"Rosalie B." wrote in message
When she was 11, I would leave dd#1 in charge of her youngest
siblings (10 years younger and 7.5 years younger) for a half an hour
while I drove dd#2 to swim team. She started dinner and she had a
nearby neighbor to call in case of a problem. Then when dh got home,
he finished up the dinner preparation. When she was 12, she babysat
the neighbor's infant by herself.

I hadn't thought of babysitting. I started babysitting infants when I was
in 5th grade, so 10 years old. IME, there were many people who felt
comfortable with this 30 years ago. I was responsible and had parents and
neighbors down the street that I could call. I know at 10 I felt like
caring for an infant was a big responsibility (it felt a bit overwhelming
b/c they were so small and couldn't tell me what they wanted,) but
babysitting for toddlers then felt fine. I babysat a lot from age 10 thru
13. My Mother was put in the hospital for a week when I was young--my
sister took care of three of us, ages 6, 7 & 8, for a week, getting us off
to school, making lunch, watching us after school, getting dinner--she was
probably 12 or 13. There weren't many other options for us then. My sister
did a good job, but I remember the school didn't like it when they learned
she was doing this.