WWYD? Teenaged DD being paid too much for babysitting/petsitting!

[MissUndastood]

My 13 y/o dd "babysat" for a 7 y/o boy last week for 4 hours and came home with $60.00....Way too much IMHO and I told the mom that. She said that sitters are so hard to find and quite unreliable that she will gladly pay my dd that.

 

[collegejunkie]

i don't think that's a lot at all. i was a mother's helper when i was in middle school and got $10 an hour. i don't babysit for less than $20 an hour unless i really love the family or i know i'm getting a big tip or something else (this isn't unreasonable where i live).

if your child is doing the work, then she deserves the money. maybe if you think it's a lot you can ask her to set aside a certain amount to put into her bank account each week.

 

[punkin]

I am so confused by this post. She is getting paid what the going rate is. Why should she get less? Ever hear of supply and demand? Now, if you think it is too much money for her to spend, there is nothing preventing you from making her save a significant portion of it, give part of it to charity, or both.

 

[scrapquitler]

Wow, thanks for your speedy replies! I feel a little better now.....I was actually worried that they were being so generous because of our situation (recently divorced). Now I know those are just the going rates!

Hmmmmm.......I'm a teacher -- maybe I should spend my summer being a mother's helper and petsitting - LOL!

I think that the pay rate is fine, if she is doing a good job, it is motivation to continue doing so.

I sense that maybe you have a concern that she has too much cash on hand. This would be a good opportunity to start and enforce the habit of saving some money. Maybe you can up with a deal with her that when she does these jobs, she has to put a certain amount (half? one third? a set amount per job?, whatever you and her agree on) into a savings account. You can even take it a step further and have her donate a portion to a charity or tithe at church.

If she's making what you think is a lot, this is a way to not only start a good habit, but limit how much extra cash she has to spend on whatever.

 

[Evi]

20 years ago I made about $15 an hour to babysit times change she actually should be getting paid more. I used to give my nephew $10 to wash my cocker spaniel 10 years ago and if he took her for a walk I'd give him an other $5.

Personally I think $5 an hour is low. Honestly if someone values her work and she received a fair wage why would you value it less or try to contest it? Just curious. I think somehow we forget inflation and that work is work regardless of how old the person doing it is.

 

[aprilgail2]

My 13 y/o dd "babysat" for a 7 y/o boy last week for 4 hours and came home with $60.00....Way too much IMHO and I told the mom that. She said that sitters are so hard to find and quite unreliable that she will gladly pay my dd that.

My 11 year old babysat the toddler down the block half an hour yesterday and came home with 10.00! She is loving it now that people are asking her to babysit-she saves it up and everytime she makes it to 100.00 she wants to take a trip to the bank to put it in!

 

[An_Island_Girl]

We pay 15-18 dollars an hour for our sitters. They are so wonderfully reliable that I'd pay just about anything to keep them!

We are in MA, and I know location makes a huge difference, but the going rate for anyone in high school or college is between 10-20 an hour in our town.

 

[angierae]

I don't think it's too much, but what I would do is start teaching her NOW that 20% of it goes into savings. Make it just a normal, routine thing you do to instill good saving habits.

 

[puffkin]

I think the babysitting amount is spot on. I would have thought double that if the parents weren't home.

I think the price for the petsitting is a tad high, but not horribly so. I pay the next door neighbor $60-$70/week for when he takes care of my two cats while we are away (he is 13). He stops by once a day to bring in the mail, put down fresh food/water and scoop the box. The whole trip from his house, to do the chores, and walk back is about 10 minutes tops so I think $10/day is plenty. If our dog was there or if we needed him to do more like water plants and stuff, it would definitely be much much higher.

 

[redandblue]

If you are concerned about the amount and the parents don't have a problem paying the cost maybe you could have your daughter give a senior citizen discount for some neighbors. Like if she is watching a cat for an elderly neighbor suggest she charge that neighber $5 a day instead of $10.

I pay $40 to our neighbor girls to watch our kids they are sisters and come as a package as they are only 11 and 13. But I will probably still pay the 13yo $40 when she sits by herself. My kids are a lot of work and I know it. I don't like paying by the hour first if you are gone 1 hour you are supposed to pay them $5-$6 that seems pretty cheap I would say to pay at least $10. And if I go out to dinner with hubs and they are there from 6pm-12am I am not going to pay $60 that seems crazy.

 

[It's A Small World]

Speaking as a mother of 2 young kids (4 and 6), I do not think your daughter is being paid too much and hour for either job. We pay our sitter $6 an hour and that hourly rate is set by her parents. I have friends that pay their sitter $10 an hour...YIKES! When she dog sits for us, we pay her $10 a day. She's a good kid, reliable, dependable, and honest. I like to keep her happy so she comes back! Sounds like your neighbors value her services and want to keep her happy!

 

[ChisJo]

When we go away, we pay a professional pet sitting service to come and feed our cat every other day, maybe brush her and check her litter. They will also check and scoop the litter for us. Our cat is incredibly antisocial and doesn't take a lot for the sitter to come and see her. It costs each visit $20...they stay for 20-30, drive to our condo, and take care of the cat. They do a fantastic job, and we don't have to worry about our antisocial/hypersensitive cat to start pulling her hair out or wrecking our furniture with her claws due to stress.

When I babysat years ago (literally over 15 years ago), I was getting $10/hr to babysit 3 kids, and they were the easiest kids in the world to look after. I would assume that that is now even more than that where I am. Whether the children are there or not, your daughter is still technically working, and should get paid accordingly.

 

[ChisJo]

I don't think it's too much, but what I would do is start teaching her NOW that 20% of it goes into savings. Make it just a normal, routine thing you do to instill good saving habits.

My sister does this with her daughter and her daughter is only 17 and has a great sense of what a dollar is.

 

[dfchelbay]

Wow, thanks for your speedy replies! I feel a little better now.....I was actually worried that they were being so generous because of our situation (recently divorced). Now I know those are just the going rates!

Hmmmmm.......I'm a teacher -- maybe I should spend my summer being a mother's helper and petsitting - LOL!

Hmmmm....maybe a mother/daughter dynamic babysitting duo for the summer....some extra moula for those fun extras over the summer like...ICE CREAM!!!!

 

[beachlover9395]

I think all of you that pay so well are so wonderful!!!

My daughter is a teen and she pet sat our neighbor's multiple animals on many different occasions. Usually for a week at a time and medications were often involved. She never made more than $20 for a WEEK, and usually it was $10. The neighbor stiffed my daughter twice so we had to end the pet sitting relationship. I'm sorry, but how uncool to stiff a teenager! Alas, sadly it also ended our neighbor friendship, but we were not going to let our daughter continue to be taken advantage of.

I wish my daughter had been compensated so well. OP, how wonderful for your daughter -- don't feel guilty!

 

[brat]

Pay scale is about right.We have more kids so we pay more. On the petsitting for a kid I trust I have also paid around that amount.

Right now I have an adult I know watching our place, taking in the mail, turning on the TV parking their spare car in our drive, ect. They would only take that amount and fruit/veggies out of the garden.

 

[BAMLuvMickey]

My sister is 16 and gets paid VERY good money to babysit our 2 cousins(9&6) while their mother is sleeping(she works 3rd shift) during school breaks. Our aunt pays her $20 for an hours worth of babysitting.
HOWEVER, She has other responsibilities other than watching 2 little boys fight all day(these kids are very rambunctious). She helps with letting the dog out, she will cook whatever meal(s) they need and she makes sure the house is picked up(for the most part) when my aunt wakes up.
She plays with the boys and makes sure they keep it down so they do not disturb their mom. The boys LOVE having her over to babysit them. They beg even if its not needed...
My sister is her go-to sitter all the time.

Now, A few months ago, my sister was unable to babysit so my aunt called another cousin of ours who is a year OLDER than my sister. When my aunt woke up, the house was in CHAOS!!! My cousin hadn't even let the dog out and "didn't realize" that the dog went on the floor in front of the door. The boys had been so loud, they are what woke her up to begin with and my cousin was sitting on the couch texting. Later she found out from her kids, that is all she did aside from watching TV shows that were not child friendly.
My aunt told her she was very disappointed with the way she babysat the boys and she did not get paid very well.
So needless to say, my aunt pays for GOOD service...

My sister is a headstrong girl. The majority of the money she makes for babysitting gets saved. She wants to go to college and is a thrifty person. Recently, my aunt has had to cut back a bit on the pay. My sister does not mind. She says anything she gets is fine with her.

 

[holycow]

No she isn't!.

These people are paying for peace of mind! If they didn't want to pay it they wouldn't.

Also if they had to house the cat it would well be over that amount.

 

[wnissen]

I think all of you that pay so well are so wonderful!!!

My daughter is a teen and she pet sat our neighbor's multiple animals on many different occasions. Usually for a week at a time and medications were often involved. She never made more than $20 for a WEEK, and usually it was $10. The neighbor stiffed my daughter twice so we had to end the pet sitting relationship. I'm sorry, but how uncool to stiff a teenager! Alas, sadly it also ended our neighbor friendship, but we were not going to let our daughter continue to be taken advantage of.

I wish my daughter had been compensated so well. OP, how wonderful for your daughter -- don't feel guilty!

Wait, she was responsible for giving medication and still they offered less than $20 per week, and then didn't pay? I am agog. I would present them with an itemized bill, with interest, and let everyone in the neighborhood know, but that's just my vindictive streak talking.

I pay our babysitters minimum wage, which in California is $8.50, to watch one child. My wife thinks that high, but as a boy I was never paid less than minimum wage for yard work, etc. "Women's work" is not worth less, and I want to make that statement.

 

[singastory]

I started watching my mom's coworker's kids when I was 10 or 11... I know that might seem young but I guess I was pretty mature for my age!! I can't remember what I was paid, but I DO remember the values it instilled in me. For any big purchase I wanted as I got older, I had to pay 50% of the total cost and my parents would foot the rest. When it came time for me to get my own computer for schoolwork I was so proud that I had so much money saved and could benefit from my hard work by getting a pricier model. As I got older and could drive around I started pet sitting as well, which wasn't so much work as it was fun!! Parents started going on trips and I drove the kids around to sports, drama practice, etc., even started staying overnight with them. It was really great experience for when I have my own children! I also was able to make great connections with the families I sat for, which led to some pretty amazing internship opportunities. I watched these kids grow up... Brings a tear to my eye that they're now old enough to drive!

I do remember being upset that my one family didn't up their rates as they kept having more kids, but I had known them for so long that I didn't feel comfortable asking them for more money, especially when they used me so often. 2 kids =/= 3 kids, an infant, and a dog!!! If your children keep babysitting and develop a feel for the going rates in town, I would make sure they are comfortable with their compensation and are not be afraid to speak up if there's a discrepancy somewhere.