Older kids babysitting

[Deb & Bill]

One question. If Disney won't let family under 18 stay without an adult in a room will they let three children stay alone in the room for several hours?

What will your children do if an emergency occurs? Will they know the correct response for fire or medical emergency?

 

[Violet Parr]

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[Karabee]

You're right, everyone will have their opinions. When I was younger in the 90's my parents would always leave us alone one night or one morning so they could have a private dinner or breakfast. They would be away 2 hours tops and we thought it was the coolest thing in the world. We did this everywhere from Disney to VT. I believe I was 11 at the youngest and I started baby-sitting for the neighborhood kids around 12/13.
Disney is safe (I'm well aware people will now tell me bad things can still happen at Disney), the cast members would be there in a heartbeat if your 12 year old needed someone.
I think it's totally up to your comfort level especially depending on how mature your children are. They know not to open the door to the room, they can sit and watch a movie while you're gone, and perhaps you eat at the hotel you're staying so you're right there. Go with your instincts.

Realized you posted right when I responded - so just consider that my 2 cents worth

 

[vdub322]

When we stayed at BLT this past April, DH and I left DD12 (13 in September) in the room (doing her homework) while DD3 napped and we ran down to the Contemporary to check out the shops, get snacks, etc. I probably wouldn't do it for hours at a time, but that just depends on the comfort level of the parent. Being that my kids are 10 years apart in age, I think about this topic a lot. As long as you were still at the resort, and you are comfortable and able to be contacted by the older one, I say that it's your call as the parent. Just my $0.02.

 

[VAfamily1998]

You're right, everyone will have their opinions. When I was younger in the 90's my parents would always leave us alone one night or one morning so they could have a private dinner or breakfast. They would be away 2 hours tops and we thought it was the coolest thing in the world. We did this everywhere from Disney to VT.

When I was about 12, my brothers were 9 and 7...my mom had a family wedding go to (children not invited) and my Dad was out of town. All our local family would be at the wedding (about 2 hours from our house)...so my mom left my brothers and I in the hotel room while she went to the wedding. The wedding was not on site--actually I'm not even sure where it was, but she drove to it from the hotel, so it wasn't walking distance...She was gone several hours and left us with cash so we could walk to the restaurant up the street for lunch. This was around 1987 or so...before everyone had cell phones, so there was no way for us to reach her until she returned from the wedding several hours later...

 

[got2seemickey]

clearly in the minority here, but I ditto the comments made by tinkbyday. shocking to me that simply writing "kids left alone" as part of your title didn't cause your wise judgement button to kick on.

 

[Violet Parr]

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[navywifetill2002]

When I was 10 (my brother was 6) we took a vacation to Vegas. My parents took us to a buffet and we wouldn't eat anything so the next night they went out and got us McDonald's and left us in the room while they went down to a buffet. We knew to lock the door from the inside and not to open it for ANYONE. My parents enjoyed thier dinner as we had a good time with our happy meals.

By the next year I was babysitting for our neighbors kids. The year after that I was babysitting all over town and even started helping out in a day care.

It all depends on how you feel with the situation. Go with your gut and hope you have a magical trip!

 

[Simba's Girl]

Not sure of the original question, but clearly its about older siblings watching younger ones on vacation.

ODD took the red cross babysitting course when she was 11.5 and has been watching her younger sisters since she was that age.

She is now 12 and will be 13 next time we visit Disney.

At 12 I would leave her in the room alone with her sisters, let her and her next youngest sister (9) explore the resort alone (with cell phone) as long as we were reachable and on site. I would even entertain the idea of letting them go explore rides alone at the park we were visiting for the day, depending upon the crowd level. I would let them explore an indoor mall together like that as well. I wouldn't feel comfortable allowing the 5 year old to be with them too, her personality is too overwhelming and it would be too much responsibility for ODD to handle-right now.

My kids will be 13,10 & 6 next time we go, with their next birthdays all within 2 months. At that time I will feel comfortable leaving them in the room and going offsite to another resort/park and allowing the 6 year old to tag along with the older two-possibly within a park depending upon the crowd levels and how she does listening the more she matures.

I am not sure when/if I will ever feel comfortable leaving them at a pool alone, but that's just me.

Everyone's different and I feel like my kids are wise enough to handle it and I know that if my ODD was not comfortable with the responsibility she would tell me (because I would make sure to ask her)

 

[tzolkin]

clearly in the minority here, but I ditto the comments made by tinkbyday. shocking to me that simply writing "kids left alone" as part of your title didn't cause your wise judgement button to kick on.

I guess I don't see what's so "shocking" about hiring a teenage babysitter. I would not consider paying my teen DD to babysit her two younger siblings to be the same as leaving them home/wherever "alone".

Of course there could be an accident or emergency, but that is a risk at home or anywhere else. Also the OP mentioned staying at the resort where you could run back to the room within minutes. It would take us much longer (an hour maybe) to get home if we were out.


We have not had DD babysit on vacation before because we always stick together (or older DD & I will go somewhere while DH & the two little kids do something else), but if DH and I decide we want to walk somewhere within our resort this trip I would be comfortable leaving the kids "alone" in the room.