I used her for the first time last week when I desperately posted on FB at 4pm for 5pm that I needed a sitter and her mother said she was available. She's 12 and lives 3 houses down. (her mother was home while she babysat). I came home to all 3 boys in bed and the dinner dishes washed. I was just so happy to have a sitter I gave her $40 for basically 3 hours.
She's babysitting today while I "work". I'm home, but she's keeping the boys quiet in another part of the house. What is a fair amount?
Can you ask the girl's mom what is typical? 12 years old seems really young to pay $10-15 an hour. Or ask your FB friends who live near you? I think this varies so much by area.
I have a 16-year old I've been using, and at first I had to force her to accept $8 an hour - she thought it was too high!! Crazy girl. (We usually pay the regular babysitter, who is a teacher at the kids' daycare, $12-14 an hour.)
Post by heightsyankee on Aug 8, 2012 11:06:53 GMT -5
I think what you paid her was generous but not crazy. It's roughly $4 per kid, plus a tip. I pay my college age sitter $12/hr for 2 kids and round up to the nearest increment of 10 at the end of the night. We also usually give her dinner (she eats with the kids and we get the hell outta there).
Basically, my theory is to always be generous with the people who are responsible for the most important thing in my world- my kids, and my most valuable possession- my house.
I have also found that paying, even ever so slightly on the high side, creates loyalty and my sitter will check with me before letting any one else book her.
I had a teen girl (age 15) who helped me a few times. I paid her $7/hr if I was home as well. If I ran errands I paid her $8+ (depending on if she had to cook, do nap time, etc). The regular babysitter we use for longer periods of time (26 y/o) is paid $10/hr or we make a deal (say $80 for an overnight stay).
We used to have a 18 yr old sitter than charged $12/hr. We switched sitters went she went to college. Now we have one 15 yr old sitter that charges $5/hr/kid while the kids are awake and $2.50/hr/kid while they are sleeping (we go on date night, kids go to bed at 7:30, he stays til midnight). Another 15 yr old sitter we use charges us $5/hr and another $1/hr for every additional kid, so for us $6/hr. Whether awake or asleep.
For a 12 yr old while I'm home? I would pay $5/hr.
We are looking at hiring a nanny and plan to pay $12-$15/hr. It depends on your area really. Sittercity.com has a calculator that may help.
this is going to vary big time based on geography. We pay any sitter $11-12 or so. Was told that was going rate around here (surprising to me since I made $10 an hour in high school years ago). Friends in fairfield county pay way way way more than that though.
For the 12 yr old Id ask her mom. Id personally expect to pay less than $10/hr for that situation.
When it's a new babysitter, we always pay 8/hr. If we use her again or on a more consistent basis, we pay 10/hr and always round up (if the total is 55, we give her 60).
Since we live in a city, we pay "market" rates. I also expect my babysitter to be up to date on CPR, have a background check and have reliable transportation. It may see over kill but when it comes to my kid.......
maybe this is flame worthy or elitist, but yeah, I'd like to think the person responsible for the life of my child is getting paid more than someone flipping burgers at McDonalds.
And the benefit is our sitter turns down plans with her friends to come sit for us Paying well helps.
I think you guys have pretty valid points. Fwiw, she texted me saying she charges $7 hr for one kid and $10 for two an hour ago. We are going to pay her $10 for one in hopes she will always be available.
Yeah but she's not a kid. She's a college student - did I read that right. If I were leaving my kid with a high schooler, I'd pay less and more in line with minimum wage.
We pay our college-aged sitter $15/hr for two kids and we're in a MCOL area.
The 21 year old my mom's group uses charges $10 an hour for 1 kid. I haven't used her yet but she gets rave reviews and I'd have no problem paying that much.
Oh and to be clear, I'm cheap but not that cheap. The first time we used this sitter, we paid $10 per kid, per hour, and the next day, her mom said we overpaid and they owed us a night out.
This is our neighbor across the street, so in their house. 14 year old babysitter, mom will only let her say yes if she's available. Mom is a daycare person at the Y (and teaches spin) and dad is a risk manager (so, safe house).
...and they won't let us pay more than $5 per hour per kid. We've tried. We want to keep them very happy.