the tale of the babysitter

[kibbles]

There is no way in hades that I would allow someone like that to remain with my children after she abandoned them and behaved the way she did. Kudos to the parents of the kids for making this girl take responsibilty for her own actions.

No one said that she should be allowed to look after the kids again, but if the girl was in fact 15 (and not 17 or 18), then the parents basically are teaching her a lesson by acting as clueless and irresponsible as she did. Again, assuming she was 15 or 16 and not older, then by these "parents" abadoning a minor, the only kudos they deserve IMO is for having the ability to act as stupid and immature as a 15 year old.

And I gotta say excellent post Tanasi, I agree with every word. There is certainly enough blame to go around. The babysitter should not get absolved for her actions at all, but a teenager's lack of sense or responsibility doesn't give the excuse for the so called parents to not know any better than a 15 year old babysitter either.

Kibbles

[draftermatt]

...If you kids can't behave then it's your fault!!!!

Wow, but um no. The kids in the story are plenty old enough to know better. The baby sitter was hired for a reason and it was responsible for them to hire her. She had a job to do and blew it.

As far as not taking the kids with you, what are you supposed to do? Leave them at home with the 15 year old? What's the point here.

Some of the things you said I do agree with, like #6. But again, what if it were her parents idea? What if the plan was for her parents to meet her there all along?

And your last comment. What about the 15 year old? Was it her parents fault? Was it mine when I got a speeding ticket at 17?

Do you blame your parents for everything or something?

[kibbles]

I don't think that was the point of Tanasi's post at all. The message of the post wasn't to blame the parent's for everything, yes the babysitter absolutely should take responsibility for her actions but not by being left alone in Nevada. And I think the suggestion about leaving them home with an adult was made, nothing was said about leaving the kids home with a 15 year old.

Over all I think the message of the post (correct me Tanasi if I am wrong) was that yes the babysitter was absolutely in the wrong and should be held accountable, but people who are supposed to be "adults" and "parents" are supposed to see to all who are their responsibility, including the babysitter who was a minor. Just because the 15 year old was immature and forgot her responsibilities doesn't mean the "parents" have to prove they can be just as immature as she was.

Kibbles

[Jester]

1. Hiring a 15 year old to babysit on a Nevada vacation. Too stimulating. She'd be still too immature to fully realise the responsibility placed upon her. Should've had an older person do it, preferably someone who's already had a few vacations of their own to get over the novelty of it.

I don't necessarily agree with this. It really depends on the babysitter.

For example, I would completely trust my 15 year old niece with this kind of responsibility, even a year ago.

I am NOT sure I would trust my 14 year old niece with this kind of responsibility, even two years from now. Nothing against her, but she is just not up to that kind or responsibility, whereas the 15 yo (not related to the 14 yo, incidentally) is.

And of course the parents can always make a wrong judgment call. Someone you think is responsible enough for such a responsibility may not, in fact, be.

I don't blame the parents in the OP much, other than abandoning the babysitter, at least as far as it appeared....as stated, we don't know exactly what the end story was.

[AFpheonix]

Wow, but um no. The kids in the story are plenty old enough to know better. The baby sitter was hired for a reason and it was responsible for them to hire her. She had a job to do and blew it.

As far as not taking the kids with you, what are you supposed to do? Leave them at home with the 15 year old? What's the point here.

Some of the things you said I do agree with, like #6. But again, what if it were her parents idea? What if the plan was for her parents to meet her there all along?

And your last comment. What about the 15 year old? Was it her parents fault? Was it mine when I got a speeding ticket at 17?

Do you blame your parents for everything or something?

I believe he was talking about the spitting incident. Those kids apparently had not been taught well how to keep your personal body fluids to yourself. (I suppose, ditto on the 15 year old)
However, I do think that there's a difference between getting a speeding ticket as a teenager and a teenager that knows what her job is and wanders off, leaving her charges behind, to get some nooky. That tells me that that girl has NOT been properly taught how to take responsibility for herself and to put others' needs before her own. Very important lessons, indeed.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Wow didn't occur to me that I left the end of the story hanging like that.

Security knew this girl was alone there. The family and the girl were from the same small town, I believe, which was a couple hours drive away. They called her parents to come get her that night, and they left the next morning. The girl spent the night in the 24 hour diner., and security kept an eye on her.

I believe both families did that on purpose, basically to make her think about what she'd done. She was obviously quite scared about facing her parents, I imagine they were quite peeved.