Why Teens Should Babysit: Unexpected Benefits for Both.

According to Vox: This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox's newsletter about children. Subscribe here for future issues.

I remember my first child I babysat. Sweet and clever, she looked me in the eye and asked, 'Are you a kid or a mom?'

I felt like I was neither. At around 14 years old, I was not a parent, but I was considered mature enough to take care of the neighborhood toddlers and school kids: warming up dinners, playing with Hot Wheels, and showing them Teletubbies.

The role of a babysitter is something between a caregiver and a playmate, which can provide more comprehensive care and supervision but does not teach kids how to grow up. 'You manage the kids and certainly show them what it means to be a teen — but you don't raise them,' wrote Ann Helen Petersen last year about teen babysitters. 'No one asked for my resume.'

Babysitting has changed since Petersen and I did it in the '90s. What was once a rite of passage for teens has now turned into a profession with corresponding applications and seasoned adults. Parents expect potential babysitters to ask questions and have expectations that reflect this new seriousness, says journalist and author of the newsletter The Double Shift, Catherine Goldstein. 'Do you feed them the right foods? Do you not let them watch too much TV? Do you do approved activities?' she asked.

There are several reasons for the shift from teens to adult babysitters — from safety concerns to busy teen schedules. But experts and parents note that something is lost when babysitting becomes an adult job with specific expectations.

Benefits of Babysitting

Babysitting for a few hours can be a significant experience for teens. 'Until a few years ago, Gracie was very shy, but babysitting encouraged her to use her voice,' Carol Johnson, an author and mother of a 14-year-old babysitter, wrote to me in an email.

It's not just the babysitters who benefit; kids also gain something unique from interacting with teens. For toddlers, 'older kids are just much more fun than adults,' noted Goldstein. Reviving the culture of teen babysitting can help strengthen neighborhood bonds that have slowly decayed, leaving kids and adults even more isolated.

Trusting teens to care for younger kids is part of a 'shared approach to parenting,' which, according to Goldstein and others, is tremendously important for America today.

Thus, the role of teens in babysitting is gaining more popularity, which can positively impact society as a whole by improving intergenerational interactions and fostering child development in a friendlier atmosphere.