How Much to Pay a Sitter? - Anoka,MN

Does this 14 year old... know CPR and First Aid???
Does she know, the developmental phases of a 4 year old?
Does she know how to cook and feed and supervise a 4 year old???
Does she know, about safety for a child? What is a choking hazard or not?
Does she know, how to keep the home safe and not go through other's belongings?
etc., etc., etc.,

I pay $5/hr to my young teen sitters but they only watch my kids and don't have to prepare lunch or do bedtime. When meals need to be prepared and we will be gone past bedtime, I hire a older teen/young adult for $10/hr.

I often ask the babysitter what she thinks is fair. A couple of them seemed uncomfortable and just said "It doesn't matter" while another said "I charge $5/hour and then $1 more per hour for every additional kid" I really like the one who took charge and was specific! Plus, I think her rates were good. I'm also friends with a lot of my babysitter's moms, and they always tell me not to over pay their kids! I live just outside Washington DC and things are pricey. I have friends who pay their sitters $10/hour! I don't usually pay that much, unless it works out that way as far as what I have in my wallet. I would say I pay $7/hour on average.

Hi A.,

You get what you pay for. Be generous. You need to think through how much your child is worth. Childcare is one of the most underpaid industries because everyone thinks they can care for a child and they simply can't. My husband use to say,"Why does everyone that has a grandmother with good recipes think they can open a restaurant?"

Pay your neighbor the same when you are there as when you are not. Don't encourage her to wish you would leave......

I would say $8 if you'll be in the house and $10 when you leave.

I guess it's what the market is worth. Here $11-15/hour. Don't be cheap. don't put the poor kid on the spot of what she wants. Have a generous figure and ask her if that is ok. I for one don't think there should be a difference in pay....I don't get paid less if my manager travels with me, my teenage daughter certainly doesn't get paid less at the restaurant if she is working with her managers.

My 15 year old daughter gets paid around $7/hour. One family with 2 children pay her $9/hour and another family with 3 children pay her about $6/hour. (Guess which family she'd prefer to babysit?)
She is a very polite, outgoing and responsible girl, but HATES when people ask her how much she should be paid. (I think she feels like it is rude for her to mention an amount...although we've talked about it and I've told her it is OK to tell them an amount if they ask.)

Another thing that bothers her is when the parents come home without any money. It is usually awkward as she stands by the door and they are looking through drawers, etc. finding $1 bills and quarters etc to add up to her pay for the night.

I

$5 when at home-
$10 when you're away-

you might talk to her and her mother about CPR and emergency certification for her future baby sitting.

best wishes-

I pay $8 per hour to a teen(15) sitter-usually get a pizza so no cooking or bedtime. For my daughters daycare teacher it is $12 per hour but I only use her if it is a long day/late night like to go to a wedding or party. I am in NY.

If you are there or not well her time is still being used up by you so I'd pay her the same both ways. I used to sit alot when I was little, gosh it's horrid to think about being 30 now! lol, Anyways! I HATED the worst when the mom's would stay around. I was more on edge even though I had babysat since before it was even legal for me to. I had 12 nieces and nephews and I babysat them all the time. But from 10 till I married I babysat and even was a nanny. I didn't take any less if they were there or not though.

But back to now. I pay my sitters 5 dollars an hour, the teenage ones that is. I haven't had a sitter since I had my now 19 month old aside from Aunts and Grandmothers though. But with my 4 and 5 year old I'd pay them 5. It was still a chore to find a good one. I noticed that what part of town you got them from dictated what they wanted. If you went to a "bad" part of town they'd take 4! If you were way west in the multi-million dollar houses the kids would want 10 dollars an hour when I could get a nanny for that!!! I'd just make a decent offer of less than min wage and see what they counter with. If you are too cheap you might lose a good sitter though. Something to think about! Good luck!

Around here it is five dollars an hour per kid. So one kid, five an hour, if you have two, ten.....

You do know you will not get an accurate idea of how things will be watching her babysit? Neither your daughter or the sitter will act like they do when you are gone.

We are in Milwaukee, WI area. We have one son who is 4.5 years old. We pay our 14 year old babysitter $4 per hour when I stay home and get stuff done. We pay her $5-6 per hour when she is alone. We pay our 21 year old babysitter $8 per hour. We got the 21 year old from Care.com and her profile said she wanted $5-10 per hour.

I would probably ask how much she wants. I would also offer her two different amounts - one while you are home and while you are not home.....but that can get to be a pain to figure out.

Good luck!

Wow...I think I should be a babysitter for some of the people who answered your question. I would never be able to hire a babysitter at these prices. Some of these kids make more per hour than I do. How many of people out there that make less than a 6 figure salaries or higher that can afford these prices. If this would be full time care they would be making at least 500 to over 1000 a week per child. That would make me bankrupt by tomorrow. I am curious if there is a blue collar working class out there that has more realistic figures that some of us can use. People who get paid less can do as good a job as those who get paid more, it depends on the person.

A babysitters salary is really going to vary on experience, duties, and geographic location. At Care4hire.com, we have seen some babysitters make $5/hour and others making $20/hour. It really varies.

A lot depends on your area. We are in the Dallas suburbs. My 16 yr old routinely gets $12-$15/ hr cash on average. She is CPR trained, she does engage children as in teaching Spanish, mani/pedi's ( with parental ok)

We've had date night weekly since we've been together 25 yrs. When we had sitters, we guaranteed $40 in case we had to cancel and we paid $10 /hr on top of that. Our weekly date nights were $60-$80 cash

Pay well... You get a loyal sitter... Don't give out your favorite sitters name... Someone will steal her if she's good. My daughter has 2 families she's loves and they take priority over anyone else.

Moms helper I'd say my area is $5-$7 / hr cash

I pay a 15 year old neighbor $5 an hour for a full week for my 6 year old and will pay the same when my 8 year old is finished with summer camp and is here too. After I paid her for the second full week, she told me I didn't have to pay her so much (lol).

I live in Minneapolis and have two kids, ages 3 and 1.

Two of our sitters are college graduates who studied either early childhood development or child psychology. Found them both on care.com. We pay them $10/hour.

Our neighbor that just graduated from high school gets $8/hour.

I've never paid to have any of them come over while I'm home, so can't speak to that part of your question.