Asking older children to babysit for siblings: Guidelines

When people decide to have children they need to look at more aspects than just the joy of parenthood. There are many issues long term that need to be decided upon, long before you become pregnant for the child. One of these is child care. Most parents will research different day care facilities and try to find one that fits within their budget. They will look for the most qualified teachers and caregivers to look after their children, but once their children start school they believe they will have it easier. Parents won’t have to pay as much because the child only needs before and after school care, but then one of your children reach an age where they can legally watch their siblings. At this point, most parents are looking at the financial aspect of being able to save on childcare, but there are a few other points parents need to review before they decide to ask their older child to babysit their siblings.

Homework. One of the aspects that parents will enjoy is that their children will be able to work on their homework before the parents get home. But parents need to be careful that they set the rules for the older sibling. If the parents want the older sibling to be responsible for the younger ones doing their homework then you need to be prepared for a battle. There is natural sibling rivalry between family and when you put one child in charge of another and give them authority it is going to get heated and you could end up with a child getting hurt or one of the children could become withdrawn and quiet. It is best to have the children do their homework but the older child is not responsible for making sure it gets done, so that you are able to remove a bone of contention from the situation before it becomes a problem.

Food. This was always a large problem in our family. The older child believed it was his responsibility to make sure that his siblings didn’t have too much food. You need to make sure you inform all of the children the rules for snacks until you get home. It helps to make one shelf of the refrigerator the only shelf they are allowed to get food from and this works for the pantry also. This way you can put food on that shelf and even label it if you like and then the children know the guidelines they have to follow on a daily basis.

Television. The only way we found for this to work was that each child had a scheduled time to use the television. They could play a game on it or watch a television show, but they could only use it during their designated time. Even if they decided not to use it at that time, the other children weren’t allowed to take over the television. By doing this we were able to cut down on the number of fights over the television and in the process separate the children so there was limited exposure.

Computer. This worked the same way as the television. They weren’t allowed to exchange their time with their siblings, but had to stick to their original scheduled time. If they were in the middle of a game and wouldn’t finish for another 30 minutes they still had to stop whatever they were doing to turn the computer over to their sibling. By setting up the schedule the children learned to keep an eye on the clock to make sure they were at a save point in the game they were playing.

When you leave your children home alone, you need to make sure that you have put guidelines in place to help them as much as possible. Even though you can’t afford to stay home with your children you need to let them keep their childhood. By setting up the guidelines it helps them to stay within their boundaries and not be overwhelmed with responsibility. You don’t want your children to grow up before their time, let them enjoy their childhood as much as possible.