to ask how much you pay babysitters?

[kitnkaboodle]

I think I am way too generous. We've had the same girl over the last few years. She was 17 when she started, now 20.

Just curious ...

[blahblahblah2014]

£5/hour seems fair

[kitnkaboodle]

so far so good! That's what I pay and other people have raised their eyebrows at it

[juneau]

You obviously don't live in south east!

[LittleMissGreen]

5/hour or part thereof.

[skyeskyeskye]

I asked my friends when I started using a babysitter, as didn't want to pay less than them as we all use the same 2 or 3 girls. They said £15 before midnight or £20 after. so 8-12 might be £15, but 8-1am would be £20. so it is around £4-£5 an hour.

[TruffleOil]

I pay our young neighbor girl (I think she's 17) 10/hr but that's in London. Ridiculous because I'm kind of in that gray area between needing a sitter and not needing a sitter - my kids ask me to ask her to leave them alone, she's basically there to get them out in case of a fire.

[stoopstofolly]

£5 per hr for the 17 year old girl 3 doors down
£9 per hour if she's not available and we get one of the staff members from DS's nursery.

[Pleasejustgo]

£ 10 p/h plus can home

[Pleasejustgo]

Can

[Supercosy]

Same as you Skyeskye. I'm going back about 5 years here but the girls we used to have babysit for us were family friends aged between 15 and 17 and they charged per session as it were otherwise, if they charged an exorbitant fee per hour, they would never have had any work. It worked out to about £4 or £5 per hour.

[Pleasejustgo]

Cab

Stupid phone/fingers

[skyeskyeskye]

meant to say, that's for 15 year old boys/girls.

[kitnkaboodle]

£10/hr! Holy crap - I think I need to get a reality check. No - not London! I'll offer £20 for the evening, I think (from 8pm-11.30)

We too are at a funny age for babysitters - kids are 10 and 12.

Would leave them alone for an hour or so but never after bedtime. Agree that you just need someone as a 'fire warden' really.

Wonder at what age people go out and leave their kids alone in bed - 14 or so?? Depends on the kids, I guess.

[TruffleOil]

kitnkaboodle mine are 8.5 & 11.5 - we do leave them to go to the corner pub from 8-10 but like you said, the post-bedtime hour makes me incredibly nervous.

[crashbangboom]

SW I charge £5/6 a hour.

I'm a mum of two and have own transport but think its going rate

[TruffleOil]

14 sounds right. But I'll never be at ease with the possibility of fire or burglary.

[Lariflete]

£20 before 12 and £30 after not that we're ever out after 12. We're in North East.

[applecharlotte]

£9ph - central london.

[really1234]

We tend to pay £20 for up to 3.5hrs, so 8-11.30 but would do £25 for say 7.30-11.45. For 8-1 I would pay £30.

Not scientific at all but seems to roughly be £5ph plus another fiver. Ish!

[really1234]

Ours are 10 and 13 so only need someone to make them go to bed and be there for emergencies. So the babysitter does very little at all.

A tricky age, again I'll leave them during the day for a couple of hours but at night doesn't seem right yet.

[5madthings]

Nothing! We have a close family friend who babysit, he does it for a meal and then a film on the TiVo box, WiFi access etc, bit he is more an honoury uncle and often round for dinner amd we help him out with lfits and shpopping as he doesent drive.

[Artandco]

£10 an hr, London

[quirrelquarrel]

How is £5 an hour too generous? not even min wage!

[skyeskyeskye]

the law for minimum wage doesn't come into it as they are not employed, but if you want to compare it, it is £3.72 for under 18 and £5.03 for age 18-20, so £4-£5 an hour for teenagers to sit and watch tv or do their homework seems more than fair....

[kitnkaboodle]

I agree. We started on £5/hr about 4 years ago and have never changed it even tho' she's at uni now. I think at that time people were a bit surprised that we were paying a schoolgirl that 'much'. She lives 2 doors away and always seemed happy with it. She's never been required to do anything at all apart from keep an ear open and make sure our kids have got themselves to bed and are quiet after 8pm/9pm/appropriate bedtime over the years (which they always have).
Don't agree that you can compare it to the minimum wage. But maybe now she is in her 20s I should up it a little bit?
Interesting to compare.