House sitting with a 13 year old

[JJjupp]

Hello! I am new to this forum. I am looking to house sit with my quiet, animal loving 13 year old son. Is this a pipe dream? Or can I make this dream happen? Thanks in advance for any discussion on this.

[Ketch]

Pop over to this long-running thread - lots of advice and experience here:

Pet Sitting with the Family

Hi @IHeartAnimals , We are a family of 4 based in the UK and we housesit during every school holiday. There are definitely bigger houses out there that would be suitable for your family, but there are also lots of smaller properties, or homeowners who prefer singles or couples. Getting your first sit can be hard, and many sitters have to send large numbers of applications before securing their first sit. In order to get started, and get that all important first review, it helps to be flexible.…

[Carla]

Hello @JJjupp Wishing you and your son a warm welcome to the community forum.

I think that it is great that you are pet-sitting with your son and what a great experience for you both to have.
There are lots of helpful community members that will have experience with travelling and housesitting as a family and owners who have welcomed families to stay in their homes.

You can use the spyglass to search for previously discussed topics and here are a couple of previous topics that mention travelling as a family and another who wanted to travelled with their grandson:

My family of 5 got 4 sits confirmed in the last 7 days!

I’m so excited, I didn’t think homeowners would actually agree to let a family of 5 sit at their house but I got 4 sits confirmed within the last week. My daughter is acting like Christmas came early or something because she is obsessed with animals. Win win.

Housesitters + 1

Hi all! I will like to know your opinion Our godson is very interested in doing housesitting, as we do. He is 17 years old and is a very responsible and polite person. We would love him to enjoy housesitting as much as we do, so we are thinking of including him in our next trip, of course explaining to the HO who he is and why he wants to come with us. We think it is necessary for him to live the experience, as it is not only travelling for free, but it also e…

This will hopefully get you started with reading about other members’ similar experiences.

You can also post the link from your THS sitter profile to your forum profile. That way other community members can offer you helpful feedback and tips to help you and your son get started.

Here is how:

How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile

It’s important to firstly understand that your FORUM PROFILE is different to the profile you have as a member on the main TrustedHousesitters’ website. We do not allow links to profiles or listings in forum topics or posts (see guidelines here), but you can add the link of your TrustedHousesitter website profile or house sit listing in your FORUM PROFILE. The process is slightly different for owners and sitters. Note - We would recommend you do this on the desktop version as it’s easier to ma…

If you need help just let me know and I can do that for you.

Where would you and your son like to travel to?

[andrealovesanimals]

I once got rejected for a pet sit because the people wanted a family to stay, not a single person! So yes, I think you have good chances of getting house sits if you find the right home owners

[Esthereus]

Hi Carla,
I think you are not writting the correct person, i am @esthereus one of who started grandson forum .
Thanks!

Enviado desde Outlook para iOS

[Carla]

Hello, @Esthereus Thank you for reaching out, I shared your wonderful post about your Grandson here to help another member who is getting started with their sitting journey bringing their son along. It probably alerted you that your post was shared Any questions let me know. Thank you

[mars]

Hi @JJjupp ! You came to the right place. I am tagging @Debbie , who housesits with her two school age sons. Her sons have had such valuable experiences in a variety of homes learning and enjoying the responsibility of caring for animals.

If I had known about THS when my daughter was younger I would have done it too. As it is, she is now 22 and I take her with me when she is available. Even these occasional sits have added so much to her life experience.

I commend you as a parent.

[Smiley]

I would think you stand far more chance of being accepted than sitters with babies or toddlers. Good luck!

[Debbie]

@JJjupp Welcome! And yes, you absolutely can make this dream happen!

When I first came across TrustedHousesitters back in 2019, I found it hard to believe that people would want a family with children (my boys were 10 and 8 at the time) to stay in their homes and look after their pets. My boys are now 14 and 12, so similar ages to your son. We have done 16 housesits and have 2 more confirmed during the next 2 school holidays.

A recent response to our application to sit was “You are just the family we hoped would apply”.

A lot of our sits are for families, but not all. Often we find we have things in common with the people we housesit for - hobbies, or similar jobs.

At 13, your son is a great age for housesitting as he can be genuinely helpful. My boys get involved in all aspects of the housesit. They are even getting really good at cleaning and tidying at the end of the sit. If only they’d do the same in their bedrooms at home!

So far we have only done housesits in the UK, where we live, but hope to travel a little further before too long. I can wholeheartedly recommend giving TrustedHousesitters a try.

[Cleeflang]

I would welcome you to sit at my home in Florida, though, I dont’ have a need at the moment.

[Esthereus]

Hello, sorry for the misunderstanding, glad to help!

[JJjupp]

Hi, thank you for the question. We’d like to go somewhere in November - even for 1 week or 10 days. Somewhere south of us (Toronto area) so from Virginia south to including Florida, I guess! Quite open to various possibilities in the USA.

[Carla]

@JJjupp That sounds like you are flexible and open to several locations and options. An idea might be to set up a saved search which can alert you when new sits in your chosen location become available. Here is the link to the help desk and if you type in saved searches it will explain how to set them up.
https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb
Keep applying and I am sure that the right sit will come up

[geoff.hom]

Hi @JJjupp. Welcome to the forums!

From what others have said, I think the answer to your question is: Yes! You can make this dream happen. To maximize your odds of success, you may want to consider some leg work between now and November.

For example:

• If you add your TH sitter profile to your forum profile, others can give feedback on it
• If you do some shorter/local sits, you will build up your experience and reviews. These can be with and without your son, to see how that changes a sit.
• I feel like Thanksgiving and Christmas are a “sitter’s market,” though that may depend on the location. If you’re flexible around those dates, you may have your choice of normally-popular sits.

One thing I love about these forums is that everyone wants everyone else to succeed. So keep working at it and keep asking. It’s clear that you already have many members rooting for you and your son!

–Geoff

[Zigzagtothebeach]

I’m new to TH with no sits booked yet… I’m wondering if anyone sits with their (human!) children too? Is this acceptable for HOs? My children are 11 and 13 and we would love to be able to travel a little more whilst spending time taking care of others pets.

Edited for clarity

[Debbie-L]

@Zigzagtothebeach hello and welcome to the forum! Many THS sitters include families. Your question has been asked many times in the past and you can find some very helpful information on this topic by using the spyglass at the top of the page and type in your question. You will see many ideas and answers there.

Here is just one link:
Is bringing your own pet on a sit allowed? - Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat - TrustedHousesitters Community Forum

[Zigzagtothebeach]

Thanks for your reply but I’m talking about my human children as opposed to fur babies!

[IHeartAnimals]

Hi there, @Zigzagtothebeach, we petsit as a family of 5. My twins are 14 and my oldest just turned 16. I didn’t think we would get sits when we started applying but we are currently on our 6th sit right now and 6 more to go this summer. It can be done.

[Debbie]

Hi @Zigzagtothebeach I sit during school holidays and weekends with my boys who are now 14 and 12. We’ve been house and pet sitting for nearly 4 years now and have done 19 sits.