Babysitting Info

I would think $30 split it between them. But if the friend bails is the 13 year old still able to deal with the 3 kids? If yes then I would go with just the one and not a pair. I found its better to have one and not two girls sitting.

Pay each girl by the hour and per child. (My daughter makes $10 per hour for one child but the family always rounds up so she sometimes make $12 per hour).

FYI... It is irrelevant whether you are 5 minutes away or 2 hours a way.

Part of it depends on the area you are in. Here for two kids we paid $5 an hour plus an extra $5 for showing up, so 2 hours would be $15 and 3 hours would be $20 ect. I would maybe add another $2 an hour for a third child, but I would pay a flat rate for the two girls to split, not pay each $7 an hour, that is too much.

IMO $15 an hour for babysitting is insane. No way would I ever pay more then $10.

It depends on your area and before you go out tonight, make sure the girls are in agreement on your payment.

My area.... My daughter is 19 and she makes about $100 cash on 1 weekend night a week. She does not set rates. She is usually sitting from about 5:30-6 until midnight, sometimes later. The average is $12-$15 an hour. She is one of those sitters that everybody wants because she interacts with children and is good with them. She has 3 regular families she has been with since she was 14. She has 1 family with 1 child, 1 family with 3 children and 1 with 4 children.

When we had a sitter, we guaranteed $40 a night for date night and added to that depending on how long we were out. The $40 was for saving the night for us and if we had to cancel due to illness or something, the sitter got the $40. We averaged about $100 a week for our weekly date nights.

Pay well to keep a good sitter.

For your situation, I don't know how teams divide the money for sitting but I would hit them pretty heavy because you have 3 children who need constant supervision, especially a baby who will need diapers changed and be bottle fed. I would not pay less than $10 an hour, I would probably pay more.

Well, I can't tell you for your area but in Fort Lauderdale, we pay $10 - $12 per hour for teenagers and $15 per hour when we get a teacher from my 3 year old's preschool. My children are 3 and almost 8. We always leave them in their PJs.

With 3 children, I would guess here you would be in the $15/hour category with one sitter. Did you ask what they charge? That is what we do with a new sitter and if they are already sitting than they do have comparisons. Good luck!

I would pay the same as you would for an older sitter, they will be doing the same job. Since there are 2 of them and they are just starting out I'd think it's fair for them to split. Around here the going rate is $5/hr/child, so you'd be looking at at least $15/hr. I know I made just $5/hr when I watched kids in college and that's been at least 10 years ago. Did you ask them what they charge? They might not want as much as you think you need to pay, you never know.

It's been a while since I paid a babysitter but my grand daughter baby sits and she usually gets paid about $5 an hour for up to 2 kids. Over 2 kids she gets paid a little more. My grand daughter said most of the time she is there babysitting, the kids are asleep so it's not really much work. It gives her time to do her homework. LOL

We pay $10/hour for babysitters. And with 3 kids, one still a baby, it sounds like they deserve at least that amount.

If 2 of them are coming together to handle the job because they are inexperienced, then I would still pay $10/hour, and have them split it.

Since you have two sitters who are just starting out, I think $5 an hour for each is reasonable. If they become regular and reliable sitters, I would raise their individual rates to $7 and hour or so and their shared rate to six an hour. Remember, they are choosing to do this as a team, so they need to understand that more workers makes for less pay.

Be sure you have all instructions written down and your number handy, just in case. And yes, pay by the hour, period. I was a longtime nanny-- just because the kid go to sleep easily for you at a certain time doesn't guarantee they will for the sitter. The kids may find it exciting or be wanting to see you-- some kids will force themselves to stay awake to see their parents. My son does this each night his dad works late... lucky me.:)

I don't pay over minimum wage for anyone that is not a professionally trained care giver. Women in child care barely make minimum wage and they care for multiple kids for over 10 hours per day. So I don't pay a babysitter who has no training what so ever anything near minimum wage. I pay my babysitter $5 per hour or a couple more is there are 2 kids.