Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Re: babysitting

You asked about a minimum age for babysitters in PA.

Pennsylvania doesn't have a hard age limit for babysitting or even for a child to stay home alone.

Some states do have these ages set either by statute or precedent. The lowest statutory age for a child to be left home alone is 10 with the average age 12. An organization called ChildSafe also recommends that a child be 12 before being left home alone.

Given the above, we have an idea that if a child could be left home alone at the age of 12 then s/he should be somewhat older before left home alone and in charge of another child. But as always, it depends on the child sitter and the child to be watched. Some children would be ready to babysit a toddler for an hour or two earlier than another child.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Roger