Jeb Bates, Judson Bates, Katie Bates
Mom and Dad are away, so Katie and the kids will play. For the first time ever, 18-year-old Katie is watching her younger siblings while Gil and Kelly leave town. And it sounds like they are going to have a pretty good time (video below)...
Jeb: "Can I have ice cream? Eat Popsicles?"
Katie: Of course. What is my name?
Jeb: "Katie."
Katie: "You can have whatever you want. Mom and Dad are gone."
Photo/video courtesy of UPtv
Why would the Bates put an 18-year old in charge of eight youngsters, when there are many older siblings still at home, some in their twenties?
ReplyDeletewhy? because like most parents, they want to give their daughter more responsibility. kelly did say trace, nathan & lawson would also be home. what better way to learn than to know you have 3 older brothers readily available if needed. besides, after seeing how well the older kids turned out, i think they know what they're doing
DeleteProbably giving Katy the opportunity to have the responsibility of running the house and kids with a safety net of older ones there to help if needed. It’s a learning experience.
DeleteWouldn't it make more sense to have the oldest kids at home be in charge? That would be Lawson, and they said he'd be home. Why is he free to do as he likes, and Katie is left to care for 8 kids? It seems very strange.
DeleteLawson is 26! He should be in charge. Katie is only 18.
DeleteI agree with anonymous 6:13 she has supports there in her older brothers. Erin, Chad, Zach and Whitney are also nearby if she needs more support.
Delete12:15- Likely they consider it a woman’s role to be the baby-sitter.
DeleteMaybe Katie is more responsible with the younger kids than the older boys. As far as there being a lot of kids there for her to watch, when I was sixteen I would babysit between 6-12 kids every week for a Bible study. The parents would go to one house and I would be with all the kids at another. Sometimes one of my friends would come help too, but typically it was just me. Some people are responsible enough to stay with many kids at one time, and some are not, and a lot of it comes down to gender (girls are typically more responsible at a younger age than guys) and parenting.
DeleteI'm sure Katie's perfectly capable. And most of the kids aren't going to need a ton of help and supervision. My guess is that Katie wanted the opportunity to be mature and responsible. Good for her!
Delete2:19. Your Bible study probably lasted several hours. That is totally different than several *days.*
DeleteIt just seems puzzling that all the older kids are not asked to babysit the younger ones. Why do the boys get off scot free?
1:10, you're assuming the older boys were lounging around the house. Maybe they were doing tree jobs for their dad or handling other responsibilities.
Delete1:10, yes but these are her siblings. She is fully capable of watching them.
DeleteTheir dad doesn't do the tree business anymore! Look them up online.
DeleteIt would make so much more sense to put an older sibling in charge instead of Katie. For one thing, an older sibling would have more driving experience. 18 years old is very young to have responsibility for 8 children.
ReplyDeleteThey are the parents, and they did what they thought was best. They don't need strangers critiquing everything they share from their lives. I'm sure they would NOT do the same to you.
DeleteThey'd have no reason to criticize me. I'd never leave 8 kids with one 18-year old for several days. If I did have to leave town (which the Bates do a lot!) I'd leave ALL my older kids in charge, to divide up the work and responsibilities.
DeleteIt’s really not a big deal, I watched more kids than that at a younger age than her. Some people are more responsible than others.
DeleteYou do realize that Katy is used to being around these kids all the time and has no doubt babysat them before? And that only a few of them are little kids? And that she had back-up of older brothers plus the two married couples if needed? And that 18 is legally an adult? It looks as though she handled them just fine.
DeleteHave Lawson, Nathan and Trace babysat those kids before? I'm sure Katie has, but what about her older brothers? It seems an unfair burden to place on her shoulders.
DeleteShe doesn't exactly look like she minds! She probably enjoyed being the one in charge for a little while.
DeleteIs it likely that she enjoyed cooking, cleaning, supervising and homeschooling eight children for several days? While her older brothers did what they liked?
DeleteThere's a small window of opportunity for a daughter to gain some experience with responsibility, because by 19 she may be busy with a courtship, and by 20 she'll be married. Better ask her at 18!!!
ReplyDeleteI watched 6 kids when I was 13. For 12 hours. I managed just fine and this was in the 70's so no cell phones to call parents.
ReplyDeleteThat's great! But how is this fair to Katie? Why aren't her older brothers sharing the workload? For example, Lawson could make breakfast, Trace could keep the younger boys busy with yardwork, Nathan could make lunch, Katie could take over after lunch, Lawson could supervise evening chores. . . for everything to fall on one 18 year old girl is really unfair.
DeleteDid she look like she minded? Nope.
DeleteI haven't watched it yet, but did it say that the older brothers did absolutely nothing? For that matter, the younger kids could have made lunch, done yardwork without supervision (we already know at least one of them works in the tree business), etc. It's not like she was watching 8 babies.
DeleteThey didn't mention anything the older boys did. Not a thing.
Delete11:04 - "didn't mention" tells us nothing. We don't need to just assume that because it wasn't shown on TV, it must not have happened.
DeleteAnon 8:22. It sounds as though you are assuming that Nathan, Trace and Lawson were cooking and cleaning while Kelly and Gil were away.
DeleteIf they had said "Katie and the boys are in charge" I would be more likely to assume that the boys pitched in. They didn't say that, though.
All the older boys work. You realize that right? Lawson spends a lot of time in Nashville, Nathan is out of the country a lot, and Trace is doing the whole police academy thing. There is a very good chance that none of them were home.
DeleteI don't get it. I thought the older boys were backup. How can they be back up if they are working? Also, doesn't Katie work as well? If not, what does she do all day?
Deletehaha "what's my name?". Katie is funny.
ReplyDeleteMO- Just a guess but I think everyone in the family knows that Katie is home alone looking after the kids and there is a lot of back-up for her. Most of the kids at home are older too- such a great group. Too much ice cream and pizza never hurt anyone. Haha- Carlin has a very bad habit of talking over people and it drives me nuts! I wonder who will be featured in most of the clips when she moves to Nashville? :o)
ReplyDelete"Too much ice cream and pizza never hurt anyone." Actually, overeating junk food has hurt a lot of people.
Delete1:06, I think OP just means on this occasion, not like a frequent thing.
DeleteWith the way Kelly and Gil travel, it may very well be a frequent thing.
DeleteI love how erin is wearing a happy wife happy life shirt and Chad looks tired and miserable. Erin are you making sure he’s happy too??
ReplyDeleteRude! He has hound children which is exhausting in and of itself, especially if you don’t get a full night’s sleep (and some people do better with less sleep...my husband can handle it but I struggle, it could be the opposite with Erin and Chad) Plus, he is starting his own business which any entrepreneur will tell you is more work than not in the first few years and it’s extremely trying, stressful, and yes...exhausting.
DeleteThank goodness no one judges me or my husband based on how tired and miserable the other person looks. Some stages of life are just hard on you and it could be that Erin is his greatest comfort and biggest supporter...but that doesn’t change the fact that some seasons are just flat out rough.
Katie is awesome!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteKatie come babysir my kids. They are 15,14,11, 10
ReplyDeleteMy husband and i haven't been on a date in years. Our son and his wife work crazy hours so they can't do it. Its alright though i love our life. Be bless when eill the church be ready?
10-15 is definitely old enough to be left home alone.
DeleteWhy would 15 and 14 year olds need a babysitter? They should be babysitting other children and earning money. And 11 and 10 year olds are old enough to look after themselves for a few hours (though perhaps not old enough to care for littles). You don't need a sitter--go out on a date with your hubby!
DeleteKatie is 18 and your child is 15. Your kid is too old to be babysat!
Delete"You can have whatever you want. Mom and Dad are gone." Love it! Sounds exactly what my kids would have said!
ReplyDeleteThat's the thing. Katie is really still a kid.
DeleteShe's 18!! 18 year olds get married and have jobs and all kinds of things.
Delete18 year olds also make their own clothes choices and can go out unchaperoned. Is she a kid or isn't she?
DeleteIt seems like they give Katie the responsibilities of being an adult but not the privileges. If they trust her with the 8 younger Bates, how about trusting her to make her own clothes choices?
ReplyDeleteObviously the older girls are making their own clothing choices to at least some extent, or we wouldn't be seeing hem lines creep up. And yes, I'm talking about unmarried ones.
DeleteThe girls don't wear pants until they are married. Some of them switch to pants the day after the wedding. Obviously they are not making their own clothes choices. But they are mature enough to care for 8 kids while their parents travel? Seems contradictory. They are treated as adults when it is convenient for the parents.
Delete