aggieamy Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 DH and I work from home and are incredibly busy. Now that DS is getting a little older we are talking about having a mother's helper come in a few days a week (probably Tuesday and Thursday) for a few hours in the morning to help. The responsibilities will be watching/playing with him while we make our calls or work on projects. Maybe changing a diaper and giving him a snack if he gets hungry. No housework. We will be home the entire time but will be in a different part of the house. We are scheduling this at times when DD will be away at camp because she and the girl are best friends. We don't want our helper distracted by a friend! :) What would be a fair rate to pay her? $10/per hour? $20/3 hours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Is this a really young, inexperienced mother's helper just dipping her toes into childcare? I would ask what she expects to be paid. We pay 15/hr for a sitter for 3 kids. She's a college student majoring in education, cpr/first aid certified, works in a childcare center and bounce house place, lots of experience. So $10 an hr for a mother's helper vs a sitter for one child (if I read correctly?) is a little high I think. I'd ask what her rate is. I live in a moderate to higher cost of living area. $15 or so is pretty standard for a sitter for 3 kids, so your rate for a mother's helper for one seems high, especially if we're talking about a young woman just starting to get experience. A local HS mom told me her DDs (teens) would work as mother's helpers for $8. That was for 3 kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 If this is a young teen girl during summer, she might be thrilled to get four or five dollars an hour as a first job. Older teens will need more to keep them reliably showing up. And, homeschooled teens will usually be more reliable than non-homeschooled kids, usually. In my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 If this is a young teen girl during summer, she might be thrilled to get four or five dollars an hour as a first job. Older teens will need more to keep them reliably showing up. And, homeschooled teens will usually be more reliable than non-homeschooled kids, usually. In my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Based on your signature this is someone close to 9? I would pay an 11yo fresh out of Red Cross babysitting $5-8/hour. I would not hire any younger. Recognize that with someone this young you will have to frequently check up on her. Also recognize it might not work out. How will you handle that? Will that make your older dd's friendship awkward? If the mothers helper has experience, I'd pay babysitting rates. You are hoping to get work done uninterrupted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 My dd eleven gets $7-$10 (AU) for one and a half hours being a helper for a lady down the road. The money varies with what notes or change she has, lol. My dd doesn't mind as she loves the little girl she watches. Sometime the girl comes to our house. She is so easy I don't even notice. So I would say around $5 per hour is about right for a young girl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 Is this a really young, inexperienced mother's helper just dipping her toes into childcare? Yes. She just turned 11 and has helped out in childcare situations before but has never been in charge. She's just finished the Red Cross babysitting class and her grandmother has had a daycare for years and she's helped there. She's responsible and loves John. I've seen her happily play with him for an hour before. Based on your signature this is someone close to 9? I would pay an 11yo fresh out of Red Cross babysitting $5-8/hour. I would not hire any younger. Recognize that with someone this young you will have to frequently check up on her. Also recognize it might not work out. How will you handle that? Will that make your older dd's friendship awkward? If the mothers helper has experience, I'd pay babysitting rates. You are hoping to get work done uninterrupted. She's older than my daughter but good friends with her. We aren't too worried about it not working out because it's just for a few weeks this summer while DD is at camp. Once she gets older we would love to have someone reliable to watch John while we go out for dinner occasionally. Our goal is two things - uninterrupted work time (ie DH and I can make a call together without a baby in the background) and to give him some interaction. We don't want him sitting there quietly playing with toys all the time while we are working. He's 8 months old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 I hired a teenage mother's helper, mostly for cleaning not childcare. I started her at $8 per hour, then as she gained experience and proved herself raised it to $9 and eventually $10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeenagerMom Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Dd14 gets paid $5 an hour as a Mother's Helper for 5 kids and between $8-10 an hour babysitting 2-3 kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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