HOW OLD DOES A KID HAVE TO BE BEFORE THEY CAN BABYSIT A SIBLING?

Someone polled thousands of Americans and asked how old a kid has to be before it’s safe to let them babysit their younger sibling.  Here’s what people said.

The most popular answer was, 12 years old.  It got 19% of the vote, but it was close.  18% said 13 years old, and the same amount said not until they’re 14.  Around one in three people think they should be even older than that, 13% said 15, 11% said 16, and 10% said at least 17.

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Only 6% of us think a 10-year-old is responsible enough to babysit their younger brother or sister.  Another 5% said 11 years old is fine.

For what it’s worth, most of the advice we’ve seen from experts says 12 is the age most kids are old enough to babysit.  But obviously, we’re talking about short amounts of time, not all day or overnight.