10-Year-Old Arrested In Child Abuse Case

[misol]

This is aweful!

However, my 11 year old daughter has been babysitting since she was 10. I trust her COMPLETELY. She is responsible, and has been helping me with her siblings since she was 4. She helped me change diapers, give baths, feed, etc.

She is now the sitter for her younger sisters and brother when I have to run to the store (2 hours max). She has my cell phone number, and grandma lives less than a mile down the road. She also has ground rules for sitting: No TV, No phone, No internet. Her attention MUST be focused 100% of the time on her sisters and brother. Period. If I find she's not able to handle this, no more getting to babysit.

We have never had issues that would make her untrustworthy.

However,

It depends on the child, and how they were raised. My opinion is, at the age of 10 a child should be responsible enough to know how to care for younger siblings. They should know ALL emergency contacts, what constitutes an emergency, and they should know their limits of when it's become too much to handle.

I agree with you. I am the oldest of 4 and I was also 11 when my mom left me in charge of my siblings for an hour or two at a time. I was much more responsible than the average 10 year old.

I can't say that I know any 10 year olds (or 16 year olds) that I would trust leaving my child with. Today there are just too many potential distractions and no sense of personal responsibility among teens today.

[originalkat]

I babysat when I was ten and now that I look back...I dont know why anyone would have let me do that!! I was a sweet responsible kid who was good with other kids and worked in the church nursery etc... But being alone with young children at night just is not safe. One family asked me to give the kids a bath. A ten year old in charge of giving 3 kids a bath!CRAZY! Another family told me to fix the kids dinner...and said to pick something out of the pantry. That was so overwhelming. I remember thinking that it was all too much responsibility. What if I would have walked out of the room to answer the phone while the kids were in the bath or what if one of the kids choked on their hot dog?? I dont think a ten year old child should have that kind of responsibilty.