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I've had my eye on some girls in my church and approached their mom a few weeks ago about setting up a babysitting arrangement. Woob is 17 mos. old and I am finally loosening up a little on who can watch him and feeling comfortable going out without him occasionally. The family in question has two teenage girls, and when I enquired about her babysitting the mom said that the girls would love to. I asked her what did sitters charge these days, to which she replied "oh a few bucks an hour..." pretty noncommittally.
Not only am I wondering what the standard teenage babysitter rate is, but how to pay if two come at the same time. Here's my thought on the matter...$5 per hour for one sitter, and if her sister tags along, $6 per hour and they can split it. I can't pay double fees just cause there are two girls.
OR Do you just say "we'll be gone no more than x hours and I'll pay you $xx for the evening. They can decide if they'll both come and split it or if just one will come.
What do you think? I'd like to pay enough to keep them interested in sitting for me, but I am not a goldmine.
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Yeah, I got between 2-3/hr in my day. I've been wondering this as well. We're also thinking about asking a girl from church to come over, once a week for two hours in the evening so I can get work done or go to the store or do laundry or take a ding-dang nap or whatever. LOL. And so, I'm watching this thread for further discussion. ;)
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Okay, here is what I'm going to do. I'm going to call the teenager and see if she's willing to come on Saturday to babysit. I am going to offer her the opportunity to earn $30 that night. Sister can come if she wants. What they do with the pay is up to them. We will likely be gone a total of 4-5 hours. Friday, I'll offer to pick her up to bring her to our house to see where everything is, point out routines, no-nos for the baby, etc. I'll offer pizza for dinner. She will not have to feed or bathe Woob Saturday night, except for milk and a snack before bed.
She can take or leave the Friday thing, but I kind of want to do that ahead of time regardless.
I'll let you know if she takes the bait.
mrsdatabits
I wonder the same too, and when people tell me between $7-10/hr I'm flabbergasted. I used to work as a daycare provider and didn't make that much!!! (and this was only about 3 years ago). So, I despair of ever having someone watch DD. I, too, used to babysit and it was for about $2-3/hr.
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We're in Nashville and although we don't have to hire an outside sitter very often since we have the two older boys, we pay $6.00 an hour when we do. Our oldest son will watch Castle for us free if he's not working but our youngest, 13, still wants some pay but he does come cheaper than an outside sitter thank goodness!
One thing I've found through the years is if our sitter brought a friend along our children didn't get as much attention because the girls were talking on the phone or on the computer so be careful that they know that they are there to watch/entertain the child.
I'll add one other thing here---we pay our nanny $10 an hour, plus she gets a lot of benefits (a gas credit card, AAA, cash bonuses, we keep food she likes on hand, etc.) but I don't usually pay evening sitters that much. On the rare occasions when we don't have grandma to sit, our former nanny sits and I do it by the evening---and half the time she won't take the money. I somehow have a hard time wanting to pay an evening sitter the same rate----like it would somehow demean nanny's job during the day. Does that seem weird?
Saturday went without a hitch. Only one of the girls came--she was 14 yrs old (a freshman), but pretty mature acting, and has experience with little boys because she is second oldest of 5, the two youngest being little brothers. It went well. She played with him all night (you could tell because EVERY toy he owned was out :) ) We paid her $5 hour which she said was great. I did make the point that I was hoping to establish a consistent babysitter for Woob so that we'd like to call her again. She said that was good with her. The older sister didn't seem too interested, so I'm glad she didn't come.
Emster, I think it's great you found someone for $5 an hour! That is what I got paid 17 years ago, LOL. But I only babysat for family, so they were probably a little over generous.
We just hired someone to come into our home two days a week (I'll be here too) for $10 an hour. She'll be helping me with our two kiddos (26 months & 8 months) at the very end of my pregnancy (I'm 36.5 weeks) and for a while after I deliver with all three kids. Part of me thinks $10 an hour is a lot since I'll be here and just need some help, but she is fantastic so it will hopefully be worth it!
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We've never negotiated an hourly rate, but we pay our (adult) babysitters $20 a day and $10 a half-day... which is the same rate our daycare charges. We figure if she went to daycare we'd be paying that anyway. I have no idea if that's good or not, but they've never complained or asked for more so I'm assuming it's enough.
When I get a babysitter I always pay a flat rate of 40 if we are gone overnight ( only one time so far) we paid 100. I always have fed the kids before we leave( I am psycho about food being given to my kids they choke easily) I always allow the babysitter to play on internet after the kids are in bed. In fact one of my regular baby sitters moms made me take some money back! It was embarrassing.... She said I paid way to much.... in fact the gals at church fight over who will babysit next...
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DOLLARS per hour?? LOL When I was babysitting as a teen I made CENTS per hour. And no, I'm not THAT old. :evilgrin:When I was about 18 I did a fill in sitting job once for a lady who worked 24 hr shifts. I babysat her 2 kids (toddler and an infant still on breast milk) for $24 flat rate for 24 hours. I made dinner, and as requested I hung out her Dh's nasty, brown streaked whitie tighties and swore at that point to NEVER babysit for her again, emergency fill-in or not! :eek:Dh and I pay $7 per hour for babysitters. We have 5 children, but one is 14, so doesn't need a sitter. Additionally, the sitters are my nieces/nephews, so they're willing to do it for that fee. We also expect them to make meals, do baths, and that the house not be totally trashed when we get home (ie: dishes in the dishwasher, toys mostly picked up, no standing water or other liquids in the bathroom, etc.). We're always afraid we're being cheap, but with five kids it's all we can afford, and even then only a few times per year.
I used to baby sit a LOT!! You have to consider a few things.. How many kids you are leaveing her with. How old they are, Do you need her to make dinner,lunch,&ect. If you would like her to do some house stuff dishes ect. Toddlers require a lot more attention then say a 9 or 10 year old who usualy their biggest need it to go to bed when "mommy" wants not when they want. Also their is a home work issue and what do you want her to inforce as far as rules. Different need different amount of money, You ask for one you pay for one. She needs to OK someone else with you befor she comes in my opnion. This is your time your paying for it. Cash is always best . But unfourtunaly there are other issues than just how much. I don't mean to be snotty just a picky mom and there is a lot to think of. Also remember some do scream for mom . Till she out of site..LOL