I know it's not really proper etiquette to discuss incomes and pay rates and such, but, I'm sorta going to do it anyway. You see, I'm curious about what today's babysitters are being paid. We have never had to pay someone to babysit our kids - I'm a stay-at-home mom and on the occasional outings when we needed childcare, we always relied on grandparents. Now, our children are older and no longer need babysitters. Specifically, our daughter is almost 15 and she has started to test the waters with a few babysitting jobs in the neighborhood. I think it will be a great experience for her. She will be able to earn a little spending money while also demonstrating some independence and responsibility. We have several families on our street that she may be able to sit for occasionally and I like knowing that I'm close by if she needs help.
The big question for us is....how much should she charge? We honestly have no idea. Her first few times that she babysat last summer, she did it for free and used the time for her required service hours in Jr. Beta Club. But, now she is ready to babysit for a fee. We just need to determine what the fee should be.
So, if you are not opposed to sharing, I would love to hear your thoughts. Parents, what do you think is a fair rate to pay a teenage babysitter? Or, if you have a teen who babysits, what kind of rates do they charge?
Hopefully, I haven't offended anyone by bringing up this topic. I know some people are very particular about discussing monetary earnings.
3 comments:
I have been babysitting since 7th grade ( I started as a mother's helper.) I believe I started at 7 an hour for 2 kids - it went up with each kid. I graduated high school watching 5 kids for 15 an hour.
Now I am 26 and I have a college degree. I charge a bit more. If under 10, I charge 11 for 1, 13 for 2, 15 for 3 and 18 for 4+. If the kids are older then I don't charge as much, I sort of do it case by case. If they are going to be sleeping most of the time I also charge less.
I also live right outside of washington DC so rates are higher.
I think 10 an hour for most rural areas(not 100% sure where you live)if there are only 1 or 2 kids.
Just make sure she takes a cpr class. Seems silly, but my mom teaches cpr and has had 2 kids save kids they were babysitting in the 5 years shes been teaching. Totally worth it.
If you have any other questions or if I didn't make sense please email me!
This is a great question! We've been paying $10 an hour for our 9 & 11 year old who go to bed by 9:30 even on the weekends. Our babysitter is now in college and I am thinking we need to pay more because she is really good. I might bump her up to $15 this summer. I'm looking for a new sitter now that ours is at college.
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