by Mopes

Created on: January 29, 2009

The ideal age for a babysitter tends to go down as the child's age goes up. The younger a child is, the more direct and immediate support they need from their caregiver, so you probably won't want a 16 year old watching your 1 year old. I'm going to look at ideal age of a babysitter from 4 different stages: Infant, young child, child, and teenager.

Infant - Newborn to eighteen months

For an infant it's important to have an experienced caregiver. You want to be sure that the child's every need will be attended to, and there is no way to be sure of that without hiring on somebody who knows exactly what they're doing. For this case, I would generally say the older the better. While teenagers obviously aren't ideal, even a young adult may not be qualified. If possible, you would want a person who has children of their own. There's no safer way to ensure somebody knows how to take care of an infant than to see that they have had to do it in the past.

Young child - Eighteen months to eight years

From the eyes of a young child, a teenager is basically an adult. Most younger children just see a 16 or 17 year old and figure they're "big people" like an adult. What this means is that if you are going to consider hiring a teenager to be your babysitter, you will want to ensure that they are mature. At these ages, young children are very impressionable. You don't want them to observe behaviors that you don't want your child to pick up for extended periods of time. It is still best to leave a young child in the care of an adult. A younger adult is generally okay in this case, because even if they're still somewhat immature, they should have the sensibility to act proper around somebody else's child. Especially if it's a paying job.

Child - Eight years to thirteen years

At this stage it is generally okay to leave your child with any qualified babysitter. Unless your child is exceptionally unruly, even a teenager can handle a child in this age group. The child should be developed to a stage that constant care isn't needed, as long as the responsible party knows what they're doing.

Teenager - Fourteen years to sixteen years

This stage is the biggest variable of them all. At this point, if your child is exceptionally responsible, they may not need a babysitter at all. If they are incredibly irresponsible, you'll want the oldest adult available. If they fall somewhere in between, it's somewhere in between. It's impossible to generalize at this stage of child development. You know your child best, so make the judgement call.

Learn more about this author, Mopes.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.