How much do you pay a babysitter?

[g&g'smomma]

Some of you PARENTS are getting some great deals on your babysitters and some of you BABYSITTERS I would have to say, for lack of a better word, are getting shafted $20 a day for 10 hours...you poor thing. I would try and have a respectful conversation with that family stat. Let them know that while you love their family, the rate they are paying you isn't worth your time, or is it. Who am I...you may be perfectly happy and if you are good for you...but if your not...just say something. As another note, just thought you'd all like to know that a friend of mine is expecting her 3rd baby and is going through a dilema because she already pays her sitter...(are you sitting down)...$15 an hour for two!

[momto3kittiess]

Originally Posted by g&g'smomma

Some of you PARENTS are getting some great deals on your babysitters and some of you BABYSITTERS I would have to say, for lack of a better word, are getting shafted $20 a day for 10 hours...you poor thing. I would try and have a respectful conversation with that family stat. Let them know that while you love their family, the rate they are paying you isn't worth your time, or is it. Who am I...you may be perfectly happy and if you are good for you...but if your not...just say something. As another note, just thought you'd all like to know that a friend of mine is expecting her 3rd baby and is going through a dilema because she already pays her sitter...(are you sitting down)...$15 an hour for two!

I was not happy about it. The mother and I had a talk today. She is going to give me the food items she gets from WIC and pay me and extra $40 a week. We will see how it goes...

[Kissymissy]

My thoughts are that it depends on the cost of living in your area.

Plus this is a 16 year old that if she didn't work for you may not get paid more than minimum wage at another job. I wouldn't pay more than minimum wage in this case.
So that being said, for a 2 yr old up to 4 hours, I would think $5 is a good starting point. Ask her/him how much she charges for others, some sitters set their rates. I use to get paid a flat rate when the parents went out for an evening, I never really baby sat when parents were at work. But I wouldn't pay less than $5 / hour.

Momto3kitties- I would renegotiate your rates, I wouldn't let them take advantage of you like that. My boyfriend thinks $3/ hour per kid is average for your situation.

[julieduck]

Originally Posted by LUV2KLIP

How much you pay the sitter should really depend on how experienced the sitter is also. That in combination of what your expectations are of the sitter's responsibilities.
Your only going to get what you offer to pay for as far as a babysitter goes. Unqualified babysitter I wouldn't consider for the care of my child[ren]. Experienced/qualified..You can NOT place a high enough value on such a thing when it comes to your child IMO.

Personally, I would pay no less than $10/hour for one 2 y/o child AND the sitter would have to be experienced AND 1st aid as well as CPR qualified to be entrusted with the care of one of my own children.

yeah, my DH thought I was out of my mind when we first started paying a sitter. DD was still a little baby and I paid $100 a day. Now you have to know we only used a sitter 1-2 times a month. When she turned 1 the rate dropped to $75/day and now she is 3 1/2 so the rate is $40. DD now goes once maybe twice a week. She stays with a SAHM who has a 18 month old and a 4 year old. Her previous occupation was...daycare worker. She's amazing. She teaches them sign language and they don't even have cable t.v. DD will even ask to go see her. There's no crying or fearfulness when we drop her off. When this trip came up my DH's cousin volunteered to take care of her and I flat out said no way. If the sitter can't do it we're not going. And she's going to have her over for a night before the trip (for free!) to get her used to the idea of sleeping over.

[smriel]

I have two children. One is five and one is twelve. The twelve year old obviously doesn't need a sitter and stays by himself occaisionally. However, if we have to leave for a few hours, I'm not ready for him to "babysit" his sister yet. So, I have a sitter come over. She's in tenth grade. I pay her $6 an hour to entertain the five year old. She eats and drinks whatever she wants while she's here. AND, I always round up. Let's say she sat for 3 hours and that would be $18. She'd get a twenty. I"ve always paid my sitters well and rounded up. One has kept in touch even now that she's all grown up. She started babysitting my son when he was two years old. Now she just comes over to visit. Sometimes she'll come pick them up and take them somewhere like the movies or something.

[mnm'z]

Originally Posted by FrugalEngineer

I made 1.50-2/hr as a teen in the 1980's, fwiw.

That's what I made, too. Actually, it's what I paid for the sitters for my kids too (usually a $20 bill for the evening) and that was top money. I'm glad my kids are older, I'd not be able to afford to go out.

By all means, you need to have qualified people watching your darlings, but dang ~ that's a chunk of change.

[I luv coupons]

I have 4 kid and i paid the sitter $10 / hour ( 2 of the kid are 12 and 13 so the itter i not really for them but just theere) and won't go past that b/c i know mot people don't make more than that at a grocery store or other place for that matter. I think if it is a teenager minimum wage is fine too b/c most when they first get a job only make minimum wage anyhow.

[vcphillips]

I have lived on several military bases and it has always been like this-- If you need care fulltime at least 8hrs.per day-M-F- $120 a week. If you needed drop in service You pay $5 per hour for the first child then $2 for the second and $1 for every child after that. And on every base that I have lived on the housing office has a list of teenagers that babysit after school and on the weekends- They make $3 for the first child and $1 for every child after that.

[vcphillips]

Originally Posted by momto3kittiess

I was not happy about it. The mother and I had a talk today. She is going to give me the food items she gets from WIC and pay me and extra $40 a week. We will see how it goes...

How can you take her food form WIC- that is suppose to be used for that child-- maybe I am reading this wrong!!!!

[LITSA]

Valerie from what I read earlier in the thread, the people she sits for under pay her and also expect her to feed their kids. I think the way I am reading this, is that the parents are now going to bring their WIC items over so she doesn't have to pay for their food.

We still have not left our child with a sitter here in FL. Before we moved, I worked every other weekend while hubby was already working here in FL. I had one of the girls at my church come and pretty much stay with us for the weekend. (This worked out well for both of us and her family and kept her in church those weeks.) I always went and picked her up.....depending it was a bit of a drive, bought her specific snacks and drinks, and most of her meals for the weekend. I also paid her $20 for each night that I worked. I was gone for 5-6 hours. The baby was in bed most of the time I was gone. She tried to feed her dinner, gave her a bottle, changed her diaper and put her to bed. (Also my neighbor was always across the street just in case she had an emergency.) My babysitter kept telling me I was over paying her for what I was doing as she kept a 3 year old the previous summer and I paid more for two nights than she got for most of a week all day long.

Blessings and Hugs, "Angel"