What do you pay your babysitter?

[kamik86]

Wow. I know this usually varies by region but I'm feeling really cheap!

Our summer sitters are teenage girls (they rotate days and aren't working every week) and we are paying them $8 per hour for an 11 year old and an 8 year old, and they are here 3-4 hours a day. I usually round up and kick in a little extra because gas is so high plus I make sure there are things here for them to eat for breakfast and/or lunch depending on when they are here. I asked around and found people paying $6-$10 an hour so I split the difference.

See I actually think that is a pretty good rate. Most of the ones that were talking higher were younger children. With an 8 and a 10 year old they mostly would entertain themselves you have no messes to really clean up, no diapers, they can get themselves a drink so you don't have to... mostly making them lunch and just making sure no one burns the house down.

When I babysat I was watching a 7 and a 3 year old. The 3 year old was the work, the 7 year old I might read a story with or play a game while her brother was doing other things but she really didn't take much work.

 

[luv2sleep]

See I actually think that is a pretty good rate. Most of the ones that were talking higher were younger children. With an 8 and a 10 year old they mostly would entertain themselves you have no messes to really clean up, no diapers, they can get themselves a drink so you don't have to... mostly making them lunch and just making sure no one burns the house down.

When I babysat I was watching a 7 and a 3 year old. The 3 year old was the work, the 7 year old I might read a story with or play a game while her brother was doing other things but she really didn't take much work.

Where I live the rate is always the same and isn't affected by the age of the child. It doesn't not go down as they age. I wish it did!

 

[larina]

Wow. I know this usually varies by region but I'm feeling really cheap!

Our summer sitters are teenage girls (they rotate days and aren't working every week) and we are paying them $8 per hour for an 11 year old and an 8 year old, and they are here 3-4 hours a day. I usually round up and kick in a little extra because gas is so high plus I make sure there are things here for them to eat for breakfast and/or lunch depending on when they are here. I asked around and found people paying $6-$10 an hour so I split the difference.

Can I ask what area you are in? I'm in California, where everything costs more, so I'm used to that, lol.

I pay between $10 and $20 an hour depending on the circumstances (my children being watched are 5 and 10) and who is watching the kids. My youngest "sitter" is 19. Since I have an older daughter (she's 19) I have a fairly decent sized pool of sitters to choose from, both boys and girls. My son prefers the boys, my daughter the girls. Short, daytime trips (run to the grocery store or take the other child to the dentist or doctor or something like that) get closer to $10, long or late night get more. When we took my son out of daycare (another child kept punching him and the providers wouldn't do anything about it, in fact, they kept punishing both boys, my son for 'tattling' but he shouldn't have to tell, someone should have seen it, right?) and brought someone in, she was older and had some Early Childhood Education classes behind her; we paid her $20 an hour. She had activities planned and really tried to keep up with actual learning, in addition to playing. She also did dishes when he napped (unasked, just didn't like to be bored) and even swept a few times. She moved away

 

[luv2sleep]

Can I ask what area you are in? I'm in California, where everything costs more, so I'm used to that, lol.

I pay between $10 and $20 an hour depending on the circumstances (my children being watched are 5 and 10) and who is watching the kids. My youngest "sitter" is 19. Since I have an older daughter (she's 19) I have a fairly decent sized pool of sitters to choose from, both boys and girls. My son prefers the boys, my daughter the girls. Short, daytime trips (run to the grocery store or take the other child to the dentist or doctor or something like that) get closer to $10, long or late night get more. When we took my son out of daycare (another child kept punching him and the providers wouldn't do anything about it, in fact, they kept punishing both boys, my son for 'tattling' but he shouldn't have to tell, someone should have seen it, right?) and brought someone in, she was older and had some Early Childhood Education classes behind her; we paid her $20 an hour. She had activities planned and really tried to keep up with actual learning, in addition to playing. She also did dishes when he napped (unasked, just didn't like to be bored) and even swept a few times. She moved away

I had one like that. I used to call her Mary Poppins, lol. She was awesome. I paid her whatever she wanted which was $14/hr. she went on to grad school, got married, and moved away too. (I am in California too)

 

[DisneyElite4]

It's interesting to see the discrepancies across the country.

We're in Oklahoma and have one child who is still an infant. We pay our babysitter, who is coming tonight actually, $10 an hour with a very generous tip. She is 21 and an experienced sitter. All she has to do is give him a bottle and put him down for the night when she comes - he goes down very easily, so there isn't much work involved at this point. We have already given him dinner and a bath by the time she comes, and he goes to bed very early (7 p.m.). This is the going rate for one easy-to-care for child in this region. If I had more or older children, the rate would be slightly higher.

 

[Kitty 34]

Wow! I love reading these prices!!!

To think back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I had babysitting jobs we got paid 50 cents an hour!! There was one "rich" family that actually paid 75 cents an hour. Didn't matter how many kids!

 

[4under4]

We are just now starting on our second summer nanny in 5 years. The first one graduated from college and would have come back except she got a "real" job

For the first summer we pay $10/hour, but in the form of a base salary. That means $300/week even if we go on vacation, or for any reason don't need her for a full week. If she works extra hours (or sits in the evenings) it's at $12/hour. This way she knows exactly what she can expect to earn over the course of the summer.

If it works out, she'll come back next summer with a raise

 

[ilovefh]

We just paid my adult coworker $10/hr to watch my 2 yr old DS last night for 5 hours. It was worth it and she's wonderful! DS loves her but man, I see why this is the first time we've been out in 2 years! $50 for the babysitter, $75 for dinner and $25 for the movies!

 

[Piper]

Wow! I love reading these prices!!!

To think back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I had babysitting jobs we got paid 50 cents an hour!! There was one "rich" family that actually paid 75 cents an hour. Didn't matter how many kids!

That is what I earned, too! The one family who paid 75 cents an hour was my favorite. Not because of the money, but because they had converted their garage to a grandparents suite and her parents lived there. They had survived the holocaust and would come into the house after I got the children to bed and tell the most interesting stories of their life in Germany! It didn't hurt that the Grandmother liked to bake and often brought "treats" to share!

The summer I was 16, I spent 2 weeks at a neighbor's watching their 8 children (the oldest was 11 and the youngest 3 were 2, 12 mos and newborn.) The mother had to go back into the hospital right after new youngest one was born to have a hysterectomy. The father went to dental school during the day and then worked until 9:30 at night. I wasn't going to take any money at all, but they insisted on giving me $30 for the two weeks. I went over there a lot for the rest of the summer just to give the mother a break--for free.

Now you probably understand why I was called Piper from about the age of 13 -- I played the flute and always had a bunch of young children following after me in my neighborhood!

 

[Chelley00]

Can I ask what area you are in? I'm in California, where everything costs more, so I'm used to that, lol.

We're in Indiana.

 

[heatherleigh]

I pay roughly $10 per hr, sometimes $9 for 4 kids. I also fill up the sitter's vehicle with fuel. I always fill it, so they know to come to my house with an empty tank & they will get more. I tell them that ahead of time too. Sometimes their gas is only $25 to fill, other times it can be $75 depending on how empty it is.

 

[Princess_Meghan <3]

I get paid $10 an hour to watch two kids- one is 4 and one is 6. I get paid the same if I'm only watching one of them. Sometimes I babysit for other families, and typically get paid around the same amount, but I usually accept whatever the family offers me (it's ranged from $8-10 an hour for 2-4 kids).

 

[PebblesMK]

Holy buckets, I think I need to move and take up babysitting! This is slightly different, but I've been babysitting my niece and nephew since they were born. Going on five years. The first 4 years I had them 4-6 days a week for about 8-12 hours a day and then this past year I only have them maybe 3 days a week for 4-6 hours a day. The first 4 years I didn't get paid and then when I brought it up to my brother, he asked what babysitters these days make. I thought the going rate was maybe $2-5 an hour!!!! Well, needless to say I don't even make that much, I get paid negative amounts once I add in the food, diapers, clothes (because their mom refuses to send clothes).

What areas does everybody live and if you were paying a regular sitter that pretty much has a set schedule, would you pay by the hour or come up with a salary type deal? I'm thinking that I should bring this information to my brother so he can sort of know what to expect once I stop. Also, how do these babysitting prices compare to a daycare?

 

[ilovefh]

Holy buckets, I think I need to move and take up babysitting! This is slightly different, but I've been babysitting my niece and nephew since they were born. Going on five years. The first 4 years I had them 4-6 days a week for about 8-12 hours a day and then this past year I only have them maybe 3 days a week for 4-6 hours a day. The first 4 years I didn't get paid and then when I brought it up to my brother, he asked what babysitters these days make. I thought the going rate was maybe $2-5 an hour!!!! Well, needless to say I don't even make that much, I get paid negative amounts once I add in the food, diapers, clothes (because their mom refuses to send clothes).

What areas does everybody live and if you were paying a regular sitter that pretty much has a set schedule, would you pay by the hour or come up with a salary type deal? I'm thinking that I should bring this information to my brother so he can sort of know what to expect once I stop. Also, how do these babysitting prices compare to a daycare?

We pay our regular full time sitter differently. She charges $150/week for babies. As they get older she knocks off $10/week each year. She takes 4 kids and has them about 9 hours per day. She provides the solid food we provide milk, formula or breast milk. She also gives them a bath every day. We also provide diapers and wipes. We just show up Monday with a bag with 5 outfits in it and each day we drop them off in their jammies.

We're super spoiled for sure! We're kind of looking to move him for other reasons (the other boy around his age is 75% sure they're moving him to a daycare so he'll be the oldest, but he has speech issues so having another kid to emulate is important.) The new place charges more and we have to provide food, bathe him and dress him each morning. It saves a ton of time each day to get him up, change his diaper and just leave! She even feeds him breakfast!

 

[clarkshel]

Holy buckets, I think I need to move and take up babysitting! This is slightly different, but I've been babysitting my niece and nephew since they were born. Going on five years. The first 4 years I had them 4-6 days a week for about 8-12 hours a day and then this past year I only have them maybe 3 days a week for 4-6 hours a day. The first 4 years I didn't get paid and then when I brought it up to my brother, he asked what babysitters these days make. I thought the going rate was maybe $2-5 an hour!!!! Well, needless to say I don't even make that much, I get paid negative amounts once I add in the food, diapers, clothes (because their mom refuses to send clothes).

What areas does everybody live and if you were paying a regular sitter that pretty much has a set schedule, would you pay by the hour or come up with a salary type deal? I'm thinking that I should bring this information to my brother so he can sort of know what to expect once I stop. Also, how do these babysitting prices compare to a daycare?

We are going to pay our full time babysitter $1800/month in the fall. This is for our 5 and 9 yr old's. She will drop and pickup both kids to school. Clean our house, do the kids laundry, and maybe make us supper.. Our youngest only has half days, so she will look after him when he is not in kindergarten. We are in Alberta Canada.

 

[luv2sleep]

We are going to pay our full time babysitter $1800/month in the fall. This is for our 5 and 9 yr old's. She will drop and pickup both kids to school. Clean our house, do the kids laundry, and maybe make us supper.. Our youngest only has half days, so she will look after him when he is not in kindergarten. We are in Alberta Canada.

That sounds similar to here (California). She's working all day but without kids for only about 3-4 hrs. However, se will have housework to take up her time so it evens out. The going rate for full time care like that is $500/week. That's only Childcare though. No cleaning. You guys have a great deal because she's also going to clean.

I just got rid of our sitter. She was good but I was paying $800+/month for 3-4 hrs per day for after school Childcare. Our school afterschool program is $300/month.

 

[dizluvah]

my teenage sitter rocks! I offered her $8/hr and she counted with $5 (she increases $1 per hour for each additional kid). So this morning she was here from 9a-11a and I gave her $10 (I was home about 10:30a - if I had been gone until 11 - I would have given her $3 extra (tip) since gas is so $$$ and she drives herself here).

Needless to say, she gets lots of business from the mom's in our playgroup. She is inexpensive for our area - going rate is closer to $10 -$12/hour.

 

[stargazer2892]

Thankfully either my parents or sister watch DS so its usually free. However my co worker pays his high school neighbor 10$ an hour then if he's at work after midnight its 15$.

 

[debster812]

DS is 16, and we have a 9 year old neighbor boy. DS plays soccer, and our neighbor is starting to get involved in higher level and travel soccer. He came over to ask if DS had a few minutes to help him figure something out on the soccer field. No problem. They were out in the yard for about 45 minutes, and the boys' mom said that he had to go, and come grocery shopping with her.

DS told her he did not mind staying and hanging with him til she got home. She confirmed it was OK with me, (I was home, 2 doors away) and off she went. She was back in an hour and 5 minutes, and forced DS to take $20. He did not want to take it, he was just 'hanging out and kicking around with him' but she insisted. Said it was such a HUGE help to her, and she got in and out so quickly, because she was not wrangling her son. Win/win.

So, she has asked DS 3 more times to come and hang with her son for an hour or two, and DS is getting some pocket money. She is not paying him so much now that he is helping her out on a regular basis.

 

[larina]

Holy buckets, I think I need to move and take up babysitting! This is slightly different, but I've been babysitting my niece and nephew since they were born. Going on five years. The first 4 years I had them 4-6 days a week for about 8-12 hours a day and then this past year I only have them maybe 3 days a week for 4-6 hours a day. The first 4 years I didn't get paid and then when I brought it up to my brother, he asked what babysitters these days make. I thought the going rate was maybe $2-5 an hour!!!! Well, needless to say I don't even make that much, I get paid negative amounts once I add in the food, diapers, clothes (because their mom refuses to send clothes).

What areas does everybody live and if you were paying a regular sitter that pretty much has a set schedule, would you pay by the hour or come up with a salary type deal? I'm thinking that I should bring this information to my brother so he can sort of know what to expect once I stop. Also, how do these babysitting prices compare to a daycare?

What you're talking about, I was paid $125 a week when I was 18 to watch a baby (just one child) 3 days a week for 8 to 10 hours a day. That was in 1992. I'm sorry, but it sounds like your brother and his wife are really taking advantage of you. The no clothes thing, that is ridiculous, I would have quit if that happened more than once. You should NOT be buying anything to care for their child.