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Cops Ticket Mom for Letting Son, 14, Babysit His Pre-K Brother
Filed under: In The News, Opinions
Lovely. A mom in England was ticketed for "cruelty" for leaving her 14-year-old son in charge of his 3-year-old brother for half an hour while she went out shopping.
Well, they don't call it a "ticket" in England, they call it a "caution" -- but forget semantics. The fact is, by allowing her teen to babysit for less than an hour, the mom lost her job as a health care assistant, because now her record shows her "committing an act of cruelty on a child or young person."
Feel free to scream.
What, exactly, is so cruel about letting your teenage son act responsibly? What is so cruel about showing him that you believe in him, and that you like the young man he's becoming?
And what is so cruel about letting your younger son be cared for by his older brother? Is anyone in the English establishment aware that many of today's parents were themselves babysitters at age 11 or 12?
In fact, has it dawned on these government goons that since the beginning of human history, teens have even been popping out children of their OWN? That those teen parents must've been doing something right, because our species survived to this day? And, by the way, prehistoric pubescent parents didn't babysit for half an hour, they raised their children to adulthood. In caves. With food they killed themselves.
But no -- half an hour of babysitting at home is just too much for modern day kids.
David Lancy, author of "The Anthropology of Childhood," estimates that, to this day, somewhere between 40 percent and 60 percent of the world's children are raised, in good part, by their siblings. Their moms are too busy eking out a living to spend every last minute minding the kids. Maybe we should send every lawmaker in England a subscription to National Geographic.
My elderly neighbor was just lamenting that "kids today" are so inept. "They don't know how to do anything. They expect everything done for them."
It's an old-lady whine, but she has a point –- she's just wrong about the culprits. It's not the fault of indulgent parents, or spoiled kids. It's the fault of a society that deems young adults indistinguishable from infants: They're all helpless. England's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children actually states no one under the age of 16 should be allowed to babysit!
Glad they weren't around when our species was getting off the ground.
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Well, they don't call it a "ticket" in England, they call it a "caution" -- but forget semantics. The fact is, by allowing her teen to babysit for less than an hour, the mom lost her job as a health care assistant, because now her record shows her "committing an act of cruelty on a child or young person."
Feel free to scream.
What, exactly, is so cruel about letting your teenage son act responsibly? What is so cruel about showing him that you believe in him, and that you like the young man he's becoming?
And what is so cruel about letting your younger son be cared for by his older brother? Is anyone in the English establishment aware that many of today's parents were themselves babysitters at age 11 or 12?
In fact, has it dawned on these government goons that since the beginning of human history, teens have even been popping out children of their OWN? That those teen parents must've been doing something right, because our species survived to this day? And, by the way, prehistoric pubescent parents didn't babysit for half an hour, they raised their children to adulthood. In caves. With food they killed themselves.
But no -- half an hour of babysitting at home is just too much for modern day kids.
David Lancy, author of "The Anthropology of Childhood," estimates that, to this day, somewhere between 40 percent and 60 percent of the world's children are raised, in good part, by their siblings. Their moms are too busy eking out a living to spend every last minute minding the kids. Maybe we should send every lawmaker in England a subscription to National Geographic.
My elderly neighbor was just lamenting that "kids today" are so inept. "They don't know how to do anything. They expect everything done for them."
It's an old-lady whine, but she has a point –- she's just wrong about the culprits. It's not the fault of indulgent parents, or spoiled kids. It's the fault of a society that deems young adults indistinguishable from infants: They're all helpless. England's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children actually states no one under the age of 16 should be allowed to babysit!
Glad they weren't around when our species was getting off the ground.
Want to get the latest ParentDish news and advice? Sign up for our newsletter!
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ReaderComments (Page 4 of 4)
3-05-2011 @ 8:56PM
"mum" said...I have noticed too, that young parents today (18-30 yrs) are complaining that parenting takes too much time and they are more prone than prior generations to ask around for "someone" to babysit so they can have some "me" time. In a women's group I belonged to, I was asked by 3/4ths of the mothers of kids under school-age to "watch my kid, wouldja?" and I had just barely met some of these women. I certainly didn't announce I was there to offer babysitting services. I was older and was there to mentor. I probably didn't look like a fun person to go out on the town with -- in fact I looked more like their mom. What brashness! I was disappointed by the lack of initiative in that age group. Parenthood is a full-time committment. I've been a parent since 1986 and in just the past year is when I could say I finally found some time for me. That's life! PS- my kids are pretty good kids!
Back to the forum topic about babysitting as a good task for responsibility -- yes, it certainly is. Electronic "fun" devices should be left at home, but a cell phone is a super item to help the babysitter keep touch with the parent.
3-14-2011 @ 11:43AM
Randall said...in the state of South Dakota the legal age to baby sit is 12 rather its a boy or girl, but comming from a country were the legal age to drink is 18 and were 14 year olds commonly get away with going into pubs i dont think they should be worried about this young man watching his baby brother for an hour unless theres a pub near by lol
Reply
3-20-2011 @ 11:43AM
robin said...@ darwin its because the government has plans for our children that don't include us. and those plans have been in process for years. notice what they are doing with the education system. they no longer teach our kids to read and write. because the plans they have don't include knowing that. its also why they are taking away funding for the mentally disabled and blind children. and our votes never did count they just allowed us to think it did so we would feel like we were still in a democracy WE ARENT AND THEY ARE NO LONGER TRYING TO HIDE IT!!
Reply
3-21-2011 @ 11:27PM
John said...I did not take time to read all the comments but Momof2 made some cogent comments… the article as written is just a terrible piece of journalism. The why of the: who, where, why, and when formula was totally neglected. I read the article and two thoughts come to mind.. Did the babysitter have a history to demonstrate his incompetency as a babysitter. i.e. a pedophile or an abuser. Or were the infant’s health and safety needs more then a reasonable person would expect that a teen could provide...i.e. being medically fragile. An other thought is why was this reported… some one other then the Police judged this to be a situation that was grossly inappropriate
So in this case I give falling remarks to the “journalist” and the people that read the article without a analytical thought
Reply
3-24-2011 @ 10:29AM
Thea said...Is it illegal to tech your kid how to be responsible? At what age are you supposed to begin teaching your kids to be independent? In the USA it is legal for a 13 year old to have a babysitting job, taking care of other peoples kids. I got paid $20 dollars a night when I was 13, babysitting for the lady next door. And I agree with the old lady in the article. Kids today are inept and don't know how to do anything. If the parents of today don't stop handing their kids everything on a silver platter, it won't be long before we live in a society of inability.
Reply
3-26-2011 @ 10:33AM
Tracy said...Craziness. I watched my 3 year old sister EVERY Saturday and many days afterschool when I was 13 while my mom was at work...that was 27 years ago and there was nothing wrong with it...what's changed now? Only that the media has turned the whole world into thinking it's ok & normal to only be concerned about what everyone else is doing. I was very responsible at 13 years old because I was taught to be - and because it was expected of me. Most preteens and teens these days are NOT -- and only because it is not expected of them,
Reply
4-09-2011 @ 5:07PM
hobnob said...Strange huh?
She gets a caution for leaving a 14 yrl old babysitting for 30 mins and nothing happened. Drs kate and gerry mcann left a 3 yr old babysitting their younger twin siblings every night for a week without regular checks( including having to be called back by the holiday firm becaue their kids were crying) their 3 yr old babysitter vanished and yet they weren't cherged or even cautioned.Instead they got 3 million on in donations etc which has been mostly spent on household expenses and legal fees rather than actually searching ( not that they even did that onstead preferring to go jogging daily)
It seems that who you are and who you know lets you get away with murder
Reply