How old?

I think that must depend on the children concerned. We had a young guest here a few months ago who was twelve at the time. She and my youngest son got on wonderfully, and I'd have been happy to leave the two of them together for short periods. She was responsible and very adult, and sometimes I even forgot her age myself. I think she was almost certainly exceptional though, and I wouldn't expect many twelve year olds to be that responsible. You also have to consider that young kids tend to behave better for an outsider than they will for their older sibling! When I think of my own two, the younger shrieks blue murder when his elder sibling asks him to do anything, even if he'd do it no problem at all if it were anyone else asking!

I think it has more to do with maturity. I am glad that you recognize that your son is not mature enough. A lot of parents don't. That can be a very dangerous situation. I think it also depends on how many children, their ages and needs. My sister leaves her 8 years old son with her 13 year old son. Sometimes this might be a good fit, in this case it isn't, the 8 year old refuses to listen to his brother. They live a block away from me so when she leaves them, she calls me and lets me know, I usually go over and get the youngest.

I think it all depends on the kid and how many kids they would be responsible for. Even if your son was really mature I'm not sure I would let him babysit all of them by himself, he's way out numbered lol. You might come home to find him tied to a chair and the kids running wild! Ok just joking. I was around 13 or 14 when my mom started letting me and my sister home alone. I think it all depends on the children ages and the maturity of the one babysitting. I probably wouldn't feel comfortable till my oldest was around 13. But she is only 6 right now so we'll see in a few years.

My son is 9 years old and he has babysat his little sister a few times before. Not for a really long time, but for short periods of time. He watched her last night, so I could run out and grab some soda and pick up dinner. I can trust him with her and I can trust him alone. They were glued to the television the whole time I was gone.

Mine are not old enough to watch each other yet. I also don't think my daughter (who is 3 years older than my son) will ever watch my son alone because of HIM. He's too aggressive and attacks her a lot. On the flip side, my daughter is capable of staying home by herself; she's 8.5 and autistic (DISCLAIMER!!! I live in my father's basement with a separate entrance, so my daughter is never "alone" but she doesn't know that). She will follow rules I put out, and even call me to ask for for an ice pop. Once she even cleaned her bedroom as a surprise for me! My reason behind making sure my daughter is comfortable and keeps herself safe when alone is because my son has a lot of medical issues. At 2-3 in the morning if I have to take him to the ER, I leave my daughter a note on the TV (and send my father a text) instead of disrupting her day. My son's issues already take a lot of my time, so I try to keep her life as normal as possible (well, for an autistic child with an autistic brother being raised by an asperger's mother! LOL) If we're not home when she gets up, she'll call and ask how he's doing. I'm also a single mom, so gd forbid something happens during the day, I also know my daughter will come home and call down the list of "Mommy's not home" numbers to see what is going on, or what she should do, ie; her rules. (Disclaimer 2- I AM always home for my daughter, this is just practice. In school they do fire drills, but there is not a real fire often. This is just our emergency practice drill). I'm working on teaching my son the same way. If my son were better behaved, or didn't attack his sister, I could see my daughter being able to babysit by 12ish. FYI; at least in NY there is no legal age. I'm sure CPS would have an issue with a 5 year old watching an infant, but there is no "magic" number by which your kids can stay home alone and/or babysit.

Definitely not secure to let a 12 years old look after his brothers or sisters. You must wait until 18 or so to relay this obligation to them. Nowadays, most children won't take responsibility on what they were doing. Just watch out, or hire someone else that you can place your trust on.

i think my daughter was just finishing grade 8 when we let her stay at home alone with her sister. (her sister is 4 years younger than she) plus around the age of 12/13 she took a red cross babysitting course which i would highly reccommend. when she went, there were lots of boys there, so he would be fine.

My eldest is 17 now but we allowed him to sit for us for short periods of time from the age of about 13 plus. He was pretty mature in that respect and we never went too far so were always able to get back should he need us. He has babysat for us now on and off for four years.

Its just like mine. My oldest son is 12 years old and my youngest daughter is 2 years old and i have a big problem when it comes to the attitude of my kids because my son could not handle my daughter to babysit for he is the big enemy of my daughter and i dont know why she act always so mad to her bother even my son never had done anything to her. So i prefer not to make them close sometime to prevent the silence inside the house.

I don't really know the exact age, but I think if the child is mature enough then he can take care the baby. We are five in the family. Our mother left us for other man when my youngest brother is still one year old. My elder sister is still ten years old that time. She take care all of us. My father works and only come home once a week. It's pretty hard but we eventually grow up. Thanks to my sister who become our mother at such a very young age.

maybe about 14 or 15, or it depends if their are mature and know what will they do.

My brother was 12 years old when he started babysitting me & my other brother. My brother has always acted so mature. Even as a child he was so mature, only when we played did he act like a kid. All other times he was mature. My grandparents lived next door as a back up so maybe that is also why my parents left us at home during the summer alone. We had chores to do & my oldest brother was in charge to make sure all was completed. He is now a wonderful daddy.

For me its not the age, its how responsible your kids are. There are kids at a young age are very responsible. I know some people ages 15 to 18 and yet they act like a kid.So how can trust your younger child to someone who don't know how to feed themselves or how to take care of themselves.

hoho, that's may be a hard queation, in my opinion wo shouldn't care how old their ages, we should put more attation on whether he is mature in his mind , i have a releative, who just 10 years old , but he can help his parents do so many things, his family's condition is not vert well, but just the condition that make him to be a mature man.

Well that's a hard question, I would surely wait till they are 14 and it also depends on their maturity... I wouldn't want to think about letting a child even mine if they can't be mature enough to keep an eye on their sibling or whatnot. Anyways most of the time it's around 14 or 15 that children are more trusted to be alone with their siblings.

While I don't have any children, I do have a younger brother. I was always very mature and responsible for my age so I was allowed to babysit my brother for a few hours at a time once I turned 13. Mind you, this was only for a couple of hours if my parents were to go out to dinner. If they were going to a function that was going past my bedtime, my aunt would come babysit. When I was 15, I was trusted to babysit for longer periods of time and I started babysitting for other families in the neighborhood. I think it really boils down to maturity level and not necessarily age, but keep in mind that in order to become mature and responsible, you must be given the opportunity to take on new and more responsibilities. This is how we grow from children into responsible, contributing adults. Use your judgment as a parent and I'm sure you'll make the right decision.