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Quick, what is the going rate for babysitting?


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If it is a friend or a fellow homeschooler, we ask the amount that we think they can afford. One of my older dc used to babysit for a homeschooling mother of 8, all 10 years of age, for $4 an hour so that she could go shopping once a week by herself. She was at the breaking point and I think my dc saved her sanity that year. My dc learned patience and kindness from that experience. The mother of 8 now leaves the older children alone and takes the two youngest.

 

For everyone else the going rate around here is $6 to $8 for a couple kids that are well behaved. Our area is economically depressed. I've heard of babysitters getting paid $15 or more on various message boards.

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Depends on where you live. I haven't paid a sitter in over a year. At that time I paid an older (18) teen $10/hour plus tip. This teen started with me as a mother's helper when he was 12. He had the red cross certificate at that time. I observed him for a while before he babysat. He was paid $5/hour then. He became a great "older brother" for my ds.

 

What is your dd's experience besides the certificate. Does she watch younger siblings? Does she have a sibling with a disability? Has she done mother's helper stuff? volunteer in church nursery? These are all factors in evaluating her pay.

 

Without knowing anything I think I'd start at the $5/hour rate for mother's helper work or very short day time sitting. If she has some experience, she is still young so I might bump up to $6 or $7/hour.

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IMO, your dd is young. I'd pay her $5 an hour to sit a well-behaved 4 yo. As a mom of the babysitter, I'd be sure I'm home, in case she has questions or an emergency.

If my babysitter was an older hi schooler or in college, I'd pay 7 or 8. I'm hoping to get a nanny/babysitting job myself--I'll be charging anywhere from 12-15 an hour, depending on the length of the day.

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Depends on where you live. I haven't paid a sitter in over a year. At that time I paid an older (18) teen $10/hour plus tip. This teen started with me as a mother's helper when he was 12. He had the red cross certificate at that time. I observed him for a while before he babysat. He was paid $5/hour then. He became a great "older brother" for my ds.

 

What is your dd's experience besides the certificate. Does she watch younger siblings? Does she have a sibling with a disability? Has she done mother's helper stuff? volunteer in church nursery? These are all factors in evaluating her pay.

 

Without knowing anything I think I'd start at the $5/hour rate for mother's helper work or very short day time sitting. If she has some experience, she is still young so I might bump up to $6 or $7/hour.

 

She has a fair amount of experience. She serves with me in the nursery at church once a month and she has babysat for many Bible studies. Last week when there was a funeral and fellowship at our church, she was the one who realized someone might need childcare and she put a little sign up saying that she was upstairs if anyone needed her. She watched about 12 kids all day long and no one even thought to give her a love offering. She babysat, again for free, for more than 30 hours over a couple of months when we were doing VBS decorations. She also has experience with infants and special needs kids. She really is great with them and she loves them.

 

I have never had a sitter that wasn't family so I have zero experience with the whole paying thing.

 

Maybe we should just wait and see what she gets paid this time and work from there? In any case, she is off for the morning on her first paying "gig".

Thanks you guys.

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We usually pay $2/hour per kid. We have three kids so it is usually $6/hr. Sometimes we do special things with just one child at a time so babysitting can be cheaper.

 

When I babysat as a teen I made anywhere from $1 per hour to $5 per hour. I didn't set a rate I let the parents set the rate they could afford.

 

Kelly

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