I would definitely consider it if she lived close by and her mother was available to help her if she had an emergency.  It would be nice to know that she had someone to call if she needed it.

Thanks guys youve been a big help. Ive spoken to my children's father, and we have decided to meet her together and give her a trial together, (he and I have split but he will come down to do this for our kids.) wish us luck.

My general rule of thumb is what would they do if something went wrong or if they didn't know what to do?

For example, some of the teenagers I know are great to play with the kids if I'm home, but would be useless if they had to make a decision and I wasn't there.

Some of the other ones we know, however, I know that they would call me if they didn't know what to do or if there was a problem - this gives me a lot of confidence. Also, knowing their own mothers is a good thing, and again, I know some of them would call their own mums if ithey didn't know what to do. If Mum lives down the street, this is good too.

I also was babysitting from about 14. If the teenager knows the kids, is responsible enough to know what to do, and when to ask for help then go for it.

Good luck!

The best thing is to get to know her. Everyone is different so while some teens at this age are fine to babysit, others are not responsible enough. You know the mother, who you say is respectable, and she gives her OK, so she should be fine. Have her come over a few times so both you and the kids can get to know her.

As long as she's responsible and can handle the age group, her actual age to babysit is fine. I've had a 15 year old babysit - I knew her well so knew she was responsible.

I think maybe you should give her a go. Of course after you meet the mum, and have her spend some time with the little ones first. All that responsible stuff!

But I don't think if after all that you're confident that there is any reason she can'e take care of your little ones. You aren't leaving them for days at a time, and I'm presuming you'd leave instructions and routines to follow. It would be fine.

i used to babysit my sisters best friend and her brother and sister at 15. J was 2, K was 4 and S was11. i used to get paid $100 a day and $170 for over night too. i used to go at 8am till 6, or the next day. J was a fricken shit they had to remove the lock on his door so he would stay in bed and had to put a lock on the top of hte food cubard so he wouldnt pull all the food out (yes he is ADD/ADHD) I used to clean the house as well as cook tea for their mum for when she came home from work.

L was a friend of my mum's as well. i thought i did well looking after 3 kids and my sister always managed to come over when i was there.

good luck.

At that age I did babysit 3 little boys around the same age. I had a 5 year old brother and so I was used to looking after a child. I think it is definately the person, if they are mature enough. I have 2 teenagers now and I know there is one that I don't think I would consider a good babysitter, and he wouldn't want to do it either. When I was babysitting it was usually at night so they could go out and very rarely did I do much anyway. A lot of the time the kids were in bed when I got there. However the kids knew me well as the oldest was my brothers kindy friend and they loved having me around. Once or twice I did it in the day for a couple hours after school.

I think I was almost 15 when I started babysitting.  And ended up being quite popular from it! lol.

Personally, I would be watching how she interacts with the kids and doing a dry run, where you go out for a walk and come back earlier than expected.  Had it done to me, and got even more work!  I was even doing over night jobs.

Some girls are very responsible, and some not so.  See what your maternal instincts tell you when you get to meet her.