Babysitter for Wedding?

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What age kids would you say go at the kid's table? That was originally why I thought the room was a good option, rather than assigning specific kids to the kids table. I would think under 3 would want to be with parents, but 4-13 would want to be at the kids table? Then over 14 would want to be with their parents at an adult table. But do 12 year olds really want to sit by a 4 year old? I guess I'm just confused by that, because my 13 year old self thought I was way too mature to sit with toddlers or little kids haha!

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I think if there are only 10 kids at the wedding you can just ask their parents to avoid any missteps. I know some parents on WW have said even their 7-9 yos want to sit with mom and dad. At all of our family weddings we always sat with our cousins once we reached school age (6).

While I think it's a nice thought and some parents might love this idea, I think a lot of other parents and kids may not be comfortable with this. I know a lot of protective parents who wouldn't be comfortable with an unknown babysitter (even if they had a clean background check) and if I was a child older than 7 I'd want to be with the grown ups, not banished to a kids table/separate room. If it is used heavily, 10 kids and only 2 babysitters might get very overwhelming. It just takes one baby with a diaper change or toddler who needs help going potty to force a single person to take on responsibility for 9 kids they've never worked with before. You're taking on a lot of responsibility here because if things don't go smoothly, the parents will be turning to you! Just keep that in mind!

Are there any children with special needs? If so, are these baby sitters familiar with that, and able to handle any potential issues? I'm not asking to be rude, it's something to always think about.

A child could get overwhelmed with that many kids in one room, the child, or children may feel uncomfortable with the sitters. 10 kids under the age of 10 is a lot for only two babysitters. My son wouldn't want to be away from me, or with a baby sitter he didn't know.

FutureMrsM made a good point, if things don't go smoothly, parents will look to you. If something happens to their child, they will hold you responsible.

I would not leave my child in another room with some random babysitter I didn't know.

View Quoted Comment While what you’re trying to arrange seems to be with the best intentions, some of the things you’re saying make it obvious you don’t have kids and don’t want to consider that your opinions about “what parents and kids want” aren’t based on experience. While kids at weddings are cute, they’re not props for pictures and you can’t just make them appear when you want them to be there and be cute and then disappear when you’d rather have adult time. My daughter (2) loves all the things you want to include in the playroom, but would never stand to be left there with strangers on an overwhelming and busy day when she knew I was close by. This puts the parents in a tough place- they will want their kids to be comfortable and happy but know that what this takes will probably not work for you.

Also, FWIW, no one wants to breastfeed in a room with 10 kids and 2 babysittters. It’s nice that you want to consider their needs, but this room will not meet them.

Exactly what Any said. We invited kids because our wedding was a family event and we couldn't imagine not having them there. However, we invited them knowing that one of them might cry or just be loud during the ceremony or speeches or run around during the reception. You can't invite kids and just expect Kodak moments where you can drag them out for a dance or two and everyone can say, awwwwww, and then you can banish them back into a room away from the adult guests. Either invite them with the expectation that they might make noise during times you'd rather they don't and run around when you'd rather they sit still, or save yourself stress and don't invite them at all. FWIW, none of the kids we invited made noise during the ceremony or speeches and they spent most of the reception running around outside but they did do some running around inside, which I fully expected.