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Maybe you should try asking the parents what they normally pay. Maybe tell them you are interested in babysitting part time for money and aren't sure what to charge based on very little experience, based on working at a daycamp. I'm sure parents would be willing to say what they pay and what experience their sitters have. Also try asking what they expect from their sitter. Doesn't hurt to do actual research before assuming you know it all.
Though when you find out the numbers are way off, that doesn't mean the 12 year old is a liar, it just means she is a twelve year old CHILD who doesn't know but are simply making numbers THEY feel to be correct. Their sitters might really be making $1,000 a MONTH but they just assumed it's per week. If all a person had to do was work 20 hours a week for $1000 MORE people would be sitters lol. Babysitting would single-handedly save the economy!
What do these parents DO that makes them able to afford $30/hr? Did you ask the kids? My sister babysits for executives, doctors, producers, etc. Basically rich people and only charges $20/hr WITH MANY years of experience working with children and teaching. What makes you think you'll get more than her BESIDES what a 12 year old says? My mom had a professional daycare in her home, she never made $30/hr per kid, and she took specialized child development courses as well as had a license to provide care, you are just some young kid, I'm assuming 21/22 years old, I don't see how you could earn more than that.
BTW the kids in the story were 9-12, 4-6th grade, if you must know.
But that's because they are enrolling many kids in one facility. They make up for smaller margins with larger volume. Sort of like how products are sold. A store can buy 10,000 of a $2 item for 20 cents per item, but you could never buy just 10 of that item for 20 cents. Same with any job.
Yeah, except she has two assistants and operates way under the limits for how many children she can have at a time. With 3 caregivers she has 6-7 children. So no, she's not making a huge profit. It's about $10/hr per caregiver, minus whatever food and supplies costs her. It's a home daycare, not a large facility.
You are also wrong about infants being cheaper. Infants command the highest tuition out of all ages. Once you hit toddler (2 years) you get a small discount.
I mean realistically you can go to Craigslist and see what other sitters are charging. You probably think you are above these people posting ads and command a higher salary, but the truth is these people will get all the business and you will be stuck wondering why people can't see what a great deal you are for $30 an hour.
I know of a family who pays $50 per hour, so it's certainly possible.
But you still don't get it. If that is true, then that family is paying for luxury. They want the best of the best.
Think about this. There are hairdressers who charge $400 per haircut. The reason they can do that is because they offer a luxury service. The people who go to those hair dressers are not going to pay $200 for an average hair cut. They don't want an average hair cut.
In fact you are not even average. The least I would expect from someone who is charging normal rate of $10-15, is that they can cook, and they are not watching multiple kids. Do you think those parents want to pick up hungry kids at 10 pm? No, they want to come home at 11 pm to well fed kids, already in bed.
Also, it's kind of creepy and very unprofessional how you negotiate with their kids and not the parents.
Nobody notices there is a big red herring?
He is a male,which while I do understand he is great with kids,most parents wouldn't trust a 20+ year old male with their 12 year old daughters.
Nobody notices there is a big red herring?
He is a male,which while I do understand he is great with kids,most parents wouldn't trust a 20+ year old male with their 12 year old daughters.
Sorry if I have offended.
That really depends on how much experience he has. Then I call up the other people he has babysat and ask them for their opinion. Also, a 12 year old girl should be able to take care of herself, and tell me if something is wrong. I would be more worried if she is 5-8 years old.
Furthermore, hiring women is not totally risk free either.
You don't need to be top of your class to get a science job, sounds like you aren't trying hard enough to find a job, and then are expecting that this will help you make money quickly when you haven't REALLY thought it all out.
I graduated with an okay GPA in general biology and have a good job making good pay. Jobs TRAIN people regardless of how well you did in school, unless you are completely incompetent or not willing to take starting pay, I don't see how you can't find a job with your degree.
I think you just don't want to start off making $10-15/hr. You think of this almost as a make lots of money EASY way, but I guarantee this will come back to bite you in the butt if you don't research better. Day camp is VERY different from being a sitter.
Go find a science job, get some training, use your degree and let go of this idea. I see TONS of ads each day for jobs for new science graduates. Work your way up.
I mean like I was good enough in chemistry to pass the classes and get a C, but organic chemistry doesn't sound like something you can be trained to be good at if you weren't good the first time.
And I did REALLY think it out. It seems reasonable that if you satisfy one parent well that they will refer you will to a bunch of other parents to the point where I can fill up 40 hours of babysitting in one week. That would be $1200 a week or $48,000 per year over the 40 weeks in between camp season.
I'm not expecting this to be my career. It's just spending money for my more ambitious projects.
What are the differences between day camp and being a sitter?
I can't let this idea go until I re-clarify with this girl and she won't be back from vacation until after Labor Day. I have her cell phone number, but I don't know what kind of plan she has, so I don't want to risk inflating her family's bill if she has a limited number of text messages and has no access to her e-mail while on vacation.
Maybe you should try asking the parents what they normally pay. Maybe tell them you are interested in babysitting part time for money and aren't sure what to charge based on very little experience, based on working at a daycamp. I'm sure parents would be willing to say what they pay and what experience their sitters have. Also try asking what they expect from their sitter. Doesn't hurt to do actual research before assuming you know it all.
Though when you find out the numbers are way off, that doesn't mean the 12 year old is a liar, it just means she is a twelve year old CHILD who doesn't know but are simply making numbers THEY feel to be correct. Their sitters might really be making $1,000 a MONTH but they just assumed it's per week. If all a person had to do was work 20 hours a week for $1000 MORE people would be sitters lol. Babysitting would single-handedly save the economy!
What do these parents DO that makes them able to afford $30/hr? Did you ask the kids? My sister babysits for executives, doctors, producers, etc. Basically rich people and only charges $20/hr WITH MANY years of experience working with children and teaching. What makes you think you'll get more than her BESIDES what a 12 year old says? My mom had a professional daycare in her home, she never made $30/hr per kid, and she took specialized child development courses as well as had a license to provide care, you are just some young kid, I'm assuming 21/22 years old, I don't see how you could earn more than that.
BTW the kids in the story were 9-12, 4-6th grade, if you must know.
I feel like that would open the door for them to take advantage of me. "Oh you don't know what you're worth? Well we pay $7 per hour. Take it or leave it. Too bad that I would have paid the $30 per hour."
I would probably ask what they expect from their sitter, but I probably wouldn't budge off $20 per hour if they expected a lot more for $30 per hour.
If it turns out she's way off, it does mean that she would be unreliable though, which is part of trust. One of her friends told me the sitter makes that money off 4 hours at night each day of the work week, so it seems implausible the money could be per month. I suppose it could be 4 hours every Tuesday night, but that's such a random schedule that it seems quite unlikely.
Most people don't have the skill of engaging the child enough to warrant $30 per hour though.
I think your sister could get away with charging way more than $20 per hour. You claim that she charges them the rate and it could be that they would pay more, but if she will do it for $20 per hour, then they will take it.
Some of the kid's parents do professions like the ones above. I don't want to reveal the specifics of each kid, especially since some of them are sort of fussy about privacy as it is, where I'm the only counselor in the group that knows more specific info about them.
I assume you are using the word BESIDES in a sarcastic way, but that's a big piece of info coming from her, especially since no one asked her. If I had asked her, you could make the argument that she was trying to impress me, but that is not the case.
Most of the time the private sector makes way more than the public sector, even to the tune of 10 or 20 times more.
Yeah, except she has two assistants and operates way under the limits for how many children she can have at a time. With 3 caregivers she has 6-7 children. So no, she's not making a huge profit. It's about $10/hr per caregiver, minus whatever food and supplies costs her. It's a home daycare, not a large facility.
You are also wrong about infants being cheaper. Infants command the highest tuition out of all ages. Once you hit toddler (2 years) you get a small discount.
I mean realistically you can go to Craigslist and see what other sitters are charging. You probably think you are above these people posting ads and command a higher salary, but the truth is these people will get all the business and you will be stuck wondering why people can't see what a great deal you are for $30 an hour.
She should fire at least 1 of the assistants. I've handles 15 kids by myself. A "professional" like her should be able to handle 6-7 by yourself, though I understand the need for 1 assistant in case you need to go to the bathroom.
She could make a lot more money with 1 assistant and 12 kids or something.
I meant 2-7 years old should be a lot easier than 8-12. I assumed that parents would want to keep kids of a year or under to themselves.
Unfortunately, online sites cannot provide a good barometer because if you're posting online, you're already not a good babysitter to begin with and an average babysitter isn't going to get $50 per hour.
But people always need sitters last minute so these sitters will get sporadic work.
But you still don't get it. If that is true, then that family is paying for luxury. They want the best of the best.
Think about this. There are hairdressers who charge $400 per haircut. The reason they can do that is because they offer a luxury service. The people who go to those hair dressers are not going to pay $200 for an average hair cut. They don't want an average hair cut.
In fact you are not even average. The least I would expect from someone who is charging normal rate of $10-15, is that they can cook, and they are not watching multiple kids. Do you think those parents want to pick up hungry kids at 10 pm? No, they want to come home at 11 pm to well fed kids, already in bed.
Also, it's kind of creepy and very unprofessional how you negotiate with their kids and not the parents.
Who said they will pick up hungry kids? I can stop at a good restaurant on the way over and bring them dinner and bring a pack of cookies for multiple kids to split as a dessert. I can't even think of a dessert that would require cooking. Or some kids have fruit for dessert, but that doesn't require cooking.
Maybe you have not been following the whole topic, but most of these kids had babysitters for at least a few days a week and it seemed impossible that a babysitter was going to deliver their rival's contact information to the parents. Plus I wouldn't want a kid to lose their favorite babysitter if they didn't really want me to be their sitter, so talking through the kids is really my only option.
For example, one kid revealed to me that they have 8 babysitters, but only really like 2 of them. So that gives me an opportunity to pick up 3/4 of the hours.
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