Question for Australians

[AurieD]

Anyone know what a reasonable amount to pay a 13 year old to watch a 5 year old for an hour is? I have no idea!

Edit for more info:

Would be an ongoing thing once a week and actually less than an hour but I figure it's fair to pay her a full hour or it may not be worth it for her.

Thanks

Edited September 6, 2021 by AurieD

[Melissa Louise]

I'd probably pay $15/hr but that's Sydney prices. 

[AurieD]

7 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

I'd probably pay $15/hr but that's Sydney prices. 

Thanks, that gives me a start...she's new to babysitting and hasn't set her own rate and I didn't want to low ball. My rates from 25 years ago are a little out of date.

[Ausmumof3]

Is it babysitting home alone or babysitting with another adult nearby in a mother’s helper role.  My 14 year old DS has been doing other work and earning $15-$20per hour however he can pretty much do as much as an adult in these roles. 

[AurieD]

26 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Is it babysitting home alone or babysitting with another adult nearby in a mother’s helper role.  My 14 year old DS has been doing other work and earning $15-$20per hour however he can pretty much do as much as an adult in these roles. 

Babysitting alone, but no requirement to do anything other than supervise and play with him (no meal prep etc) at this stage.

She's a neighbour and there are plenty of well known adults nearby if something she can't handle comes up but she's a sensible kid so I don't think that's likely.

I think I'll have $15 in mind going into the discussion and see where we end up.

 

[Ausmumof3]

Just now, AurieD said:

Babysitting alone, but no requirement to do anything other than supervise and play with him (no meal prep etc) at this stage.

She's a neighbour and there are plenty of well known adults nearby if something she can't handle comes up but she's a sensible kid so I don't think that's likely.

I think I'll have $15 in mind going into the discussion and see where we end up.

 

Yep.  I think $12-15 would be reasonable for that in my area, particularly given there’s no parental driving etc involved.

[vonfirmath]

1 hour ago, AurieD said:

Anyone know what a reasonable amount to pay a 13 year old to watch a 5 year old for an hour is? I have no idea!

Edit for more info:

Would be an ongoing thing once a week and actually less than an hour but I figure it's fair to pay her a full hour or it may not be worth it for her.

Thanks

We typically paid $10/hr for babysitters. But we were paying minimum 2 hours. For a 1 hr a week gig I'd be tempted to offer more.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I was thinking $15/hr before I read any other replies. So we're all in the same ballpark. I'm in QLD.

[LMD]

Yeah I was thinking around $10-15 ish. We'd charge $20+ for skilled work (eg, that's what my 16yo dd charges for teaching music) so unskilled would be $10 ish, $15 is on the generous side for a 13yo imo, going rates for 16yo retail workers is about $10-12 p/hr

[Rosie_0801]

I'd pay $10 unless she was a particularly useful sort. Someone who can play/do a craft/make a snack and doesn't leave the mess for me to clear up is worth $15 for sure.

[AurieD]

I ended up with just $10 for today, she said that was what her mum suggested. I feel like I maybe should have gone up to $15 since that seems to be the going rate but I’ll see how she goes first and then decide what to do if we are both happy to keep going with it weekly. This is her first babysitting job.

[HS Mom in NC]

$15-$20 per hour suburbs of Phoenix, AZ, US.