How much to pay 14 yo babysitter?

I'd say £10-£15 for a few hours is about right. My little sister has had a few babysitting jobs starting when she was 14 and has been paid about that.

She is now 16 and looks after my DD occasionally Glad other people were willing to give her a chance as now she is great at it

I dont think 14 is too young, it depends on the person, SOME 14yo are some arn't. 14yo have kids of their own to look after in some cases.

As for the 14yo cant drive so they are rubbish babysitters?? WTF? Thats like saying if you cant drive you are a rubbish parent!!

I leave my 15 yo Ds to babysit Dd who is 4.
He has been doing this for over a year now, we usually give him £10-£15, he would usually go to a friends etc, so thats why we give him something for his efforts!

I think your new sitter sounds great, she could have just sent him to bed and ignored him all evening!

glad she was ok with your son and you had an eve out. lets hope you get many more nights out and she sounds like a lovely girl from what youve said

i wonder where many of you would be if someone hadnt given you that first chance - to be experienced you need to gain experience

sophy - I don't think there is such a thing as a going rate. It is between you and your babysitter to agree upon a rate of pay. My view is that your babysitter should determine the amount, tell you, and you then decide if that is ok, or not.

I can't recall how much I charged when I was starting out as a babysitter... could have been £1-£1.50 an hour. It certainly was not that much. My first regular babysitting job was working for the family next door.

I babysat regularly when I was 14. My parents were in the village so I could always call them should I have needed too. Some 14 year olds seem even older than I was at 14 nowadays IYSWIM

i dont think any babysitter should be taking a child to hospital anyway as you cant consent to any treatment.

if the child is so unwell they cant wait for a parent to take 30misn to get home then a sitter should call an ambulance, otherwise wait for parents and one of them can take them.

if babysitting for more than once child anyway what would you do with the others if taking one to hospital.

clumsy mummy makes a good point.

each to their own if someone want to pay £10 and have a 14yr old for 3hrs fine if someone else wants a qualified person and to pay £10 an hr thats fine too.

Oh FGS.

"an average 14yr will not be able to cope if there was an amergancy"
well apart from the fact that some could cope in an emergency, and some couldn't, a) there isn't likely to be an emergency
b) this 14 y.o. has quick access to his/her parents if there was.

"or if need to get child to hospital and cant drive"
erm, not all parents/adult babysitters can drive, and if you have a badly injured child to deal with, you are not in a state to drive safely anyway. That is why we have an ambulance service in this country anyway.

I don't see why this babysitter shouldn't be perfectly fine (only the opening poster knows whether the 14 y.o. is sensible or not)

Anyway, the question was "how much", not "be judgemental about my choice of babysitter".

I'd say £10 would be fine for these hours, £15 if you were staying out till 11:00.

an average 14yr will not be able to cope if there was an amergancy or if need to get child to hospital and cant drive

I am happy to be ageist in this occasion

driver and late teens should be the youngest imo

with new laws coming in around age dont think we should be ageist.

however these new equality laws will not apply to employees employed for private households as far as i am aware.

you can tar everyone with the same brush just because of age. I am 28 and have a vast range of childcare experience because i started babysitting at 13yrs old and have gone onto nurse and nanny then onto mat nanny and night nanny and proxy parent since i was 23/24yrs.

I feel 14 years is too young to babysit, sorry

we dont offer first aid in our course but do a lesson on minor injuries and minor ailments. we make them ask lots of questions before parents go out - handy to know where torch is esp with english weather and thunderstorms blowing the electric.

I think these course give young people lots of self esteem. The one i ran recenently was for 12 girls with low self esteem and low attainment - was fab they really blossomed.

i think if a 14yr old is mature enough then thats fine for them to babysit. some 14yr olds are more responsible than many 25yr olds!!

we always advise people under 16 not to babysit after midnight.

My dd1 went on a babysitting course at the local college - learnt all sorts of things that I didn't know
first aid was included, what question to ask before parents leave the house - where the spare torch is? Where the phone is? Which is the escape route from the first floor. A combination of questions that made me think also about these sorts of things.

My dd1 came away with a lot of self esteem and practicle knowledge that will be useful in general life.

i run a babysitting course for 14yrs olds and we say £2.50-£4 an hr depending on their experience. We always say a min of 3hrs pay even if only sitting for an hr as not fair on them otherwise.

sorry yes I am one of those but still wouldnt employ a 14yr bs

have all threads flipped, or else i have to go through 10 000 replies till i find new one

but i do read all replies, just when new one appears, makes it easier to read iykwim

Below? You're not one of them, are you? I only speak to the Classic Crowd. harumph.

or below - depends which way you have MN set up

but glad someone else agrees with me

13/14/and prob even 15/16 is too young to employ as a bs and leave your most irreplaceable processions imo

I don't disagree with you. See above.

know you will all disgaree with me, but still think that 14 is to young to be left in charge of children - even if asleep (even if their mum is next door etc) so cant comment on a figure

i paid my 14 year old babysitter £20 for the evening (she is 15 now and still on the same rate)

Leave the gardening tools on the side next time

IVY!! meanie!

Older than you - good gracious, is that possible