Question: How do you make it an appealing assignment for your older child to watch their younger sibling(s) while mom and dad go out for an evening?

Here’s my story…

Babysitting the Baby Sister (Circa 1991)

Since I started middle school while my little sister was still in pre-school, I got stuck with the “family responsibility” (aka unpaid duty) of watching her on occasion while our parents went out for an evening.

I really didn’t mind hanging out with my little sis.  We were close and she was well behaved.  I just preferred having my parents around, too, especially on dark evenings before the age of cell phones.  Anyways.  I eventually got over my fears.

My parents did a couple things to try to make the evening easy and special for us.

1. We got to have fun microwaveable food, like TV dinners and such.  A rare treat for us.  (Maybe mom just didn’t trust me with the stove.)

2. We got to rent movies… One for my little sister (always The Little Mermaid) and one for me to watch after she went to bed.

Umm… do you know what?  That’s it.  Pretty simple, huh?  Those were special things for us.  Even though I didn’t get paid (as I thought I should – with cash), my parents still showed their appreciation and tried their best to make it an evening for us to be excited about at home.

And Mom faithfully calling me from the pay phone at the restaurant AND the then theater (as I made her promise to do) to assure me that they weren’t lying in a ditch somewhere helped to ease my fears.

Fast forward to 2008: What can you do in this day and age to help your kids have fun and feel secure when they start staying home alone?  (Hint: ask them!)

You can find Emily over at Little Home where she shares ideas for living the good and simple life.

Photographs from stockvault.net