Percentage of Americans who were paid to babysit as teenagers: 56
Who say they would trust a teenager to babysit today: 11
Numbers from the June issue of Harper's magazine. As phrased it's not clear to me whether the 11% is of Americans or of Americans who babysat as teenagers. In either case the discrepancy is striking.
Addendum: interesting comment by an anonymous reader: "Slight twist on the same idea: I don't trust adults not to sue me if my teen makes a mistake while babysitting.'
Babysitting was my first job. Boring as all get out. But I learned responsibility, authority, problem solving, and money management (albeit on a very small scale). Now I'm at the other end, babysitting my mother, now in year 8 of dementia. Those babysitting skills are coming in handy now!
ReplyDeleteWould I trust a teen to watch a kid today? Not unless that kid was old enough to make his own peanut butter sandwich. Kids today (many adults, too) are so glued to their electronics that I don't trust them crossing the street on their own.
And the Nervous Nelly parents who want their kid bubble wrapped but entertained. Lady, if you're worried about a kid suffering a bruise, minor cut, or any disappointment, please keep your kid at home under your own watch.
Kids need to be outside pushing boundaries by climbing trees and peddling their bicycles over homemade rickety ramps. That's how you learn confidence, caution, and consequences. All in one activity!
With smartphones I barely trust teenagers to cross the road. I live about 500 yards from a secondary school and lunchtime from my window I can see a succession of kids traipsing down to the shops for snacks, face down staring at their phones. It's a busy road and it sets me on edge seeing them.
ReplyDeleteI witnessed a traffic accident decades ago from old-fashioned "not paying attention" involving a kid one time and while it wasn't fatal (kid got up almost immediately, then went back down again when his leg folded where it really shouldn't) it's always stuck with me.
Slight twist on the same idea: I don't trust adults not to sue me if my teen makes a mistake while babysitting.
ReplyDelete