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Community Corner

Moms Talk: What Is The "Right" Age To Let Your Child Babysit?

Knowing that Washington State has no laws regulating the age when a person starts baby-sitting, UP Patch's Moms ask when is the right time to allow your children to begin.

Decades ago when I was child, my mom would leave my 8-year-old self home while she ran to the Red Apple to pick up a few items on her grocery list.

Sometimes it’s just easier to leave children home while you run a 10-minute errand, but the culture I grew up in and the one in which I currently raise my children, are two vastly different milieux.

My daughter just turned 11 years old, and we joke with her that in a year we’ll have a live-in babysitter. She merely rubs her fingers together to illustrate the “Show-Me-The-Money” gesture.

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We didn’t pick 12 as our magic number, but rather it’s what we’ve learned as acceptable in our culture.

If we based our magic age on maturity, our daughter would have been babysitting at age 9 or so, but she’s a rare case. I don’t know many fifth-grade children who attend council meetings and save for her their retirement.

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There is no law in Washington State law that says what the legal age is to start babysitting, whether it’s younger siblings or the kids next door.

But if you’d like your child to participate in a safe-sitter class, they are required to be between the age of 11 and 13 years.

This is a recommendation of the general age range when children should start to at least prepare for their baby-sitting adventures.

Parents, I have two questions for you:

1. How old were you when you started to babysit or watch your younger siblings?

2. What is or will be that magical age when your children can babysit and why?

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