I was wanting to get other views on this. I am 15 years old, and have a 3 year old brother. That is the only sibling I have. I really like taking care of him, and I feel he is my biggest responsibility. Do you or have you been in a situation like this?

when I was young my older brother was in your situation. He helped out a little bit but I dont think he was ever to thrilled about it.

I was the oldest of my brother and sister. I took care of then a lot. It the base for learning responsibilities, but my parents made sure that I had time to myself as a teen. Learning to take care of them also opened up babysitting jobs for me in the neighborhood. Nothing wrong with having a little extra money!

DCMerkle

I was an only child, but there were alot of cousins for me to play with. I was always being babysat by one of the older cousins. They had to watch me and my stuffed lion named Leo...lol My cousins were cool about it, but I could always tell when they knew that they could be doing something else besides watching me!

There was always an aunt that was having a new baby and when I got older I got to watch them. Later, in my teens, I took a Red Cross course on babysitting. I got lots of jobs in my teens because I was certified in first aid; it was part of the babysitting course.

Hope this helps.

MuseMom

I was an only child, but I had friends in this situation. They were 13 and 14 when their mom had another child. They were expected to babysit all the time. I don't think they really minded watching their little sister, but it got to the point where it's all they did. They couldn't go out because they had to babysit. They both ended up moving out really young just so they could have a life. Helping out is one thing, but I don't think parents should force their teens to babysit.