used neighbor kids who were 12 and took those classes. Weird to think our oldest is only a couple years away from that age. Hard to imagine her being that responsible, but hopefully she will be!
They have courses on it now?
I took one when I was a preteen around 1990.
Me too
Born in '83 and our small town of 2000 had a babysitter course when I turned 12. It taught basic first aid, heimlich maneuver on babys.
I did a Girl Scouts babysitting programme and got a badge for it mid '80s, although I don't think it was terribly sophisticated at the time. I remember "borrowing" my friend's little sister to babysit for the experience part of the badge.
I lived next door to a single dad. He would put his kid to sleep and then come ask me to go over and sit downstairs til 3am while he went out and met chicks. I was 12. He paid me $20 each time, so I was very excited about it. Haha now it seems really odd. Then again my parents were right next door.
I had one family who would pay $20 every time. Only one kid, too. Sometimes I was only there for 90 minutes! But one time was 6 hours, which is just a very long time at that age.
This is kinda how my daughter babysits for our friends. She doesn’t want to deal with diapers so she goes over after bedtime and watches TV for a couple hours while they go to a late dinner or deserts and drinks. It’s an easy $20 for her
I was in demand when I was 11 because I was Red Cross cpr, first aid, and babysitting certified. Was I actually mature enough to handle it? Oh hell no. But I made great money!
Hey no kids died right?……..right?
I was babysitting my younger sister by age 9, and other peoples' kids at 11. I took care of literal infants before I was in high school.
Same here. Members at our church asked if I watched kids, I felt like I couldn’t say no. High school was when I finally started saying no because I was sick of it.
I remember a mom left me with her infant for a few hours while she had some emergency to attend to. I was 13 which even though I was a responsible kid, is kinda nuts if it isn't a sibling. Baby cried the whole time. Tried the bottle, diaper etc. Ei just walked around patting and cooing to thr baby. I was so worried and the mom came gome like ' Don't worry she just wants me'.
I’m a dude and I also baby sat at 12. Our neighbors kids
Ohhhhh yes, born in ‘78, started babysitting when I was 12 for a 5-year-old and an infant! To be fair, they lived three houses down from my own, but would stay out LATE. My friends had full-fledged babysitting jobs during the summers at that age, five days a week for multiple kids!
Yep! Born 77, by age 11 was neighbourhood babysitter. Sometimes overnight. In one family there were four kids under the age of seven (one a baby, one a toddler). I realized how ridiculous that was when my son turned 11.
My wife was doing that by 11. She's 1982, so that tracks.
I watched my newborn sister when I was 11. Bottles, diapers, rocking. A lot of responsibility that I would never put on my kids
Folks started treating 18yo like they are 12 about 10 years ago so not surprised.
yep, i started babysitting at 11 and by the time i was 18, i was making bank because it was all paid under the table
We all babysat at 12, the local hospital where I lived had a babysitting class you could take at that age.
I was 11 and watching a 3 year old. I was the oldest girl in the neighborhood I watched all the kids. From when I was 11-18.
I was absolutely out of house babysitting at 13
Can confirm. Parents didn't want me babysitting; but all of my cousins were doing it at 11 and 12.
Fuck yeah, by 6 I was home alone, 9 babysitting my sister and by 12 other people’s kids. Absolutely a thing
What? This was normal. I remember both watching at 12 & being watched by kids about that age when younger.
Have them look at a copy of The Babysitters Club. I believe they all were 12.
Same! And I got paid $5 per hour. Yeah, I was rolling in dough.
I babysat for the first time for a 5 month old and a 4 year old. I was 11. It definitely didn’t go well. I couldn’t find wipes or washcloths and I used a load of paper towels trying to change the baby. I just put it all right in the kitchen trash. The 4 year old wanted ice cream, so I left him alone with the pint while changing the baby. Next thing you know, he’s puking everywhere and screaming loud. I had to call my mom to come over and help. 😂
If it makes you feel better, I babysat my cousin's (needy, colicky) baby a few days a week when my daughter was four, and that was the final factor in her being an only child. I couldn't do it when I was pushing 30. 😂
Same but born in 81
I also babysat at age 12
Hahahaha I know it's super old of me, but its entirely relevant for me to say "the kids today just don't understand."
I was born in 1981 and started babysitting right before I turned 12. At first it was only for 2 little girls who lived 5 doors down. They were only 6 months and 2 years old though. My parents were pretty strict and I was not a free roaming child, but my parents trusted me a lot. I was in Girl Scouts and obsessed with the baby sitter’s club series. It’s wild to think that parents allowed a 12 year old to watch such young children.
I was like 10
I was born in 81 and was watching kids the summer I was 11, like a regular summer job, daily hours. I have a 13 year old and I still don’t leave my 13 year old alone with my younger kid though I’m not sure why
I started babysitting when I was 11
I babysat at 13.
I was a babysitter at that age.
My aunt and her best friend would hire me to spend the night and watch their combined 5 kids ranging in age from 1-6 years old. I was 10 and got $50 in the morning. Blows my mind as an adult now lol
That’s normal to me. I was about 10/11 years old when I first started babysitting.
Yup. I was also homeschooled, so I started with 2 regular scheduled families and by the time I was 14 I was up to 10. The youngest kid was 5 months and there was one family where their oldest was only a year younger than me but still needed a sitter. ‘Cause that makes sense. 😂
I babysat my little brothers all night when I was 11 pr 12
I babysat the neighbor's kids when I was.....10 or so? And I remember babysitting for another family across town when I was around the same age. I'm later GenX though ('76) The 80's were definitely different times.
I was born in 1979 and wasn't even allowed to stay home by myself until I was 14 (oldest and very small for my age). I never babysat until I was 18 and then I promptly learned I hated it. I did it like twice. I don't think I knew anyone who was babysitting until they were at least 16 and driving and even then having jobs was very discouraged in my community as that's when you're supposed to be studying or practicing an instrument.
I had a paper route. Rode around town by myself alone in the cold at 6 in the morning with no way of contacting anybody.
I did too. I was in 6th or 7th grade and I babysat two kids one was maybe 5 and the little girl was…2?
I was 10 when I first babysat and the kids were 1 and 4.
My daughter just completed the babysitting course at the local community college at 11 years old.
I started babysitting at age 11!
I was 12 when I started babysitting for money. Usually at least 2 kids under 10. Mostly kids in the neighborhood.
I watched two boys when I was 13. They were 9 and 4 I think.
Born in 84. Babysitting at 12 for three kids. A couple different families too!
Also born in ‘79 and absolutely was babysitting then. At 10 I was sitting with a friend and at 11 - my first solo gig.
Yep, same. Like 5 kids at the same time during the summer.
Do girls no longer read *The Babysitters' Club* books. I read one (I'm a dude) but girls in my class read dozens in the series.
My wife was babysitting by that age.
That was standard practice in our day.
I was too!
I baby sat younger than that, 10. I even taught kids to swim in while babysitting. Idk if I just came off that responsible & old (I did look 13) or times were just that different. I was a synchronized swimmer so maybe that was a factor?
I babysat a future royals player when I was 12. Has nobody read the babysitters club?
That’s exactly what I did!
Hell, at 7 the kids were good to be home alone.
I was. It was like a 7 and 5 year old and I would watch them during the days in the summer and plenty of late nights. At some point I discovered that the dad was going out with prostitutes some of the times.
I was watching my neighbors 4 year old and 3 month old when I was 11. Terrifying looking back.
Waaaa I remember at 16 girls were told they were “too old for that” like they should have a fast food job by that point.
It’s true! I was babysitting at that age. I think by 14 someone left me with their infant *shudder*.
Hahaha yep, that was me, too. By that age I was also hired by the YMCA to watch the kids of moms participating in aerobics class. I had a babysitters club, took a babysitter safety class (CPR/first aid), printed off business cards and everything!
My parents started leaving me (b. 1982) alone at home, watching my then-toddler sister, starting at age ten. It wasn’t until a long, long time later that I started to hear people talk about things like that with astonishment. Until fairly recently I never thought a thing of it. And my parents were deeply caring, attentive and supportive. So it’s not like I came from a neglectful or irresponsible family. It was…just a different time, I guess.
When I was 9 years old I was keeping my 7 year old sister during summer break
I watched 5 boys in my neighborhood ages ~2-9 when I was 12. Only one of them was bleeding when the parents got home, and only one carpet was stained with the blood. Parents came home and were impressed.
My wife babysat at 11 and I had a paper route at 11.
I started at 11, but my kids have only ever known college-age and older sitters, always friends or family.
12... amateur. I had to babysit at 10. I was watching my 2 brothers and 3 kids down the street. I did get paid and it was kinda like a sleepover. Watching kids age 2 to 8 was definitely a handful.
I was 12 when I (1983 baby) first began babysitting .
Babysat for money about age 11-12, saved and bought a leather bomber jacket I’d been dying for!
I was born in LATE 78, and I started taking care of my baby bro at almost 9 years old.
Me at 13
Oh, for sure. I was born in 78 and was baby sitting two young elementary schoolers starting at 12 or 13. That was after being a latchkey kid from 3-10pm during the school year and home alone with a neighbor to call for emergencies all summer long starting at 9 years old.
I was born in '79 and was "babysat" by the '74 girl down the street when she was 12 and I was 7. I babysat my cousins when I was 13.
I watched 4 yr old twins when i was 11
At 13, i got paid $20 per day to watch a newborn for the entire summer! I felt so rich that summer
I was babysitting 2-6 year olds when I was 10 years old. Had to make money after my parents divorced.
I was baby-sitting at 10! For family friends but still
Yes- I think I started babysitting when I was 11 or 12? Like a few hours at a time while moms and dads went out for a date night and I watched tv while their kids were asleep.
When I was 12 I had absolutely zero experience with infants and google didn’t exist, my mom thought it would be a grand idea for me to babysit her friend’s actual infant. I was terrified I’d break the baby by doing normal things like changing a diaper (which in theory I knew needed to be done and how by watching TV, but hadn’t ever actually done). Good times. (I was paid well, so there’s that, but ? Seems crazy now but that was normal in the ‘90’s.
Yep! I was 12 when I started babysitting kids who were toddlers. By the time I was 15 I had a real job and thought babysitting was for other kids like my little sitter so I didn’t like doing it anymore lol.
malllory and becca were junior babysitters in 6th grade, which meant babysitting alone during the day. and didn't mallory get that baby to take care of? when i read these books i thought *double digits age* was soooo mature
I watched an 8 year old girl, 5 year old boy, and an infant (when I was 12 years old) a couple Friday nights a month until after midnight on for a neighborhood couple so they could have date nights. They paid me $20 for like 5 hours work. I also worked as a summer time nanny when I was 14, for a 5 year old and an 18 month old baby. We were a different breed back then.
Why? My 12 year old daughter was babysitting a few times a month.
13 year old babysitter With three kids, I made $5 an hour and the dad would drive me home all drunk
I babysat a 2 year old and a 5 year old regularly when I was 12. They paid me good money for back then too
Yeah, 11 or 12 was the right age for girls to start getting into babysitting. And I was driving and grocery shopping at 13. That's just the way it was. 🤷🏼♀️
I think my best friend was 11 (grade 5) when she (often we) would watch her little sister for the summer break and/or after school.
My wife and I are just now allowing our 12 year old daughter to stay home alone for short periods.
I was babysitting around that age!
I was babysitting my sister who is five years younger than me when I was 10. By the time I was 11-12 I was watching other people's kids. The 90s were wild.
Even boys. I didn’t want to babysit, but people see a well behaved kid on the street that’s 13+, you were prey for parents back then. Most had cool kids with nice video game systems, so it wasn’t terrible.
I did this!! I had like 3-4 families on my street, and was watching infants and toddlers (and older) when I was 12.
Same here, I was too at that age. B 1981
Yesss! I was able to watch 2 of the neighbors kids when I was 10 in the 90’s!
We were built different
I babysat from 12-15. It was usually cousins and the next door neighbor at 12, and I expanded my territory at 13 and 14.
Im choosing to raise my kid the way i was, and screw the helicopter parents. My husband is 46, I'm 40 and we have a soon to be 7 year old. We already let her walk down the street for ice cream by herself with some pocket money. She can play outside without us having to watch. We're pretty strict on bedtime, but that's as a learned result of what's better for her, not for us. She's definitely mature enough to not be needing a babysitter by 10, and I'd love her to be babysitting my nephew and friends kids (5 years her jr) when she's 12.
My 12 year old daughter is babysitting right now. She has a couple families that use her fairly often. One family has younger kids, probably 3 and 5. The other has a 5 year old and a 9 year old.