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Hi All,
My wife and I are hiring our first babysitter ever. What do you think is a good pay rate for a babysitter? She will be here for 4 hours and she will just have to put 1 kid down to bed (3YO) after 1 hour, the other will already be asleep (10Months). For the remaining 3 hours she will be able to just sit around watching TV or whatever (hopefully).
The babysitter is 16 and I am in Chicago. Thoughts? I was thinking $15-20 an hour.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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A few months ago one of our neighbors posted an ad for a babysitter offering $10/hour and got a huge number of responses making fun of her. They were all talking about $20-$25 for high school kids, and she ended up paying $21. Your area might be less, so your range sounds appropriate.
How times have changed! I did a lot of babysitting in HS back in the early 90s. For family, it was free. For everyone else, it was like $25 for several hours, which included feeding and putting infants and toddlers to bed and entertaining slightly older kiddos.
How times have changed! I did a lot of babysitting in HS back in the early 90s. For family, it was free. For everyone else, it was like $25 for several hours, which included feeding and putting infants and toddlers to bed and entertaining slightly older kiddos.
I want a do-over. :P
LOL. I used to babysit my second cousins and I hardly even cared about the money. I just enjoyed playing with them! I think they would pay me around $30 but I would be there from 6-12 and it was 3 kids.
Thank you everyone for the replies! Sounds like $20 is the most fair. I will go with that for now!
I agree that babysitting fees have become out of control. I get that times have changed, things are more expensive...but come on. Where I am (Boston area) I see people asking for $25-$30 an hour. I really think each 'case' should depend on the family (how many kids, how old, what's involved in the job). If it's an evening with parents going out and the kids will mostly be asleep then $25-$30 seems too much. If it's a situation where you're with the kids all day, doing things with them, driving them places then of course it should change.
People have lost some common sense when it comes to child care. I also babysit for free when i was younger for family members or got paid very little when babysitting for neighbors or family friends. I just dont think all child care jobs should be the same rate...but it seems like they are these days or people move on to someone who will pay them more.
There's also no reason why a 14 or 15 yr old should be making $25-$30 an hour for babysitting...but I think what happens is some families will pay that and i guess that's ruined it for everyone lol....that's become the rate.
If you object to paying $20-$25/hour for a babysitter, then don't pay it. Form a co-op with other parents so that you babysit each other's kids. That will show those teenagers who's really in charge.
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