Babysitters

cm716 · March 2016

My husband and I don't live near any family so we try to swap babysitting with friends as often as we can.

On occasion however, we have some of the teenage girls from our local church come babysit for date night. I currently pay 8/hr and our kids aged 4 and almost 2 go to bed around 7 30. So they usually have time at my house when kids aren't awake.

My questions: how many kids do you have?

How many much do you pay your babysitter per hour?

Do you pay differently when they're awake versus when they are asleep?

When baby is old enough to stay with the babysitter should I increase the rate? Or keep it the same since we usually go out at night and the kids are in bed anyway?
Any insight would be appreciated!

ETA: I pay my babysitters the same regardless if kids are awake or asleep because I agree with all the reasons mentioned! I just had a friend who mentioned that she did that and I didn't know it was a thing.

mouse1029 · March 2016

On Long Island- 2 kids would be about $15/hr for the whole time you are gone. I was a babysitter/nanny for a long time. I was making $12-14/hr about 10 years ago for 2-3 kids.

kcolly32 · March 2016

You can check out care.com, the caregivers on their site in my area are $12-15 an hr for just one kid so I'm sure it's more money for more kids.

WildWhat · March 2016

I was a nanny for a long time and was never paid a different rate for when the children were asleep. Of course, most nights are easy, but what you're paying for is the availability in case of an emergency--even small emergencies like night terrors and blow outs! Awkward conversation if the kids didn't go to sleep or woke up--would you change the rate back to "awake?" In general, I think rates to vary around the country, but I would say between $10-15 is average depending on how many children and location.

mamarusaw · March 2016

I used to be a full time nanny. I usually charged $10 for the first kid (per hour) and more for every kid on top of that. Every family I babysat for had 2+ kids. Honestly I would be offended if somebody tried to give me less because the kids were sleeping. I'm still doing the same job as I am when they are awake because 50% of the time the kids have a hard time going down, wake up multiple times, have nightmares, poopy blowouts etc. On top of that once the kids are asleep I usually did extra cleaning at their house.

Curls919 · March 2016

In New Jersey. I start babysitters (if they don't already have a rate) at $8/h for my one son and give a $1 raise each year. I do not charge differently if DS is awake or asleep. Because what if he wakes up early from a nap or he has a rough time falling asleep or wakes up crying? I'm going to make them clock in his sleep time? They are still watching my child even if he's asleep so their rate is the same no matter what.

GRJC · March 2016

I'm in Michigan,
I pay my college babysitters $8/hr for one toddler. We've talked about moving it up to $10/hr once the second one arrives. I really don't see paying much more though. With all the naps the baby takes, and the toddler being able to do so much on his own I feel it's pretty fair. Plus we live by a college (less than a mile) so if our current ones want to find a higher paying job that is totally ok with us. We'll find someone else who will work for that pay. Lots of good girls in the area.

DisneyIsabelle · March 2016

I haven't babysat in 5+ years, but when I did I charged about $15 for one or two kids and more after that, regardless of awake or asleep.

danahorowitz · March 2016

I asked around in my community to see what the going rate was. I have one child, a 3 year old, pretty easy, calm , very verbal little girl.
What I settled on is $8 per hour for high schoolers and $10 for college age. So far all of our babysitters have been high school or college age, but if I had a grad student or someone significantly older I would pay them more.
i don't think awake/asleep matters because you are paying the person to be at your home, unavailable to go out with their friends or do another activity. While they are babysitting, they are at work.

karaszoo1 · March 2016

@danahorowitz this may be a silly question to ask but why would u pay more or less based on age or educational level of sitter ?.not judging , I legit have never heard of that other than like paying obviously a professional nanny more than someone who isn't . But I also have never hired a sitter a day in my life lol my sister has always had atleast 1 nanny 5 days a week. but they are pros so she's paying their salary/living wage.

Curls919 · March 2016

karaszoo1 said:

@danahorowitz this may be a silly question to ask but why would u pay more or less based on age or educational level of sitter ?.not judging , I legit have never heard of that other than like paying obviously a professional nanny more than someone who isn't . But I also have never hired a sitter a day in my life lol my sister has always had atleast 1 nanny 5 days a week. but they are pros so she's paying their salary/living wage.

I think she means she's paying by age. So a 16 year old would get less than a 20 year old who would get less than a 25 year old. I do the same thing so I get what she meant. I doubt she pays someone who is in college at 20 more than another 20yo who didn't go to college.

jessbaldwin14 · March 2016

When I was in college I babysat through an organization called mommymixers where we met with moms who needed babysitters sometimes on occasion and sometimes on a more regular basis. We were guaranteed a minimum of $20/hr regardless of the number of kids. Granted a lot of us had hours in child development and came with resumes and references, and most of the time cpr certifications. Also, I've never heard of paying a different rate for sleeping children.

elaur42 · March 2016

I was a nanny throughout college and was regularly paid $12-$15/hour. I think it depends on what you're looking for. If you just need a teen to come over for a few hours while you run errands I think $10/hour is totally reasonable. If you're looking for childcare plus help with meal prep or any cleaning then it should be upped. I agree with also paying additional for sitters with more experience, child development background, and first aid certification!

danahorowitz · March 2016

Yes, what Curls said. I'm paying more money for a more mature person with more life experience. The sitter we use the most often is a college freshman who we comfortable driving with DD. We have her on the list at the daycare of who can pick up DD and when our work goes past closing time, this sitter will pick up DD from school, cook dinner for her, and after playing with DD give her a bath and put her to bed. We've had to keep her sitting as late as midnight before and it hasn't been a problem, she just watches TV and does her homework. We also use younger sitters, but they don't do nearly as much and we're also not comfortable with them driving DD or their too young to drive.

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