How much do you pay your babysitter?

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jambo1707, I don't think you're employing a babysitter... more a childminder (if she's caring for your children at her house) or a nanny (if she's caring for your children at your house).

£200 per month she watches them mon-fri 8.00-3.45.

I make that £1.19 per hour (7.75 daily hours multiplied out over 52 weeks, divided by 12 to give hours per month of about 168hours - 167.9167 for those of you who are precise about this kind of thing.)

£1.19 per hour is a very low wage indeed... do you really only pay £200 per month?

i work during the week and pay my babysitte £200 per month she watches them mon-fri 8.00-3.45.

If i go on a rare night out i normally pay £10 even to family members

Our sitter gets £20 for a normal night & £30 for a night like new years eve.
She is happy with that, as the kids are always in bed before she arrives & she watches sky sports all night, which she cannot watch at home!

As a teenager back in the 80's I started by charging £1.50 per hour for babysitting. Mind you, I wasn't looking after babies... but instead 4 & 6 year olds.
Over my college years, I recall that the amount I charged for babysitting went up about 50p each year.
So based on that, if I were still babysitting now, babysitting fee would be about £10 per hour.

For babysitting now, I use a local well established company which only provides qualified and experienced nannies as babysitters. My youngest has just turned 3mths so I feel it is important that my babysitter has experience of caring for babies, toddlers and school aged children. Before any discounts, the company charges £8 per hour, but as I've been using them for close on 5 years now, I get discount.

Do babysitting rates vary around the country? Perhaps some areas are cheaper than others.

couldn't believe it Ameriscot.... the screaming and the wailing and the flames...... lol

Had a brilliant night out. Rolled home and posted online (like you do).

All safely tucked up. DS1 was awake when we left. DD1 had just gone to bed (not sleeping), the DTs were awake but she put them to bed. DD2 was making a lot of noise when we left, despite having been in bed for about an hour. The babysitter coped admirably (wouldn't keep using her if she couldn't). She didn't call once. Do you think that that is because I said "you have the number...don't call"? lol

And she was more than happy with her £4p/h. She got a lot of study done and will be sitting for us again in a few short days.

Dealing with children's nightmares is hardly rocket science, is it? I babysat loads when I was a teenager and was perfectly competent to comfort distressed children. It's so much easier now in any case because of mobile phones- if there's any possible question of a child being ill most babysitters would just ring the parents surely?

Hope you had a good night out, RTM..., and came home to live children and a street free of ambulances and fire engines .

I'm off out tonight to a party and my babysitter will get £4 an hour. She's fab and my kids love her. She babysits so that she can study and being paid is a bonus. I pay all my babysitters the same rate. They're happy, we're happy and that's that! It's not about how much I do or don't love my kids or appreciate my babysitter. It's what we've agreed. I had one lad tell me that I should pay more. I didn't use him. I had one lad tell me it was too much money. So, as long as me and mine are happy...... BTW all my babysitters ask when they can babysit again!

I once had a teenager (dd of woman at work) to babysit, agreed a price for the evening £15 I think, but I came home early to find her upstairs trying on all my makeup!!!! Glad some of you mentioned sitters as have just been looking at the website. Would you recommend??

I used to babysit for free when I was a teenager and a student
I looked after some high-maintenance kids as well!

I know people that babysit for free . I wonder what you can read into that!

To be honest, rate is meant to be mutual agreement anyway. If a babysitter accepts £2 per hour, so be it - surely they should say something if that rate doesn't suit them. No?

Yes, we always provide transport to our babysitters.

I think I know my kids better than you anyway. They don't get up in the evenings: it just doesn't happen. Some children do, I know. Mine don't. They go to bed (early), go to sleep, stay asleep and stay in bed.

If they were "high maintenance" in the evenings it would be different, but they're not!

The babysitters I "employ" are not doing it as a profession, they are earning pocket money, not doing it as a means of supporting themselves. I am not exploiting them, it's an arrangement of mutual satisfaction.

But a neighbourhood girl is free to transport, and if it is a teenager from further afield, we do the driving. We don't expect the babysitter to fund their own transport.

I [b]like[/b] giving work to local teens. I think it is good for them and teaches responsibility. I'd rather do that than give money to a profit-making enterprise.

I totally trust my first choice babysitter (after my au pair). She's 16 and very responsible; and she wouldn't hesitate to contact my next door neighbour or her own mother if she got into a sticky situation.

And what parent goes out without their mobile these days?

It just makes me laugh how some people won't think twice about paying £10 for 2 drinks on a night out but begrudge paying it for someone to look after their children. Just because your children aren't toddlers doesn't mean they don't have nightmares, worries, or get ill.
Not to mention I probably spend at least £5 in petrol getting to and from the places I babysit so i wouldn't make much profit would I?

Guess not, Shiny.

Shinypeople - actually I think £125 for 24 hrs is good value. My boys are awake for about 12 hrs of the day, and I would not want to pay less than £10 ph for someone to care for them. They are extremely hard work and demanding at times, and I feel that I am 'worth' that. But what I do baulk at is paying high hourly rates for an evening shift doing nothing. I am not talking about looking after toddlers here, but primary school-aged children who are asleep in bed and extremely unlikely to wake up.

well i guess that none of you would ever use me then as i charge £8 per hour and £125 for a 24 hour "proxy parenting" shift.

I have worked hard to get the salary i feel i deserve. If you are happy paying £2 an hour to a 14 year old then fine but what if something goes wrong....how will they react? Do they know the signs of meningitis for example?

If I can't use my au pair, then I get a teenager from church for about £5 an hour. It works out at around £15 an evening, mostly.

Too right...
Chances are, the babysitter has nothing much to do, but she is there in case of an emergency.
Many jobs are like that. Have a friend who is an anaesthetist. Describes it as 95% routine boredom, 5% absolutely s*ing bricks.
Same could probably be said of paramedics,firefighters and so on.I
would never try to shortchange a babysitter (despite cringing as I hand over £30 to her for a night lounging on my sofa nine times out of ten). Despite being morally unable to do so, would worry about it being taken out on the kids...

fair comments MD. if i do a weeks work 7 days and overnights it could come to £900 odd.

evryone seems to forget that you may spend the majority of the time on your arse babysitting but you're not 'at home' you can't switch off and relax, get the washing done, unload the dishwasher, spend time with DH etc...

I charge £7 per hour and i think that its worth it. it does make a night out more expensive (as i know being a parent and a nanny) but how often do you get the chance to go out now.

£6 an hour (I upped it from going rate of £5 as felt it was only fair-my salary goes up sp why shouldn't the babysitter's?)
Also add on £3 for going and coming as we are a little way out of town.
Don't subscribe to changing/reducing it because the kids are in bed. They are responsible and that is that. Imagine if your line manager said 'Well, you've got an easy two days coming up so I'll adjust your salary accordingly.'
Not on!!!

What do you think of this!? Mum I know went skiing when her baby was about 9 mths for a week. Paid a girl from the nursery £200 to look after him. In nursery 5 days a wseek, but her responsiblity thereafter.

We pay £6-£7 per hour - 4 different girls from dd's nursery - qualified and very nice. Sometimes, when they arrive, dd (21 months) is in bed, sometimes not - we still pay the same. Given choice, would use gran but she lives 40 miles away so can't - she looks after her one day each weekend.