What to pay a 15/16 year old babysitter??

[LittleGinBigGin]

We have made friends with a couple in the area with a 15 nearly 16 year old daughter, the daughter has offered to babysit for us so we can go out at the end of the month, nothing fancy just drinks with another couple, She’s a lovely girl and no have doubts she will be fine with the children and we will only be a maximum 2 minute walk away.

I’m in a quandary on what to pay her? Would £8 per hour be too little??

We’ve never had a babysitter before so have absolutely no idea 🤷‍♀️

If I had to pay mine £8 per hour I'd never afford to go out! We pay ours £20 for 7:30pm to 12:30 and provide a pizza. She is more than happy with that and she's 17.

the going rate where I am (south east) is £6 per hour for a teenager.

Well minimum wage for her age is a lot less so you’d be very generous. I pay that though for a 17 nearly 18 year old.

£5 an hour.

@alwayscauseastir we never go out, this will be the first time for over a year!!!

So maybe £5.50 an hour??

Obviously food/drinks/snacks will be provided. And we will walk her home.

I'd just offer a round figure tbh! So around 15-20 quid for the evening and a taxi/lift home.

$10/hr here. It is expensive and mine are 16 and 17 now so it's probably gone up. Definitely is a considerable expense when added to a night out, which is why we rarely went out.

My teenage daughters earns minimum £8 per hour. Plus taxi home. Some pay more generously.

She's a good babysitter and in demand so she gets the benefit of being able to pick which jobs she does.

I pay mine £5 per hour plus pay for a taxi home as well. :)
Give them WiFi codes and leave food and snacks.

I think if you were going to happily pay her £8 (indeed your question was that enough) it would be unfair to reduce this to £5.50 simply because some MNers think that was too much

She’s babysitting. She’s not doing any less babysitting because she’s a teenager. Pay her what you would pay anyone else.

I paid qualified childcarer £6/h cash in hand but dh upped this to minimum wage which for 5-6hrs made it too costly.

Now i pay neighbours 14yo £5/h up to max of £15 but we dont go far or stay out long.

£5ph here (south west). No babies or toddlers either so it's an easy ticket!!

I think it really depends where in the country you are. Where I am in London it is around £8/hour, in certain central London areas I hear £12/hour is normal and some (crazy and very rich) people pay £20.

Outside London and the South East (and other rich pockets) I suspect £5/hour is more usual.

Bertrand,

Age does matter. If I paid an adult from a babysitting agency, I would expect them to deal with a lot more. For a local teenager, I would only go out locally and expect to be called if any problems at all.

Less responsibility, less pay.

£25 for the night and offer to buy her a pizza and snacks.

I used to babysit a lot and would get £20-£40 a night depending on how late it was. I would avoid doing an hourly rate TBH as it just makes it more complex than it needs to be. Have lots of nice snacks in as for 15 year old me, this was often the clincher as to who would get bookings for popular times.

I trawled, TRAWLED babysitting websites, childcare.co.uk, sitters, local gumtree etc etc, and ALL the 16 years olds were charging £12.50 ph, same as the adults twice their age with decades more experience. I cannot justify babysitting costs, and so we've never had a babysitter as they as just too expensive. I'd love to hire a teenage babysitter, but not one of them charges anywhere near the prices anyone here is quoting 😭

The odd time Dd has babysat it was about £5 an hour or £20 for the evening.

I remember when I was younger and I got £3-5 a night. My older cousins once paid me a tenner I thought I'd done really well that night!

An hourly rate is the only fair way to do it. I hear of some teenagers offered £25 to babysit until 11PM and parents deciding to return at 2AM and still paying the same. That is just very shabby.

my friend’s daughter babysits my kids about twice a month and we pay her £25, pay for her taxi home, and give her £10 for a pizza. so about £35 all in.

£40 even. my maths skills clearly aren’t up to much 🙈

I used to babysit between the ages of 14 and 17 and used to get £20-30 for an evening (maybe 3-4 hours). I’m now in my thirties so I’m surprised some people are paying less 20 years later.

OP is you wanted to pay her £8 per hour, pay her £8 per hour. Where I live babysitting is usually done by nannies and they charge a minimum of £12 per hour, so £8 seems fair for a teenager.

I refuse to pay more than £20 for an evening.
I have no idea where these young girls are getting £12.50 an hour from?!

Self entitled? Much?