How much do you pay your baby sitter? (1 Viewer)

[Drew Bethel]

We have an eight month old daughter and I was wondering what the going rate is.

Also, how do you screen them?

 

[Joe Szott]

We usually pay our babysitter $5 an hour. Our kids are easy and she lives right next door, so hassle is a minimum for everyone.

Best way to find a good one is by word of mouth. Ask around the neighborhood for who's a good babysitter or who's available. Took us about a year of different ones to finally settle on the girl we pay now. Meeting them and tlaking gives a good impression of who they are before you entrust them to watch your kids alone.

Our babysitter is almost like family to us now. She comes over twice a week for 2 hours after school so my wife can either do some work or run out without kids to get things done. That's also why she works so cheap for us, it's a real steady $20 for her every week and most of the time the kids are asleep for a good portion of her visit.


PS - Kids who attend private religious (catholic) schools for some reason seem to be excellent babysitters. That's opinion obviously, but over the years I've noticed it holds up pretty well.

 

[SethH]

I've found that it's highly dependent upon your area. I'm from a small town originally and many of my female friends growing up would get $4-$8 per hour. I've met some girls at school who used to get paid $10+ per hour in bigger cities. Definitely go by word-of-mouth. If your city is big enough, some actually have professional baby-sitting services that use high school and college students, but those may be expensive.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I think we negotiated $4 per hour... but we round up at the end of the night, so it usually comes out to around $5 per hour.

 

[Ron-P]

$5/hour. We only use kids of our neighbors so there's no screening involved.

 

[ZacharyTait]

Hutz: Mr. Simpson, I was just going through your garbage, and I couldn't help overhearing that you need a babysitter. Of course, being a highly-skilled attorney, my fee is $175 an hour.

Homer: We pay eight dollars for the night, and you can take two popsicles out of the freezer.

Hutz: Three.

Homer: Two.

Hutz: OK, two. And I get to keep this old bird cage.

Homer: Done!

Hutz: [proudly] Still got it.

 

[LanieParker]

Fortunately, we have a live in babysitter. My mother came to live with us about a year ago and she watches our girls whenever we need to do things. I honestly would never leave my girls with people other than family, but when I babysat, I got $5 an hour.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

When I was in high school, those were the girls who would most likely invite us over for drinks and other social activities while babysitting. YMMV.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I'm with Jeff Ulmer. Catholic School girls were the worst girls around when I was in High School. We used to sneak into the Catholic School dances just to score. Something about all that "Lady of Perpetual Guilt and Shame" stuff that made them wild (or maybe it was the knee socks, what do I know).:p)

PS - This post was written by a former lapsed, currently active Catholic, born, bred and raised. Like Chandler on Friends, I use humor to hide my inadequacies.:b

 

[Ron-P]

So very true. I went to a private school and I was invited (and went) many times with a few of those girls in my class while they were babysitting. Good Times, good times! I miss those days...One even had a boyfriend in my class and that was the only time we could hook-up, while she was "working".

 

[RichardK]

Flat rate...$20, 2hr or 6hrs doesn't matter. Teenage neighbors with much younger siblings are good. When I was 14 I used to watch the neighbors kids...two boys age 8 and 5...so if you have boys only dont be afraid to let a trusted teenage boy watch your kids. YMMV.

Also, with the fee, dont try and get down to minute on the pay out calculation...I have seen and heard of stories where folks pay to the penny. That is why I just started going with the flat rate, to avoid the uncomfortableness. Also, our sitter knows we dont take advantage...

 

[Ron-P]

That's just flat out stingy. Like I said above, $5/hour. If it goes 4 hrs 10 minutes, $25. I always round up.

 

[Ted Lee]

we pay about $5.00/hr as well. we'll also round-up.

we've only ever used people we personally know...family, friends and their kids, etc. we've never had a "stranger" watch them.

 

[Drew Bethel]

We've been lucky so far as to keep our daughter out of daycare. My wife is a full time grad student and has scheduled her classes so that one of us can care for her. Grammy also helps out every other Tuesday to give us more flexibility. But we know sooner or later we will have to bite the bullet and find a decent sitter. Especially since I travel for business occassionally.

I just want to do my homework way up front to make a sensible choice. Last week Dr Phil discussed Nanny's from hell and some of the footage was indeed very disturbing. One couple checked references, interviewed the person, and even hired a private investigator but still got burned! It's scary stuff.

 

[Tommy G]

We pay $7/hr. and round up. This kind of rate always gives us top priority with the sitters we like best. We also have kids that behave beautifully for babysitters (wish it were the same for the parents) and that's always key in making it to the top of the list. My daughter is going to be eleven in March and I had a separate question. When is it ok to leave her alone with her brother (will be eight in Feb.)? I am longing for that day.

 

[RichardK]

Tough call there...I was a latch key kid and me and my younger bro would be home alone quite a bit when I was 10 and he 8...Also around that time we had two much younger siblings I would take care of...This is the main reason why as I got older I was trusted to watch other peoples kids.

Run the idea by your daughter, see how she reacts...If the reaction is the big ewwwwww!!! then obviously not ready. If she asks how much will you pay me? then you need to find out if she understands that 'with great power, comes great responsibility!' and then tell her, no you are not going to be paid anything...If she does well with her kid brother, then maybe she can babysit for the neighbors kids to earn $ upon turning 13.

 

[LanieParker]

Gosh, my 7 year old is already asking for me to let her stay home alone. I am not comfortable with it. Not that I don't think she would behave or be responsible, but I just don't feel safe leaving my girls alone. I have a 7 and 5 year old.

I was a latch key kid at 7 and I had no supervision between 3pm - 6pm. I didn't do horrible things, but I just feel that 7 is too young to have no supervision. It scares me to think there are kids that young home alone.

 

[Ted Lee]

my boys are almost ten now. we let them stay home for very short durations ... maybe an hour tops ... when my wife's schedule (or mine) causes some sort of conflict. i'm pretty sure they can handle being home by themselves for much longer...but mom and i aren't ready for that yet. :b

 

[Ron-P]

My neighbor told me that it is illegal to leave anyone at home younger then 13. Don't know how true that is though and this is CA.