Good morning to you all. I hope everyone is in good health and is happy. I have the chance to maybe babysit 2 days per week in the summer. How much would you charge to baby sit 3 kids from 8:30 – 4:30? It would be a 6th grader, 3rd grader and kindergartner.
Thank you for your feed back.
A teacher at my daughters school and I were talking about summer camp prices yesterday and she told me she babysits kids for $15 per day during the summer (school aged children)
IF the parent was paying a full week for day camps, etc. they would be looking at around $150 each per week. Two days would break out to $30 a day each, but most offer multi- child discounts. I'd go with $70 a day plus gas/fun money for extra trips.
I think 50 bucks a day. The 6th grader should be pretty self sufficient and the 3rd grader not far behind that. I have a Kindergartener and they can do a LOT by themselves too. That's only $6.25 an hr, but it is cash money.
We typically pay $10-11 an hour for a sitter on a Saturday night. BUT, we are expecting the sitter to drive 25 mins to our home, care for our 3 & 6 year old, get them to sleep at their normal bed time, keep the house in order AND give up their Saturday night. And our sitters we 19 & 21. They are GREAT and we want them to want to keep coming back. If it was a weekday and I was at work all day, I would pay less.
I pay $10/hr for my 7 month and 3 year old at daycare, I definitely think you can charge that for 3 kids. That is a long day, and you should be paid well. Plus, I would expect you to do more than plunk my kids in front of the TV and I would be willing to pay for that. Two days a week, 16 hours, maybe give them a break of $150/week, but be sure you are getting enough to make you want to do a great job.
Maybe give the parents some options...you will take them to museums, zoo, park, library, plan learning activities, etc etc for a higher rate, or just keep them safe and fed for a lower rate :)
$150 per week plus expenses
When I was in grad school I took care of two older children two days a week. This was several years ago, but at the time I was paid $100 per week in cash and they provided me with a prepaid gas card and cash to take the kids on pre-selected outings (including $$ for lunch).
Ask them about "season passes" to the community pool or other places you might visit regularly. The family I worked with put me on their pool club membership as a "summer member" so that I could take the kids every day without additional fees.
I would call around and find out what the local day cares are charging. It varies so greatly from place to place, so what is normal in one place is extremely high in another. Based on rates here I would say $40-$50 for each day.
My kids all go to the same sitter. My youngest is 4 and I pay $150 a week for him. My other two are 6 and 8, and on days off of school and for the summer, they are only $15 a day each. So I pay $30/day for all school aged kids. It depends if you are providing food (my sitter does breakfast, drinks, and snacks) and what activities you are doing. My sitter does stuff with them ALL day long. I would be inclined to say to go with $15/day per kid as well. I know it's not much, and maybe that is not worth your time. But I know if I can get my sitter (who we love like family) to do that, I'd keep looking for someone to give me that rate also. I would maybe round up to $50/day...that would be more than fair for both parties, since the kids are all old enough to do their own thing and be self sufficient for the most part.
