Babysitter

[sdrsdd]

We pay $10 an hour...I have 3 kids and live in MO.

 

[auralia]

i pay 5$ an hour in georgia if it is an after bed time or during a nap sitting... aka the neighborgirl is just sitting on my couch on her cell eating icecream and playing video games... if is an "active time" it is closer to 10$ an hour... you can't even get a babysitter here for under 10$ an hour usually so i'm happy she will do nap times and night times at a cheaper rate it's hard to pay 50$ in baby sitting just to go to dinner and a movie... we are military and have no family so they only way to have time to oursleves is with a sitter.

oh forgot to mention i have 1 child who is well behaved and will turn 3 this month.

 

[Mary•Poppins]

I think 5.00 is fair.

 

[Sandi]

We're in Michigan. DD15 receives $10 an hour. She didn't set the rate; it's just what her families paid. She is American Red Cross trained and is really good with children. That is the going rate in this area for evenings. There is a decent website www.sittercity.com where you can do a search by zipcode to find sitters. You might see what the expectations are in your area.

 

[ohlas]

Wow I want to babysit lol 10/hr thats more then I make at my second job lol

Last time we needed a babysitter it was like at 9pm kids just tucked into bed all she had to do was watch tv on big screen.. and got 20 for the night we took her home in the am... that was like 2 years ago.

$5/hr is fine if she is ok with it and her parents are ok too...

 

[deva]

I'm around your neck of the wood. I live in southeastern IL on the IN border. I knew as soon as I read your post people would think that would be cheap. I keep reading about people paying teenage babysitters $10/hour. I never heard of anyone paying that high around these neck of the woods. Honestly around here I think $5/hour sounds just fine.

I agree. The going rate for babysitters is VERY dependent on location. Where I am in Ohio, going rate is probably $5-$8 per hour depending on number and ages of kids, so don't feel like you are being cheap if you are comparing yourself to an East Coaster. Ask around to see what others pay.

 

[mafibisha]

I'm in the Midwest (Ohio) and teens do not get paid that much in our area. $4.00 is the max I've heard of, maybe more if it's multiple kids. My DD is now babysitting age and has taken the American Red Cross Babysitting Class. I only paid her sitter (a grown women with a daycare in her home) $2.50 an hour (including snacks and lunch if not a school day).

My nieces live in Ohio (with their parents ) and they make at least $10 an hour. When we visit at the holidays, the girls are always booked solid and many nights come home with $60-80 with tips.
If they stay overnight somewhere, like on New Years Eve, they get $200. Yup. Where do I sign up? They live in a beautifiul upscale suburb though so it's probably not like that everywhere. Its not in my state, more like $6-8.

 

[kelleyrn2000]

DH and I don't use a babysitter because around here it's too expensive! $10 per hour, plus more for each additional child, and we have 3 kids!

DH go out occasionally (4-5 times per year) when we ask the DGP to babysit. Suprisingly they never offer, so we try not to ask too often. Plenty of other parents have no problem shelling out $30-50 per night for a sitter, but that's just not high up enough on our priority list. It's amazing that teenagers are making $10 per hour these days. I remember making $10 per night as a young teen, and I was happy with it

 

[Bethmsu]

I am from Michigan and work with children. The rate for an adult, with CPR, First Aid and own transportation starts at 12.00 an hour. If you are willing to go younger the rates go down. A high schooler makes 8-10 and middle schoolers a little less. I would say always ask your sitter what they charge, if they have no experience you can name your price but then you have a sitter with no experience. If you are only going out in the evenings and your sitter is local with "Back Up" -like mom they can call for help or someone who can give them rides then thats one thing. If you want to transition to a sitter with more nanny like duties, daytime hours, cleaning up after children, cooking and preparing activities ahead of time you will pay more for it. It seems like a lot but most of the teachers and I sit to help supplement a tiny teachers income and we have more work than we can handle at those rates.

 

[balletmom97]

We are in DFW suburbs and DS16 gets $6 hour, plus food and transportation. (He started babysitting at 14.) If there are more than 3 kids, he charges more.

People always seem to round up and he often gets tips, but he is an awesome babysitter. Seriously-- he plays with them, cooks (if requested by parents) and always leaves things cleaner than he found them. If I could only get him to be that way at home!

 

[Tinkerbelle9980]

I'm around your neck of the wood. I live in southeastern IL on the IN border. I knew as soon as I read your post people would think that would be cheap. I keep reading about people paying teenage babysitters $10/hour. I never heard of anyone paying that high around these neck of the woods. Honestly around here I think $5/hour sounds just fine.

I am on the Indiana side of the IL/IN border. I agree that that $5/hr is about right for my area. Some get paid more some less. Of course, I never cared what I got paid because it was something to do. Plus most of the kids I sat for were really well behaved, or at least to me they were. If she's fine with then don't worry about it. Good luck with it!

 

[buzz5985]

Are there any other families that you are friendly with, that would like to exchange babysitting duties with?? That's what we do. You watch my DS, while I go out this Saturday - we watch yours next Sunday when you go out. Now we can go out for dinner. Before it was - a movie $40 - babysitter $25 - it got expensive, especially if it was a bad movie!!!!

My sister belonged to some kind of babysitting club in VA when she lived there. You babysat for someone and you banked hours. You needed a babysitter - the babysitter was rewarded hours - and you paid with your banked hours. They had monthly meetings, rules, etc. She misses it - but now she has me to babysit!!!

 

[caybean]

I babysat last night from 6:30 to 11:15 and made $65.00... 2 kids, 4 y/o and 8 m/o
FYI:
I'm in Charlotte North Carolina and babysit all the time - I'm 25, have years of experience, including full time nannying and lifeguard certified... Babysitting is basically my job since I got laid off. I make between $12-$15/hour

It's been SO interesting to read the different rates all over the country...

 

[disfan07]

It's been SO interesting to read the different rates all over the country...

I agree. I live about 45 minutes north of Los Angeles and hearing $5/hour amazes me. I made more than that when I was 12 when we lived in Virginia.

I babysat last week for a family with 3 girls (4 yr old twins and an 8 yearold) and I got paid $16/hour

I am sitting for an 8 year old tomorrow who I have sat for a few times recently and while they are only supposed to pay $12/hour, it usually ends up coming to about $14/hour...for one kid

I charge $12/hour for 1-2 kids, $14 for 3 and $16 for 4 but the parents always end up paying me more and I usually make no less than $14/hour

Around here, I average about $70 a night (about 5 hours for 2 kids) I've made as much as $120 a night (8 hours for 1 kid)

But at 20, I have 8 years babysitting experience, 6 years preschool camp experience, 1 1/2 years preschool/daycare experience plus Infant and child CPR and First aid certified.

 

[samueleric]

My fiance babysits regularly and I often tag along. She does the babysitting I just run around with the kids. It depends a lot on the kid. Some kids like to play rough, while others like to play quietly. Do whatever the kid wants to do (as long as it is not damaging or dangerous). When I go babysitting with my fiance I usually end up giving piggyback rides and doing pushups with children on my bac

 

[Neesy228]

We are in PA and pay our sitter $10/hour for our three kids....We would give her more if we had her put them to bed or make them dinner, but we usually just have her play with them and keep an eye on them. Any less around here, and it would be hard to keep a sitter.

 

[happygirl]

I live in Mo, I can't find anyone under 9 an hour.

 

[ccdoster]

Here in a smaller city in MI most of my friends pay $5/hr. Maybe $10 an hour if the person is a college student or has to drive. I don't go out a whole lot so I asked my other mom friends that get out more that frequently use sitters. The consensus is $5/hr for a teen. Why would I pay a kid more than I would pay a certified trained daycare professional for just a few hours?

 

[mjkacmom]

Here in a smaller city in MI most of my friends pay $5/hr. Maybe $10 an hour if the person is a college student or has to drive. I don't go out a whole lot so I asked my other mom friends that get out more that frequently use sitters. The consensus is $5/hr for a teen. Why would I pay a kid more than I would pay a certified trained daycare professional for just a few hours?

Actually, it would actually cost you at least $15 an hour for a certified professional sitter to come to you house. It would probably cost about $5 an hour to drop your child off somewhere else.