Another "how much to pay the babysitter" and another ?

[looseseal]

Our normal weekend/evening babysitter is constantly unavailable lately, so we're looking for a new one. My boss mentioned to me that her high school age daughter would love to get a babysitting job. Because we don't know her, we thought we would ask her to come sit for our kids (boys age 4 and 1 1/2) while we're doing yard work. We would be around, but it would be really nice to have someone else play with them and keep them out of our hair while we rake leaves, etc. We have a lot of trees, so this could end up being 3 or 4 mornings in the next month or so. If it works well, we may ask her to sit for us in the evening.

Our normal babysitter is a college student who has experience working in daycares. She doesn't have a set rate, but I believe we paid her approximately $10/hr last time she came over. New girl has little/no experience and would need to be driven because she doesn't have a driver's license. We are in a VLCOL area. Do we pay the high school student less?

Also, is it incredibly stupid to consider hiring my boss's daughter? Should I just keep those worlds separate? At this point, I have only mentioned needing someone to help while we do yard work.

[jennistarr1]

To start, maybe like 6$ hour while you are there...maybe 20 for like 3 hours...

Then bump it up a little for evening

Or just ask her rates

[marina007]

We pay our 20 year old babysitter 12/hr but she drives to our house. Maybe 8-9 an hour since you pick her up and she's younger?

Defo ask her first though.

[vanillacourage]

I wouldn't hire the boss's daughter.

If you did, I feel like you were probably underpaying your previous sitter, so I wouldn't go lower than that for a weekend night. But, I'd be ok going lower for a few hours in the morning when you and your DH are home. It's not the same level of responsibility.

[lilybug]

Personally, I would not mix work/home worlds when it comes to childcare and/or money. Nuh uh.

That said, I'd pay $5-7 an hour while you're there (depending on how well she actually keeps them out of your hair.) Maybe $8/hour if you use her in the evening.

Babysitting rates anecdote, I had no idea the norm varied so much between LCOL/HCOL areas until I (a city girl) moved to a rural midwestern town, paid the HS-age babysitter $12/hour for two small kids, and she looked at me like she just won the lottery. That's how much I made per hour as a babysitter for one kid in Austin, so I honestly thought I was being cheap.

[thinkofthesoldiers]

So here's a story for you. My parents hired my dad's boss's daughter to be our summer sitter when we were kids. She was HORRIBLE. Like treated us like shit horrible. Locked us kids out of the house, ignored our requests horrible. My parents didn't believe us until my mom decided to come home early one day and realized it was all true. But she couldn't flip out because this girl was my dad's boss.

They still had to fire her obviously, but my dad said it was awkward for years after that.

Clearly, this girl won't be that bad...hopefully. But imagine if you didn't want to use her again because she wasn't right.

[looseseal]

Thanks for the responses. I had a feeling it could be a bad idea to hire her, but am just so desperate to be able to find a sitter and get out of the house. H and I have reached "roommates who co-parent" status and we really need a break.