babysitting

[madlizzie72]

my oldest daughter is 13 and my yougest is 9 is she old enough to look after my yougest fot up to 5 hours

[eyore]

by law she has to be 14,soz

[madlizzie72]

wasnt sure if it was a13 or 14 thanks

[trulli]

Hi, I thought there wasn't an actual law so had a check anfd found this:

'There is no law which states minimum age that a child can be left alone but it is an offence to leave a child alone when doing so puts the child at risk. The NSPCC recommend that most children under 13 should not be left for more than a short period and that no child under 16 should be left overnight. They suggest that parents consider the following before deciding to leave a child alone:

The age of the child
The child's level of maturity and understanding
The place where the child will be left
How long the child will be left alone, and how often
Whether or not there are any other children in the household'

[Iz66]

i beleive that aged 13 can be left alone and aged 14 can look after a child on own :o)

[simsfreq]

I'd say trulli answered that fairly completely ;-)

It's really up to you, you know the kids best. If they're both mature it shouldn't be a problem at all.

[Pippa68]

trulli is correct ~ there is no law (just as there is no law that states children over a certain age shouldn't be sharing bedrooms!)

It is all down to parental choice & maturity level of the child.

[dancecaller]

5 hours sounds a longish while, but if they are both responsible and they have emergency backup (a phone number to contact you, or better still a neighbour who will be in if needed)