Wally and Beaver were old enough to watch "Puddin' " for an afternoon. 2 years later they were old enough to stay alone, when Beaver left the bathtub running. Yet 6 years later, they weren't old enough to stay alone, when Uncle Billy came over and stayed the weekend with them?

Wally and Beaver were old enough to watch "Puddin' " for an afternoon. 2 years later they were old enough to stay alone, when Beaver left the bathtub running. Yet 6 years later, they weren't old enough to stay alone, when Uncle Billy came over and stayed the weekend with them?

Interesting.

You could say that watching Puddin' was just for the afternoon, while Uncle Billy's visit was for a whole weekend.

Also interesting that early in season 5 Beaver still isn't quite old enough to be left without a baby sitter at night, but later in the season he's old enough to babysit the little girl who gets him to play dress-up with her.

Parents being away overnight, especially for more than one night, can change their trust in kids, or the older kids.

In my case, both parents worked, and my dad (who worked 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.) drove 7 miles to get our grandparent in the morning and the same to take them home in the evening. This finally stopped when my older sister was about 13 and I was 11. And there were 2 younger brothers, then about 9 and 6. But about a year after this new arrangement of our watching after (:crazy: ) the 2 younger ones, Mom and Dad decided to go on a little trip alone, and they brought those same grandparents to stay with us again.

I think if they knew more about some things that went on, they may not have even have let us stay alone for the afternoons My sister, when a freshman, started going with this guy the rest of us didn't like, and she slipped off with him and other friends instead of being the one 'in charge' at the house, and I was mean at times to my brothers, who sometimes ran off for a while just to be away from me. There are reasons parents worry about their kids without adult supervision.

There's a big difference between an afternoon or overnight than a weekend alone. And ages vary, depending on their maturity. I think Wally by the time the Uncle Billy episode happened was old enough and mature enough to look out for himself and the Beaver.

When my daughter was younger and we were going to leave her home for a weekend, we let her have a friend or one of her cousins over, but we also asked my sister who lived close to keep an eye out.

I agree that Wally was old enough and responsible enough to watch Beaver all weekend. Even with Uncle Billy there, Beaver still got into trouble (of course!).

Interesting topic stevea.

I found that Puddin’ episode so out of synch with the June of later years. Imagine letting two boys babysit for a 4 year old and not tell them that Maryjane is the bathroom. I don’t think an adult could deal with that brat. As for getting Beaver a babysitter for the evening when Wally, June and Ward were going to be out, well that was ridiculous. Later they let Gilbert stay overnight and they got into trouble. The writers were not consistent in their episodes about babysitting. I’m really surprised they let Beaver babysit Chuckie (Patty) as he supposedly lost him in an earlier episode.

Seems whenever Beaver was home alone or with a friend he got into trouble ie. Wrecking Ward’s baseball, letting the tramp clean up a bit and calling Don Drysdale.

The Puddin' episode is also interesting in that, despite Benji also being involved, and the boys calling the fire department, W&J treated it like the later Richard and the washer episode--they just let the whole thing go, without mentioning it.

Ward or June might have said, "Wally, maybe you're still a little young to be responsible for watching such a young child. Next time, we might need to make other arrangements."

They really should have spoken to the boys about how things were handled. I found little Benji was not being considered. Imagine letting a 4 year old climb a ladder alone and get up on a steep roof to try to get into a window. Imagine if Benji's mother saw him way up high like that. A green Benji would have been mild.