Baby-Sitting

[Southernmiss]

I babysat in the 80s and would make,at least $20 per Friday night-dinner and a movie dates for 3 kids. Not seeing $70 30 plus years later out of line for 7 hours, with an older young person, who is cpr certified and has a car. I stopped babysitting at age 17 when I started working part time in a bank.

We have 4 kids, paying babysitters is part of why we are just now going out again as our youngest is now 16. Never went out because we wanted to be fair to babysitters.

My 4 kids started refereeing soccer at age 12. None of them ever babysat as refereeing soccer could make them more $ on a good day.

Things are expensive and kids have options. Ds19 works in a fro yo place in his college town. With tips, he made $15 an hour today.

There are so many things good kids are involved in today that it has to be worth their while to do it.

And you want someone conscientious to care for your kids at home, so I always felt it important to pay well.

This is Mississippi, so not a traditional high cost of living area.

Don't most regular day care workers make less than the occasional babysitter? Not that it's fair, it's just what it is.

 

[elaine amj]

I think the way it works is that if u have a nanny or a regular childcare provider, the rate of pay is less. Occasional babysitters get paid much more because they only work infrequently and get very few hours whereas a regular childcare provider gets more hours so in the long run, earn more money.

I hear ya on how expensive it is though. And I always felt obligated to add a tip too, even though I always hired good friends. None of our family were able to watch our kids until they were older so it was extremely rare for us to go out without kids.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

That sounds like a good rate to me for an adult to watch 3 kids one of which is a toddler. IMO, responsible child care is invaluable. I'd rather work retail or at a fast food restaurant part time that watch 3 young kids for less than that. This is one reason we never did anything without DS, when he was young. He literally went everywhere I went, including doctor, dentist, etc. We declined all adult only invitations. I didn't trust another kid to watch him. I would have been happy to pay an adult with CPR training $10 an hour, but we didn't know anyone like that. Instead, we didn't have a date night for 14 years. When we went away for special anniversaries, we drove DS three states away for one of my sisters to watch him. He was happy to stay with them & their kids. Count your lucky stars that you've found a responsible adult to watch them. The good (or bad) news is they will be old enough way to fast to take care of themselves. Sadly, we've been in that situation for several years now. I do understand how hard it is to pay that much for a babysitter & still have the money to enjoy a night out. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a better option, unless you have family nearby.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

It's about $5/hour here, but it's unusual to have someone over 18. FWIW, $10/hr is pretty typical pay for daycare workers here.

 

[shoney]

I never paid for babysitting. My parents were close by and always watched them

Just going by my towns facebook page 14 year olds get $12 an hour for 1 kid so sounds like ur getting a bargain.

Ds16’just started working at a fast food place and the pay is 11.75 per hour so I guess it is in line with that

 

[LSUmiss]

How on earth do people afford that? That is insane. I am looking forward to the day my oldest can chill with his brothers.

I don’t see how ppl can afford to have 3 children at all & still live comfortably.

 

[missbrooke06]

I pay $10/hr for 2 kids to a 17 year old. That's really for our weekly summer softball games where we only need 2, 3 hours. For the longer stints, the grandparents usually step in.

 

[Kitty 34]

Wow! And to think when I retired from being a substitute teacher a couple of years ago I was making $12/hr for 25 some rambunctious kids!!

 

[mjkacmom]

$10 an hour is the absolute cheapest, usually a starting rate for a 13 year old. Dd16 (almost 17) sirs for a family in the next town, 2 rambunctious boys, and the mom has her cleaning the house, for $10 an hour. She will take any babysitting job over this one, but really needs money.

I got paid $6 an hour for a regular gig 30+ years ago, I paid over $10 an hour starting 15 years ago.

 

[mjkacmom]

I knew what you meant, I just don't think that changes anything. Obviously the rate is going to depend on your region (lol it's regional), but most people here seem to think you are getting a pretty great deal so.

Here a regular gig is cheaper than being on call. Dd21 had a regular after school job about 6 years ago for $8 an hour.

 

[MIGrandma]

I can’t even imagine paying a sitter $10 - $15 an hour or more to watch my kids. Ridiculous.

Back in the early 70’s I made 50 cents an hour, no matter how many kids I was sitting for.

 

[EveDallas]

Let me say that our baby-sitter is amazing. She has been watching my boys for 4 years now. She is over 18, CPR certified, and has a car.

But holy cow is it expensive! She originally charged $5 an hour, but for the amount of kids we have, and how rambunctious they are, we pay $10 an hour. DH and I went out to lunch, bowling, and dessert with friends. Afterwards we hit up Target for about 30 mins. We paid around $70 for baby-sitting. This is why we rarely go out on the weekends. Anyone else pay this rate or more? The rate people pay for baby-sitting has always fascinated me. When I used to baby-sit, the worse children ever, I made about $20 for 6 hours of baby-sitting.

She's watching three kids for $10 an hour??? I'd say you're getting off cheap. I charge $15 an hour for one kid.

 

[EveDallas]

I look at it different because it is just a "if she is free" we use her basis. I'm not sure when it got so expensive.

I guess I'm confused as to why you would want to cheap out on who watches your kids. That's the last place I would skimp.

 

[katie111]

That is dirt cheap. My DD who is 15 gets anywhere from $10-18 an hour, usually for 2 kids. She babysits for all friends of ours, so she never gives them a price (or if she does she shays $10) but most pay her much more than that.

I have a friend with 4 kids. When 3 of them are in school she hires a woman to come over for a few hours to watch the baby so she can get some errands done. She pays her $22 an hour. Crazy to me but worth it to her.

This is why my DH and I rarely went out when our kids were little. $200 for dinner and a movie seems excessive to me. We'd usually just have friends over with their kids and have some adult beverages while the kids played or watched a movie.

 

[NJlauren]

I think $10 an hour is cheap! Around here 12/13 is the least your going to get charged and that’s for a 15 year old who can’t drive you need to pick up and drop off etc.

I just went out with some Mom friends and we had a smile conversation we all have one babysitter we share and a few others we use that we don’t share.

Once the babysitter came to me for 1 hour I gave her 20, for her to drive here and sit with DD anything less wouldn’t have paid for her time and gas, so not worth it for her.

But when she comes for long periods of time we round up, example if she comes for 6 hours it’s just easier to give her 100 then 15 and hour since I go to the atm and then give $20’s.

So I say we pay between 15-20, the other moms were about the same but don’t round up they give exact amounts. But if they had younger sister they pay less.

 

[Disney Doll]

In 1975 when I was 13 I babysat 2 kids for $3/hour in my area. I’m about 1.5 hours north of NYC so probably a more expensive area of the country in general.

$10/hour for 3 kids sounds pretty reasonable to me 40 years later.

 

[scrhsa]

My dd watches a little girl about an hour twice ( I know its not the same as a one off baby sitting) and they pay $ 50 a week. She was totally shocked at how much they were paying her and even told them that it was way too much. But they told her that it was less than what they would have paid for after school care. Not too bad!!

 

[starry_solo]

I mean, "If she is available". We go by her schedule if we use her. We don't have any set hours or anything. Just a text if she is available on a certain and work with her schedule. I guess personally for me I don't put occasional baby-sitters in the same category as a day care worker or a nanny. I think that is why I am so shocked at the cost a lot of people charge. If I was having someone come in and watch my kids a a couple days a week, then yes I see paying $15-$20 an hour. For just an occasional date night, I think that is excessive.

If someone is coming in and watching your kids several days a week, that would be considered day care/after care and would be more expensive.

 

[somcgregor]

This is one reason we don’t go out. I have one child a 6 year old who is very easy going and generally the kid goes to bed within an hour of them being here. I am sorry I am not paying some one $15to $20 an hour so they can watch tv and being on their phone while my kid is asleep. Especially since I have to drive them to and from. Nope not happening.

Now when I did use one of my sosn daycare teachers I paid her and rounded up. But she came to us on the 7th or 8th snow day and saved us since we had to be at work.

Date night nope. My folks live close now so we use them.

 

[undertheradar]

I can't imagine at least $5 per hour, per child. Then there is the tip for the good ones so they are available when you need them. We used to keep our favorite one scheduled at least once per month and she was getting $10 per hour for one child in the early '90s!