Appropriate babysitter charge??

[Maybelle]

My daughter has her first babysitting job tonight. She will be watching my niece and nephew (age 6 and 4) while we go out to dinner with their parents. She will probably be giving them a simple supper.

I am wondering what the going rate is for babysittersd, because she really has no idea what to charge.

Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[lisaross]

i would say about 7 or 8.00 - might be a bit on the lower end, but it is her niece and nephew..

 

[swkmom]

My daughter gets $5 per hour to watch her cousin, my niece, I would guess it would be a little more for 2 kids. I guess it also depends on what area of the country you live in.

 

[Maybelle]

We are in the New England area.

Thanks for your input.

 

[DaniB]

I'm in Canada and I have been giving my last 2 babysitters $5 an hour. (I have 2 kids). Usually the kids are fed and ready for bed. If there's more work involved, I sometimes give more. But I always round it up to the closest hour as well.

My first babysitter seemed surprised by the amount I gave her as she asked a couple of times if I meant to give her that much. Makes me wonder what other people paid her.

When she went off to University this past September, I was lucky to have another family move on our street with a 13 year old who's good as well.

 

[heatherleigh]

$7.50 PER HOUR would be appropriate given the relationship and their ages.

 

[cinderellamom123]

I am also from MA. I don't know how old your daughter is, and what her experience is. However, I do not know anyone who pays their babysitter less than $10 in our area. I pay mine $12 but they are CPR/First Aid certified etc. Because of our location, rates are much higher than say Ohio or Iowa

 

[Maybelle]

Thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it. My daughter will be turnign 13 next month, and will be taking the babysitting/CPR class later this month or in the summer. She is very close with her cousins, and they can't wait for her to come over to babysit! I think for her first job, she doesn't expect to make that much, but I think my sister is used to paying quite a bit...so she may be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks!

 

[msmama]

I would say between $7 - $10/hr.

Less because they're not babies, but more because there's 2 of them. Less because she's still pretty young more because she's family.

I think $5 is too little!

 

[ohanaMAMA]

I used to babysit a LOT. I charged $20 an evening. flat rate. (except for this one family who's kids were NUTS! they were on an hourly, per kid rate)

 

[RachaelA]

I am also from MA. I don't know how old your daughter is, and what her experience is. However, I do not know anyone who pays their babysitter less than $10 in our area. I pay mine $12 but they are CPR/First Aid certified etc. Because of our location, rates are much higher than say Ohio or Iowa

I live in Northeast Ohio and back in 2001 and 2002 I was making $10 an hour (I was a freshman and sophmore in high school). So not all of Ohio is not as low cost of living as one might think

 

[Michellepooh]

I'm in MA and we pay $8/hour to some HS girls who babysit, but we have another college-aged girl who charges $10/hour. We have 2 kids, ages 5 and 1.

 

[daisyduck123]

My DD15 gets $10.00/hour.

 

[DebMcDonald]

We're also in Red Sox Nation, living on the South Shore. My 16 year old gets on average $8-10 an hour, closer to $8 for two kids.

 

[addicted2dizney]

I usually paid my young adult babysitter $12 an hour. Now my 16 year old gets $12 an hour for practically doing nothing! The kids are older and sometimes only one is there and he/she watches tv and goes to bed.

I told my daughter the next time she can't do it, give me the job! lol!

 

[cinmouse]

Also from MA - we pay $10 per hour for our 6 year old son...I think the going rate for 2 kids is $12-$15 per hour.
Since your daughter is young and it is her cousins, I would say $8 would be a deal. Whne my nephew (14) watched my son I paid him $20 for 3 hours and took him to CoCo Key Waterpark with us during the day.

 

[java]

My dd gets $10 an hour for 2 kids(she's 12)
But she would be watching cousins for FREE. As long as it wasn't going to be an every weekend kind of thing.

 

[verlee]

In our neighborhood young babysitters get $6-$7/hr, College $10/hr. I pay our 14 yr old neighbor $6/ hr rounding up and her mom is constantly telling me I pay too much?

 

[mjkacmom]

I pay $10, I pay dd13 $5 (since she lives here), and I tell my friends to pay her $6, because she's still young (and we're friends).

 

[jlindemer]

Wowsers! There is a 15 yr old that wants to babysit my boys over the summer & she only wants $4/hr! She charges someone else $50 for a week--working 4 days, 6 hrs a day.