Should teenage girls help out in other people’s homes?
For young teens, that is. And for older teens, it’s a no as well, unless I have a reason to say yes. For example, if we’re talking about close family or friends where I’m fully aware of the home situation.
Yes, there’s something to be said for teaching a teen to earn her own cash, not to mention doing chesed for those in need. I’ll never forget babysitting for a family where the father had weekly chemo treatments. I felt like I was really doing something to help.
But my generation has become more aware of personal safety and the technical aspects of babysitting make me very uncomfortable. We live in Eretz Yisrael, which means my girls have to walk home alone very late at night after a babysitting job, which I’m not comfortable with. When my oldest had a few babysitting jobs as a teen, I found myself schlepping out at midnight to meet her so she wouldn’t have to walk home alone. I quickly put my foot down about late-night babysitting after that.
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