£5 an hour to babysit!!!!!!

Never used them, but we looked at sitters to get an aprox cost per hour.
The apprentice nursery worker snapped our hand off for £5/hr, and couldn't beleive we rounded it up to the nearest hour.
Seems to be more regional than the national services make out?

Of course it's a professional service. Not everyone has relatives who will do it for free.

I pay £5 an hour. But then I only have teenage babysitters, or friends for whom I simply return the favour.

I don't need a nursery nurse or a nanny. As you say in the OP, "babysitting is sitting", usually....

Oblomov are you in London? 10/hour is going rate.

I pay £6/hour to one of the ladies at DD's nursery.

Can't believe babysitting is a professional service these days.

I would expect to pay £5/hr for an unqualified not-a-childcare-professional to sit on the sofa eating biscuits with sleeping child(ren) upstairs but no responsibilities except dialling 999 in the unlikely event of an emergency.

I would expect to pay £7.50-£12.50/hr for a childcare professional, but I would not employ a childcare professional to do such an easy job. It's like offering Michaelangelo £50 to paint my ceiling. I know he's capable of doing a job which would be worth a lot more, but that's not the service I require and it's not a good use of his talents either for him to do the £50 job or a good use of my money for me to pay more than I wanted for the more challenging job that he's capable of but I don't need.

OP you are quite right to stick to your normal prices and if she doesn't want the professional service she doesn't have to employ you.

I can't get a babysitter. I was told cheapest was £10 p/h.
My 2 are in bed when the babysitter arrives and don't wake up.
Just seemed too much.

I pay £5/hour for neighbour's teenager, but mainly for just a few hours when we're close by, children asleep etc.

I pay between £6 and £7 for nursery nurse students - of whom there are many nearby - paying £7 for just a few hours, to allow for the travelling etc. If they help for a whole day, for 1 child, I pay about £50/day, knowing that a fully-trained nn doing holiday care here gets £55/day for 2 rather energetic boys.

£5 an hour

No way....

That's taking the Mickey!

Sorry I meant to say he is 20 and has full First Aid. I wouldn't let either of my children babysit until they had First Aid.

My son is paid £10 an hour now for babysitting. He wouldn't do it for £5 per hour that was what I used to pay a babysitter for him 15 years ago!!

My babysitter, qualified nursery nurse only asked £5 an hour, I always rounded it up because she came a long way.

I guess she'd be more now, but unless your in London it's likely people will find someone who wants less than your asking.

My 13y would probably do it for free, she loves small DCs.

I haven't sent her Babysitting yet, I want her to 14 and have done a first aid course.

My teenager charges £5 and I charge £10. She normally gets picked, does a few hours and gets paid a round £20.

Middle - that's not the case with every family though. Some a 7pm-10pm babysit would include bathing and sorting out x3 children, getting older two to sleep, feeding baby a bottle, settling baby to sleep, toddler wakes having wet bed, feed baby again, eldest has nightmare... Etc.. But hardly any time watching TV. Every family is different and therefore every babysit will require diff things.

Middle aged that's fine but you will find not many are willing to work for that amount.

I used to be paid 10/hour to babysit sleeping children 5 years ago. I saw it as a good deal, but also had loads of business so it was a rate families were willing to pay (central London, I was a student with little experience).

I wouldn't pay anyone more than 5 per hour to sit and watch my TV, use my wifi, drink my tea and eat my biscuits whilst my kids were asleep upstairs.

Sorry OP - but 7.50????

5 pounds is unreasonable. If she offers this amount in future either just say a polite no or say that you´d be happy to do it for your usual rate of x.

I'm with artandco. It depends on age of children and what is needed, but she has pretty much summed it up, and I would charge the latter as I am a qualified nanny with newborn experience (only if looking after babies though). I would also be willing to pay these amounts if my children needed a babysitter.

God I used to babysit for £5 a night when I was a teenager! (Late 90's).

My usual rate of pay for my day job is £30/hour. If I did babysitting I wouldn't expect that because it's not the same job. The rate of pay goes with the job, not the person. Although most often the person will choose the work they do to maximise their earning potential.

£5/hour to do your own thing in someone else's house is a fair rate for a teenager. The mother just needs to work out whether she needs a nanny for the evening or a teenaged babysitter.

We paid £4 per hour, but we arranged for a lift/ taxi for the teen afterwards.

If you think about it a £5 teen is no different to an au pair looking after kids.

I expect to pay £5 an hour for a babysitter. That's just for an unqualified teenager though.

I don't think £5ph (out of which there is likely to be fuel cost + travelling time) is unreasonable but it also isn't enough to be working all evening so hoping for a few hours watching tv isn't unreasonable either.

Sounds like easy money to me. I babysat as a teen, plush house, kids were in bed and rarely woke. I was given full access to the biscuit/chocoltae tin and fridge. I would sit and eat treats for four hours while watching TV and be paid £20 for it.