Do you have a babysitter?

[Beanie]

DH and I hardly ever go out, but when a special occasion does come up, we have a great girl who lives down the street that babysits my 5 yr old and 7 yr old. Her family is friends with ours, so she always brings her 5 year old sister to play with my kids...Anyway, we pay her $5 an hour and I always wonder what other Moms/Dads pay for theirs? What is the "right" amount to pay a babysitter nowadays? At Christmas, we always give her a gift of money.

What do you all pay your babysitter an hour? Is $5 an hour not enough?

Thanks

 

[GEM]

I think it depends on the type of sitter you use (age, experience, etc.) and where you live. I work on a university campus, and we have three different university students that we use pretty regularly, depending on which of them is available. We pay $6 an hour.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

I have 3 children and I pay 9-10 a hour. My babysitters are in HS and college.

Lori

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

I pay $12 an hour for three kids (one is an infant)

 

[sprnklnormngrl]

i babysit quite freqently and most of the time people will pay me $10 an hour however it depends on how long the parent is going to be gone.

 

[disneychrista]

It really would depend on many things, what you expect from the sitter, what the "going rate" in your area, the age of the kids etc.

I have never had to pay a sitter so I can't help with the what do you pay. Heck I got $2 an hour back in the late 80's, I couldn't even imagine getting $10 an hour.

 

[Mom to Jordan]

In our rural area, 5.00/hr is the norm for high or school collage kids. most are just expected to just take good care of the kids for a few hours while the parents get a night out. No cooking or cleaning involved, and they give the sitter dinner most of the time.


Jordans' mom

 

[Beanie]

Thanks for all the replies...DH and I went out last night from 4-9 pm and we gave her $50 and she was surprised! I really like her and she is excellent with the kids (plays games with them, reads to them, ect) so we decided to give her a raise. She was happy!


Thanks again!!

 

[ahutton]

I've been paying our regular person $10 per hour. She is a college student who was a teacher at the daycare my kids go to. She is bright, articulate and always comes ready to get on their level and play with them. They love her like a family member, and she loves them too. They always do neat projects, and she is always willing to cook for them, do baths or anything else that needs to be done. I do give her a Christmas bonus too, last year it was a $50 gift card to our area mall, this summer I gave her $50 bonus at the end of an evening as she was getting ready to go on vacation. I can't imagine what I'll do when she isn't available anymore - she is scheduled to graduate next year!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Like others have said, it really depends on what the going rate is in your area. My daughter, who is almost 17yo, and has had lots of experience babysitting her younger brothers, gets $10/hr from our next door neighbors (2 kids, 3 and 6yo). When my DD is not available my 14yo DS sometimes babysits and they pay him the same. That seems to be the going rate in our area for 2-3 children.

My teens have sat other kids, though, and gotten a lot less. One family called and needed my son to come over that night (I'm not sure if she'd forgotten to get a sitter for if she had one and the sitter forgot/backed out, etc because it was for a back to school night so something that had been scheduled for a long time). I forgot how much she paid him, but I think maybe $4/hr for two kids (2 live-wire boys, 2 and 4). The going rate in this area is more than that, but my 14yo did not seem bothered by the amount and I wasn't going to tell him that he didn't get paid enough.

I bet that your sitter was happy to get a raise. If she's good, reliable, and you want her to be available when you want to go out, it's smart to pay well.

I have it easy because my older kids can watch my youngest (almost 5yo) so I don't ever have to worry about getting a sitter. My daughter, though, gets busy and booked up so I do have to reserve her or she'll make other plans.

T&B