An issue that constantly seems to come to the surface is whether or not children can supervise children. I begin by saying no; I do not believe that they can. The leading cause of child drowning and juvenile fire setting is lack of parental supervision; notice I did not say child supervision. Children, especially teenagers, have far too many things to distract them from watching their brothers and sisters. There may be some older teenagers that possess the maturity and responsibility necessary to properly supervise younger children, but parents have a responsibility to ensure that this is the case before leaving their children with a young baby sitter.

This article comes on the heels of recent news reports of a young child who was pushing the buttons on the stove and caught a combustible on fire. An older sibling was supervising the young child. Far too often, we hear about young children being left in the care of an older, but young, sibling. I went to a fire situation a number of years ago where the parent had left the home, and one child was watching another. The older child had some friends over, and they decided to experiment with some gasoline and matches. One of many problems was that the youngest child had been doused with gasoline. The youngest child would receive serious burns to their legs.

What is the answer? I do not think that it is as simple as saying that children should not watch children. Our society has moved far beyond this point, with both parents working in two-parent homes and the only parent working in a single-parent home. I am beginning to believe that the only way to deal with this situation is to create a law that states the requirements for a person under 18 years of age to supervise younger children, as well as a minimum age of the baby sitter. I doubt that a law like this could ever be drafted, because we should also have a law that states the requirements for becoming and remaining a parent. So, I come back to my beginning statement, “children should not supervise children.”

This is a difficult subject, but the issue is the safety and well being of all children. A happy ending occurred to a missing 3-year-old in Arizona this past week. The news footage showed the 3-year-old in a sheriff’s helicopter, suffering from frostbite, but surviving the night because of her dog that went along. The question is, who was not watching this child when she disappeared? Children are a gift from God and need to be protected at all costs. To have a child and not take care of her/him is an absolute abomination. Loving your children means that you are caring for them even though you are not with them by being extremely particular about who you leave them with when you are gone. Please take care of your children.