Teenager babysitting scenario; # child limit?

[Dreamalittledream]

I know of someone who frequently has her 17 year old son babysit 8 children at a time (age range: 3 months to 9. All are related to him, 7 of which are her sister's children and the other is the 17 year olds sibling).

[Inspired by Reggio]

So the one aunt has SEVEN children of her own ~ poor thing likely needs a night out

Grey area sadly ~ if something happened and the shit hit the fan there would likely be some flack and words like 'parental negligence' for leaving a teenager with that many children

However my understanding that when it is occasional evening babysitting and not for the purpose of 'a business of childcare' the government is less like to step in as far as Ministry of Education childcare regulators and the 'no more than 5 children per premise unless licensed rule' .... however perhaps CAS would if it was felt the children were in danger from this practice and someone concerned complained but even than not sure unless there was 'allegation' of actual abuse or neglect going on ... this practice while scary IMO as well is actually quite common for weddings and family events too where the relatives all pool the children and 1 or 2 teenagers to watch them for the night.

[Crayola kiddies]

I have 5 children ranging in ages from 3-21 and I promised myself that I would never make/ask/let the older ones babysit the younger ones ..... If something ever happened that would be a very heavy burden for the sibling in charge to live with.
I am proud to say I have kept my promise.

[playfelt]

In the sense that they are family and the older children are 7-9 themselves and used to helping out with the younger ones I'm sure I don't see a problem with it. Large families develop routines and expectations and it works very well most of the time.

We try to mix programming and cooking and outings in with our babysitting and that is where we get confused on the amount of time and effort it takes. Lining a group up in front of a video, offering the food mom left ready to be microwaved and only having 2-3 of the group of 8 still in diapers is a totally different scenerio. A 17 year old with lots of experience with kids obviously from years of practice will be good at it too. He likely has had responsibilities for younger siblings and cousins since he was 5 so 10-12 years worth. Really don't see an issue at all. Large families do what they have to do.

[Momof4]

It definitely sounds dangerous and makes you wonder if a 17 year old could make proper decisions in the case of any emergency so I can see why you are worried Dream.

[Inspired by Reggio]

.... If something ever happened that would be a very heavy burden for the sibling in charge to live with.....

I hear ya ~ we have worried about this with my stepson who has been made to babysit his half brother since he was 10 years old ... we had to actually threaten to take her back to court and sue for full custody to stop her from having both her and her husband work the night shift and leave the 10 year old home alone from 10pm ~ 8am cause she felt it was 'fine cause the little 3 year old brother was in bed and all he'd have to do is get him up and ready for school' ... but what if there was a fire, a medical emergency or something else a 10 year old is not prepared to deal with that not to mention stepson has ADHD and at the time was taking a sleeping aid to get sleep and well at 10 in my opinion while old to help with 'some' things around the house still needs a PARENT around

It is people like that with no common sense among them that have resulted in us being a society were we are having to have 'government regulations for everything' cause we cannot manage to safely cross the street without someone instructing us step by step anymore and warnings on our coffee that the contents might be hot so we do not drive with them in our crotch and burn our bits and bobs when we hit a bump

[Dreamalittledream]

So the one aunt has SEVEN children of her own ~ poor thing likely needs a night out

.

Yes and this Mom home schools all of them!
I do have to admit that there is a back story. The 17 year old is my step son who frequently has to miss our visitation time with him & school days (!!!) to babysit. I just don't think that is right at all.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Oh Dream ~ total empathy for you here!

We use to get our stepson basically all summer long, every PD day and over Christmas ... basically whenever there was no school until the year he turned 10 .... now we do not get him for any 'extended family vacation' because they make him babysit as well and half the time his stepfather is 'out of work' and could do it himself but they argue he is 'looking' for work and need him there to babysit

The first year she lured him in to wanting to do it with saying she would pay him and than when he asked for his money at the end of the summer she told him 'oh you spent it ~ that is what covered all your back to school clothes" and he was PISSED!

So the next year he stood up to her and came with us for the two weeks we went away to the States on holiday and she made him feel guilty and when it was time to go back to school shopping she basically refused to get him anything and said because she had to pay someone else to watch the brother for those two weeks there was no money left for school clothes .... so we ended up having to take him for his clothes and supplies to ensure he had some!

Not to mention that their household income is MORE than ours and we pay her equivalent to a mortgage payment in child support every month THAT is what is supposed to buy his clothes not his babysitting money or the money she pays someone else to babysit

Karma is coming her way though ... cause he is 16 now and talking about coming to live with us for his final year of school and if he cannot make it to then coming mid semester and just busing it to his school ... he is now old enough to CHOOSE for himself without having to go fight her in court ... which means he is old enough to notice her 'pay stubs' and do the math to realize how much they make every month and than claim to have no money for things he 'needs' and old enough to see that she is a manipulative and selfish women who has never 'put him first' a day in her life and often being a hypocrite in her expectations of him compared to herself ... most recently grounding him from everything under the sun for not taking his ADHD meds regularly and it affecting his grades and than turning around and leaving him 2 weeks without his medication and heading into his exams without any medication to help him focus on studying for them because she is 'too busy' to call the Dr ... we had to actually give him money for a pay phone and tell him to call the DR himself from school on a break and ask for a refill to be called in and give him the money to pay for it when it did .... things we have been doing for him since he was 3 but he is just now able to reflect on through emerging adult eyes about how these are things his mother should have been doing!

[Dreamalittledream]

Oh boy, I'm sure we could vent forever about the vindictive, selfish exes in our lives. Man, when I think of the $$ we pay out (& 17 isn't even my hubby's bio son, she gets support for him from the bio dad too! double pay, and the law allows this!). The sad reality, the worst effected in every case is the children.