Late babysitting hours

[MareQ]

Apparently, the mom was going to walk her halfway, which I guess meant to our corner but it would have been nice if she had brought her the whole way.


When I hired babysitters, I always took their age into consideration and we were always back by midnight.

This was her first late night job; everything else has ended by 9 or 10. We'll know better next time to set the guidelines ahead of time. If you're going to call someone at the last minute, you have to accept the babysitter's curfew.

#1 - sorry but any responsible adult would take their babysitter ALL THE WAY HOME! Not halfway there - especially a 12 year old and especially at 1 am. She should have been walked to the door and they should have waited until she went inside to make sure she was home safe.

#2 - Any person that thinks staying out until 1 am while a 12 year old is at home babysitting their child is a person that won't be seeing my daughter again. Sorry - you want to stay out late - get yourself a more mature babysitter like grandma. If all you can get is a 12 year old(NOT knocking your daughter - just saying a 12 year old is at the very basic level of babysitters IMO) - then a few hours is all a RESPONSIBLE person would take from them.

I am APPALLED that they felt it was ok to stay out that late. IMO - children under the age of 18 should not be made to baby sit past 10 pm. Just irresponsible. I'd never let her babysit over there again.

 

[Imzadi]

The thing I hated was that they always wanted to drive me home- I only lived about 10 houses down and it was just creepy being in the car with the father-even for that short ride. I always wished the mother would drive me home!

Presumably, the thought behind this idea is that if there was someone hiding in the bushes when you got home, the father would be able to do something about him. Unless the mother knows martial arts or carries a gun, she's be useless screaming in the car.

However, that being said, yeah, I'd feel creeped out too getting into a car alone with the father that late. We're always trained not to get into cars with strangers - especially men. Just because they don't think of themselves that way doesn't mean we wouldn't feel uncomfortable

Apparently, the mom was going to walk her halfway, which I guess meant to our corner but it would have been nice if she had brought her the whole way.

WHAAAT?!? That mom is insane! If she was too lazy to walk your DD all the way home, shame on her. If she too, was afraid of the dark & didn't want to walk beyond eyesight of her own home, she should have had the sensitivity to understand your DD might be scared too.

 

[jodifla]

#1 - sorry but any responsible adult would take their babysitter ALL THE WAY HOME! Not halfway there - especially a 12 year old and especially at 1 am. She should have been walked to the door and they should have waited until she went inside to make sure she was home safe.

#2 - Any person that thinks staying out until 1 am while a 12 year old is at home babysitting their child is a person that won't be seeing my daughter again. Sorry - you want to stay out late - get yourself a more mature babysitter like grandma. If all you can get is a 12 year old(NOT knocking your daughter - just saying a 12 year old is at the very basic level of babysitters IMO) - then a few hours is all a RESPONSIBLE person would take from them.

I am APPALLED that they felt it was ok to stay out that late. IMO - children under the age of 18 should not be made to baby sit past 10 pm. Just irresponsible. I'd never let her babysit over there again.

If the OP wants certain rules for her daughter as a sitter, she needs to state them.

I feel the sitter should have been walked home by the parents.

But it's rubbish to suggest that a 17 year old can't babysit later than 10 p.m. Mine does it all the time, and she's only 16. She lives across the street.

 

[Cool-Beans]

I babysat until 12 or 1 a.m. all the time. On rare occasions, it would go until 2 or 3. I'd usually talk on the phone, watch TV, and fall asleep.

But nobody ever didn't see me home. WTH? Even the next-door neighbor would walk me to the door.

If your daughter has a curfew, she has to start asking how late the folks will be out before accepting the job.

 

[Lil_Tink]

This happened to me once.

I ended up falling asleep.

Quite embarressing. But the parents learned their lesson.

 

[MareQ]

If the OP wants certain rules for her daughter as a sitter, she needs to state them.

I feel the sitter should have been walked home by the parents.

But it's rubbish to suggest that a 17 year old can't babysit later than 10 p.m. Mine does it all the time, and she's only 16. She lives across the street.

I think it's rubbish that you'd call MY OPINION rubbish.

 

[robinb]

When we hire a babysitter it is usually for (1) a long time and (2) late at night. We use babysitters for Badger football games and the theater. I am always up-front with the babysitter that I will need them at 5:00 PM and I won't be home until after midnight when we're going to the opera. Sometimes I will split the time between two sitters and have them do a hand-off in the middle if 6-8 hours is too long. I also don't care if they take a snooze on the couch.

My recommendation is that you (or your DD) should make sure you know when the parents are going to be home in advance so you don't worry.

 

[Ms Marigny]

I used to do a lot of babysitting in high school and college- the parents almost always gave me an approximate time they would be home. One couple in particular would arrange with me ahead of time to sleep over if they knew they were going to be really late (they went to a lot of parties ) which worked out fine for me because I didn't have to wait up for them and they would pay me a flat sleepover fee ($50 I think- in the early 90's this wasn't bad!).
I also required the parents to provide transportation before I started driving my own car- that is ridiculous that you had to walk her home!

 

[Karel]

If the OP wants certain rules for her daughter as a sitter, she needs to state them.
I feel the sitter should have been walked home by the parents.
But it's rubbish to suggest that a 17 year old can't babysit later than 10 p.m. Mine does it all the time, and she's only 16. She lives across the street.

As the OP, I agree with all of the above. We'll do better next time and I have no problem with her staying out past 10.

Please don't fight. I didn't even think that they would be out that late and now I know better.

What's that hockey saying - I went to the DIS board and a fight broke out...I went to the fight and the DIS board broke out..

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I started baby-sitting at 13. My parents didn't really care how late I was out as long as they had some idea. If the parents were going to be later than originally planned they just called and told me. They also didn't care if I feel asleep. I pretty much exclusively babysat for one family.

The Dad used to drive me home (one block) and one time, when I was learning to drive, he wanted me to drive myself home with him in the passenger side. Backing out of his driveway I ran into his bushes. LOL! On my wedding video you can hear the wife telling that story to DH when they were dancing during the dollar dance.