I'm curious what people pay teenage babysitters in the Houston area (I live in Clear Lake). We had a teenage babysitter for our almost 3 year old on Sat. and paid $7/ hour. This seemed reasonable to me but I'd HATE to be the lowest paying family that she works for. We had paid our previous sitters $10/hour but they were all over 18, provided their own transportation to and from our house and had lots of childcare experience -3 of 4 worked at the day care center my daughter attends. Just wondering what others pay.
Thanks,
S.
same as you...in the past we've paid our sitter (over 18, nursing student) $10 an hour for two kids. Our current babysitter (15 years old) only asked for $7, so I paid her $8.
$7 an hour?! WOW! That seems high to me. We had a sitter last night for 4 1/2 hours and paid her $25. I have 2 kids, a 5 yr old girl & a 9 yr old boy.
We are in Friendswood and have one 3 1/2 year old son. For young teenagers, we usually pay $7/hr, as do most of my friends with one child. I have no idea what the going rate for multiple children is...
I have two older children- 5 and 7 and I usually pay $7/hr for both--but I usually provide snacks and transportation for the sitter as well. I give tips if they provide their own transportation or have to actually do something more than play with my children while I am away and if it's an uneven number I round up so my sitter probably has no idea what she makes per hour because she almost always get well more than $7/hr.
I think the rate you pay should depend on what you have the sitter do for your children and the age of your children--just like a childcare center would require. If she just sits and watches tv the whole time and does not change diapers or make meals or provide her own transportation I think they should be paid accordingly. I think we all want to be fair but this is an unskilled position with in most cases no experience required and unless you have a real monster for a kid, babysitting is a cakewalk and most teens at HEB or Mcdonald's don't come close to this kind of money and do far more. I have never actually had a sitter tell me a rate--I've always paid according to what I've had her do and if she had to stay a really long time or make a meal or provided her own transportation, I would pay her so well that she wanted to come back!
