Boys as babysitters

[ashlynn_j_m]

I have a male babysitter and he's wonderful. He's been babysitting for me for a few years now, and i couldn't ask for a better person. My daughter tells everyone she has the best babysitter in the world.

 

[TEENEE]

As a matter of fact my ds is babysitting right now. Little kids love him. I think it's because he's kind of quiet and loves playing with them. So yes I would hire a male babysitter.

 

[Bob Slydell]

I kind of feel, like some posters, that boys are generally more fun as babysitters. They're still into physical play as young teenagers (for better or worse) and kids love that.

While my boys loved their previous babysitter as well (who just happened to be our current babysitter's older sister ), there is some truth to that, I agree. My 6 year old loves that his babysitter now does "guy" stuff with him, like playing basketball and video games and teaching him new soccer moves (not that any of those are things exclusive to males, mind you).

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I should mention, too, that I didn't hire boys to babysit my kids. Not because I wouldn't have, but I didn't know any. I suppose I could have done a better job seeking them out, but we really didn't hire many babysitters when my older kids were little. My kids are now 7, 13, 16, and 19. When my youngest was 1yo, my oldest was old enough in Maryland to babysit (13yo) and mature enough for short periods of time, so I didn't need to usually hire anyone for him. And now I have Jake's older brothers to babysit him.

Also, I wanted to add that my teenage boys babysit boys and girls. I am so glad that the parents don't have any problems hiring boys to babysit. They know my boys (neighbors) and it's usually for one family, but my 16yo is usually the one they call and there are girls in the neighborhood that they could call.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

My oldest ds used to babysit for a family with 2 boys. One had adhd and sometimes he was a handful but ds always handled him with lots of video games and of course, let them stay up a little bit later!! I would never let any of my ds babysit a family with girls, its just a family rule etc. Our other family rule is my dh was never allowed to take a girl babysitter home alone, one of the ds had to be with him etc. but usually I was the one who brought them home.

 

[ilovejack02]

My oldest ds used to babysit for a family with 2 boys. One had adhd and sometimes he was a handful but ds always handled him with lots of video games and of course, let them stay up a little bit later!! I would never let any of my ds babysit a family with girls, its just a family rule etc. Our other family rule is my dh was never allowed to take a girl babysitter home alone, one of the ds had to be with him etc. but usually I was the one who brought them home.

My DH wont take female sitters home alone either, he made that rule up himself. I think its a great rule to have. Because of it if my son isnt available I usually only use the two girls that live next door to me or I have one sitter whose mom insists on bringing and picking up the girl, which I am grateful for lol. Its a pain to get out a midnight and bring the baby with us to bring a girl home.

 

[azgal81]

I would. Growing up my parents had the neighbor kid who was a boy babysit for me and my brother sometimes.

 

[disneymom3]

My DH wont take female sitters home alone either, he made that rule up himself. I think its a great rule to have. Because of it if my son isnt available I usually only use the two girls that live next door to me or I have one sitter whose mom insists on bringing and picking up the girl, which I am grateful for lol. Its a pain to get out a midnight and bring the baby with us to bring a girl home.

Yep we have the same rule. We did have one girl who babysat for us for several years and only lives about a block away--she always walks here--and he would bring her home after awhile. She just felt like part of the family she was here so much. But generally I bring the sitters home. I remember being a girl and feeling kind of uncomfortable with the dad bringing me home.

I would hire a boy if I knew him well and have in the past. However, at this point I would not. I worked with a guy who was a sr in high school, had FIVE little brothers and was an awesome hardworking kid. He babysat for us twice but then went off to college. The kids thought he was a blast. Tje reason I won't do it now is because DD is 10.5 and the whole getting ready for bed thing would be uncomfortable for her. If it was a middle of the day thing, I would probably be fine with it. There are a few boys at our church that I would have come over.

 

[zagafi]

Yep, absolutely. I have a 14 year old who watches my guys on occasion now. I choose my sitters by character and reference, not by gender.

 

[lindalinda]

I have hired boy babysitters several times, when my son was around 7. The sitters were 13-14 yrs old. My son loved having the boy babysitters because they played the kind of games he likes. This is both a positive and negative, since one of them liked to turn him upside down and shake him, which is a little too rough for a babysitter to be doing. But other than that, it worked out well.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

From my neighborhood?

Absolutely not. Of course I wouldn't let my kids hang out socially with them anyway. I just recently fired a couple of girls that my dd's adored and had so much fun with. The problem was they sat together....and one of the girls had moved...turned out her mom moved in with her boyfriend. Okay--not big deal. When I drove her home that evening..turns out BF is the ex of the other girls mom. And the ex forbids her to be friends with the other girl. So unknown to me--BF thought she was sitting alone and I am just not interested in having a "problem" when I am not at home. Too much drama. So no more neighborhood sitters for me right now.

The more I thought about it--I could envision if I needed someone and certain sons of my friends would like to babysit, that I might consider it in the future. But mostly in my neck of the woods...it seems to be mostly a female job and I have only ever been approached by girls that I know.

 

[aprilgail2]

I wouldn't let a 13 year old babysit for my daughter, male or female, that is way to young for me...but honestly no- I wouldn't let any age boy babysit for my daughter.

 

[jodifla]

For me, it would depend on the boy. I'd definitely let the 16 year old sit for my son, but he's too busy with his lawn and snow shoveling business, and maintaining his new BMW.

 

[Cool-Beans]

I'd hire a boy to watch boys but not girls.

 

[golfgal]

One of the best babysitters we ever had was a boy, great kid, super responsible, etc. Our boys were bummed when he got too old and too active to babysit.

DS14 babysits quite a bit. In our old town our next door neighbor was a single mom to a 2nd grade and 3rd grade boy and he babysat for them all the time. The boys loved him and it was nice for the mom not to have to drive him home. He also babysits for some friends of ours now and they love having him because he plays with them and doesn't sit on the phone and talk all night .

 

[golfgal]

I wouldn't let a 13 year old babysit for my daughter, male or female, that is way to young for me...but honestly no- I wouldn't let any age boy babysit for my daughter.

Around here if you don't use middle school aged kids you can pretty much forget ever getting a babysitter because the older kids are too busy .