Older child to pick up a younger child?

[Bundle]

I'm in the process of registering.

I've had a mum enquire about after school care for her 8 year old in mid October, if I'm up and running by then. Yaaaay, etc. Except that at the end of the conversation she mentioned that she is planning to have older brother pick him up.:ohdear:
Brother will be in Year 7, so age 11 or 12. I know them vaguely - both sensible - and it's a short walk from my house back to theirs.
But... I don't think I'm happy with this.

Any thoughts please? Would you do it? Are there any rules or guidelines on this anywhere?

Thanks xx

[Ripeberry]

If a child of 11/12 years old is picking up a younger child. It begs the question, where is the parent? The child would have to be 16 years old for you to let them pick up.

[Mummits]

I would be happy for my own elder son to pick up his younger brother, but I don't know that I would be as comfortable with it with two other children whom I didn't know as well.

I really don't know if there are any rules or regulations on this, but I do know that our local primary school allows older siblings at the local secondary school to do pick ups and it happens every day. I'd like to think they know their stuff and wouldn't permit this if it was in any way illegal.

[Mouse]

There is no law that says what age a child has to be to collect another, although people do seem to think it's 16, which it isn't. Personally, I think it depends on the children (the one being collected and the one collecting). I know 14 year olds who I would happily hand a younger child over to, but I also know 17 year olds who I wouldn't leave in charge of a goldfish!

Having said that, I do think 11 or 12 years old is a bit young to be responsible for an 8 year old. It might not be a long walk home, but how long will be they be alone for? Having had 2 boys my own of that age, I know how easily it is for them to start being silly & messing around or fighting. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, then don't. Maybe contact your insurance company to see where you would stand legally and use the information they give you to explain to the parents why you won't do it.

[rickysmiths]

I won't allow anyone under 18 to collect a child unless they are the child'd parent. Simple and clear. No exceptions. Every child must be collected by an adult.

[AliceK]

My DS is 10, my DD is nearly 7. DS has been known to walk the 10mins to / from school on his own, he has also been known to stay at home whilst I pop out to walk one of the dogs. He is extremely trustworthy and sensible and he knows he can contact me should he need to (we also have a very good guard dog at home lol). HOWEVER, as sensible as he is I would not put the responsibility on him to care for DD, not even for a short period of time. She is VERY accident prone and if she did something he obviously would not neccesarily know how to deal with it.
Probably a 10/11 year old is capable of caring for a 7/8 yr old for short periods but what happens if there is an accident or emergency??

I wouldn't do it personally.

xxxx

[Bundle]

If you don't feel comfortable doing it, then don't. Maybe contact your insurance company to see where you would stand legally and use the information they give you to explain to the parents why you won't do it.

Thanks Mouse. I did call Morton Michel, who I'm planning to go with when I'm registered, and they said it basically depends on how the contract is set up - so I guess it is possible?

BUT anyway, like you say, I'm not comfortable with it. So I've decided I'm not going to do it - it's just not worth the worry. And I feel SO much better now I've decided!

Thanks everyone:)

[Simona]

I'm in the process of registering.

I've had a mum enquire about after school care for her 8 year old in mid October, if I'm up and running by then. Yaaaay, etc. Except that at the end of the conversation she mentioned that she is planning to have older brother pick him up.:ohdear:
Brother will be in Year 7, so age 11 or 12. I know them vaguely - both sensible - and it's a short walk from my house back to theirs.
But... I don't think I'm happy with this.

Any thoughts please? Would you do it? Are there any rules or guidelines on this anywhere?

Thanks xx

It is your practice...your Safeguarding...so it is you calling the shots in this matter
if not happy don't do it and save yourself an unnecessary worry :thumbsup:

[Koala]

I wouldn't allow it because I would feel too responsible for the child when he/she left my house and I wouldn't want the stress, worry or agro if anything went wrong.

I can understand Parents allowing it and don't necessarily see anything wrong in that but I would consider myself to be allowing a child to care for a child and handing my responsibility on to them which I don't think is right. And I would feel ethically and morally responsible which I feel is just as important as rules and regs not to mention any legal aspect. :thumbsup:

[JKL]

Personally I wouldn't agree to it and my reasoning is that by law children need to be 14 (?) years of age to babysit? What is the older sibling doing if not babysitting? It's just my opinion but I'm not sure I would feel entirely happy with an 11/12 year old looking after a little one. xx

[Mouse]

Personally I wouldn't agree to it and my reasoning is that by law children need to be 14 (?) years of age to babysit? What is the older sibling doing if not babysitting? It's just my opinion but I'm not sure I would feel entirely happy with an 11/12 year old looking after a little one. xx

As far as I know there is no law governing the age a babysitter needs to be.

This information is from the NSPCC:

Although there are no laws about
the age of the babysitter, you need
to think hard before using a young
person under 16. If you use a younger
sitter and harm comes to your child,
you may be held responsible. And
remember even a 16-year-old may
not be mature enough.

This booklet is useful for anyone with queries about leaving children and may be good to hand on to parents:

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/help-and-advice/for-parents-and-carers/guides-for-parents/home-alone/home-alone-pdf_wdf90656.pdf

[hectors house]

We still have middle schools in our town - I used to send my just 9 year old (july birthday) daughter off with her 11 year old sister to walk to and from school each day, they had to cross 2 roads on the housing estate and met up with other friends on the way.

I think I would text the mum as soon as the older child left with younger child and the parent should phone the house phone after 10 mins to check they had arrived safely.

[rickysmiths]

Personally I wouldn't agree to it and my reasoning is that by law children need to be 14 (?) years of age to babysit? What is the older sibling doing if not babysitting? It's just my opinion but I'm not sure I would feel entirely happy with an 11/12 year old looking after a little one. xx

No Law about the min age to babysit.

[Dragonfly]

There is no law to say what age a person/child can babysit or be left at home by themselves.

[JKL]

Ah fair enough I thought they'd made it the law now. Either way I wouldn't be comfortable letting a child of 11/12 look after a younger sibling. It's just my opinion of course.

[Bundle]

Thanks again everyone.
I talked to mum today and told her I couldn't do it. She seemed ok about it and she's going to ask dad if he can pick up - so maybe problem solved

Now I've just got to keep my fingers crossed that I'm registered in time :)

[Koala]

Dragonfly
There is no law to say what age a person/child can babysit or be left at home by themselves.


Thanks again everyone.
I talked to mum today and told her I couldn't do it. She seemed ok about it and she's going to ask dad if he can pick up - so maybe problem solved

Now I've just got to keep my fingers crossed that I'm registered in time :)

Just think if you were 11 years old you wouldn't need to be registered!! :panic: you could just do it anyway :panic: No law against it but there is for a trained professional adult!! Who is it that said "The law is an ass" ? OW? :thumbsup:

[Dragonfly]

Yes, I totally agree. I wasn't saying I agreed with it, just what i was told at a safeguarding course.