A teenager to take care of your kids.

They're between 13 and 18 years old, middle or high school students, it's their first years of experience in babysitting. Often they're introduced by friends of the family or recommended by other parents, who already know them well. This is the first type of babysitter.

They're often highly popular among children who see them more like big sisters or big brothers than as a person who has authority over them. Parents don't always trust the young babysitters if they don't know them. Yet some are perfectly capable of caring for children. Sometimes from big families, they've already had the opportunity to care for their siblings.

 Really, a school kid as a babysitter?

Parents who employ young babysitters do so most often based on the capabilities of the adolescent.
These are mainly sitters for short periods, when there is no need to take the kids outside. Or in the case of straightforward babysitting during the evenings. Sometimes children are already in bed and the babysitter is simply there in case the child wakes up.
In case of problems, he or she is responsible for calling parents who are never far away and can return quickly. Still, it doesn't always go smoothly. Carol at 4 Moms 1 Blog shares her difficulties with getting her children to respect a teen sitter.

Angela at Writer Mom's Blog offers her 7 Rules for Hiring a Teen to Babysit, such as discussing the sitter's pay rate in advance. We highly recommend you read them!

Testimony of Edward, a student

I started babysitting just before I turned 15 of my. In fact, my parents were very good friends with our neighbors and my sister Sophie would regularly babysit at their place. One weekend she caught the flu but she was supposed to babysit that evening.

Knowing the children (4 and 6) had already eaten and were put to bed by their parents, my mom suggested to the neighbors that I replace Sophie. They agreed: they know I'm used to take care of my younger brothers and sisters because we are 6 home! So here is what propelled me to be an aspiring babysitter!

It was much easier than I imagined: I said goodnight to the little ones in their beds and set myself up with a movie that the parents had prepared me. In case of any problems I had their two mobile numbers: anyway, they were just a 5 minutes walk from the house. Everything went flawlessly, I just had to sing a song when Maria woke up: she went immediately back to sleep. I must say she knows me well: she is often found in the park with my little brothers.