What are you paying your sitter? This would be for 1 child 6 years old. There are a couple of options I have. One is preteen 13 years old, other is 16 years old and one is 19. I would use different ones for different situations ie. if only needed to be gone for an hour or itwo, f it was more involved ie. meal bedtime I would use older sitter.
Also, what would you pay a mother's helper? My neice 11 years old has been getting $5.00 from her neighbor, I think that's a little high, but it is for 3 kids toddler/preschool age.
I can only answer part of your question. I live near you, so the "rates" are probably similar. I have one child and I pay $10 an hour for my 20-year-old sitter, who has been sitting for us since she was 16. Most people I know pay about $8-10 an hour.
Lifeguards at our local pool make $8-10/hr and would have either equal or more training and responsibility than a babysitter for one child would have - IMO.
I have paid up to $10-$13/hr but with economy what is, I think it's time for the babysitter bubble to burst a bit and get more affordable. This is what I would pay for 2 kids:
13 yr old - $5
16 yr old - $7-$8
19 yr old - $8-10 (I would pay on the higher end for a weekend night for an older girl)
We have a mother's helper who is 12, and will help with the kids while I'm home. Her mother said to pay her $3/hr - so I'll do that.
If mother's helper is getting $5 is it for the whole time, or an hour or what? I am older and did things like that and made about $3.00 an hour some years back. Things have not changed too much, I guess in that case. As for your six year old, I find six year olds to be fairly pleasant and easy to get along with so $5 or more an hour sounds pretty decent to me. I think you are smart to have an older person if it is night time and the 13 year old might be great to have in case you run to the store in the afternoon or something in the neighborhood.
Wow, I just read how much people are paying. Why am I not babysitting? It pays almost as much as working in schools.
I pay my college freshman sitter $8/hour. I usually give her a few extra dollars each time to help with gas. That's min. wage, so I would pay at least that. I use her a handful of times a month.
I pay my neighbors $10/hour and we live in Villa Park, IL. They each watched my daughter while they were in high school, and now that I have two children and they are in college, I pay them the same - I just tend to round up at the end of the night (if it's $35, I'll go ahead and pay $40). I hear the going rate in Chicago is closer to $15!! $5 for an 11-year old watching 3 kids is very reasonable. Babysitting isn't what it used to be when we were kids - it's amazing how expensive it's become :)
