My husband and I will be leaving our 10-month-old son tomorrow night for the first time with someone other than a family member. She is our 13-year-old next door neighbor and we will probably only be gone for 3-4 hours tops. I haven't babysat probably in about 15 years ... can anyone tell me what the going rate is these days?? She won't have to do too much because for the most part my son will probably be asleep since she isn't coming over til around 8:30 ... but I don't want to be cheap because I want her to want to babysit for us again. Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
Thanks for the responses ladies!! We ended up having her come over a little early anyway so she was up with him for about an hour and then the rest of the time he was sleeping and she said he went down without a fight and didn't wake up. I decided to ask her what she charges and she said $4/hr. I felt it was a little low so we gave her $30 anyway. Thanks everyone!!
i think 7$ an hr is reasonable specially if the child will be asleep. Thats what i pay for my sitter and she;s fine with it.
Wow, I think babysitters get paid way too much. $50 for 3-4 hours of listening out for a sleeping baby....that's insane!!
Maybe the rates are higher in other states but I pay my babysitters $8 an hour to watch my two boys (ages almost 5 and 7 1/2) in my house, and they are more than happy with that. These are babysitters, it's cash in hand and I'm pretty sure they don't pay taxes. They are both teenagers and are happy with the extra money. i actually pay my babysitters more than I charge to watch other peoples children. I charge $5 an hour when I babysit.
You could just ask her what she would be happy with and if that seems reasonable to you then go with it. That way you know she'll be happy with what you're paying and she'll want to do it again.
At 13 she doesn't have a lot of experience - but you do want to take care of her. My neighbor who is 13 charges $7, which I think is reasonable. I have an older sitter that I trust to take my kids to the pool and I pay her $10 per hour.
We give our 16-yr old sitter $30-$35 a night depending on how long we're out (usually 3-5 hours) and how much of that time is with the kids being awake.
For a 13-yr old, I would probably give her $20-$25. Have fun!!!
$25 sounds about right.
khairete
S.
I charge a minimum of $10 for the first hr, then $2/hr after. Personally, I would be thrilled to get $20 for 4 hrs of doing almost 'nothing'. Alot depends on your area as well. I'm in the middle of nowhere in an incredibly economically depressed area where we welcome any dollar that comes in.
I would give her $30 and call it a night. She'll appreciate the money. Especially since you're only going out for 3-4 hours.
13 year olds usually get about $5 or $6 and hour going up to $10 per hour for college students.
We have 2 rates with our sitter. The "awake rate" and the "sleeping rate". If she is coming over to watch the kids after they are asleep which is usually from 9-midnight, we pay her a flat rate of $20 and provide a late night snack (usually a pizza) I always ask if the kids woke up or anything when I get home so I can compensate her accordingly. (One time our son woke up with an ear infection and cried for almost an hour, so I tipped her big time for that!) Her "awake" rate is $12 per hour which I consider a real bargin to chase my 2 little monsters around :) Good Luck!
When we used sitters, daughter is now 15, we would guarantee a minimum of $40. After that, we paid $10 an hour. CASH
Date nights were $60-$80 for sitters and we went weekly. Date night has been priority in our relationship for 25 yrs.
Note: we are in the Dallas area and I understand that in a rural area, less $ might be ok there. We paid on the high end and we had the same sitters for years. We had 1 family with 3 daughters and all 3 daughters were sitters at some point and time as well as excellent role models as our daughter got older. It was worth every penny we paid.
Someone said they would be thrilled to make 20 dollars for 4 hours of doing almost nothing.... I don't get that statement. I've never considered 4 hours with any 10 month old to be a walk in the park. My 10 month old grandson is the light of my life, but he wears me out.
25-30 is okay if you are going to the providers home. Since it's a teen coming into the parents home, I agree with around 50 dollars. $60-80 is what I get in my home for 3 or 4 children! That seems too high for one 10 month old.
