to think £25 for babysitting 3 children until 3am on New Years Day is disgustingly stingy.

[TaggieCampbellBlack]

DD and her friend. Both 14.
Parents said they'd be back shortly after midnight. Finally rolled in at 3am.

DD and friend slept over but were expecting them home before 3.

Stingy bastards handed over £25 this morning.

And also more than a little surprised. That isn't the done thing really is it? Getting in 3 hours late.

That is really bad.

I used to get £20 for NYE just for me over 20 years ago.

Stingy

£25 each would have been more like it IMO

For comparison, we pay our usual babysitter - admittedly a final year medical student - £60 if we're rolling in at silly o'clock & she's staying over. £70 if she has our mates' 2 dc as well as our 3!

We've also used a friend's teenage dd - she got £40 & a lift home.

So yes, £25 on NYE is v stingy IMO. Although I'd only expect to pay one sitter - ours sometimes brings a mate to keep her company, which is fine, but it's up to them how & if they split the fee.

Yes - agree absolutely that they shouldn't be paying twice because one girl chose to take her friend with her.

So basically, they were paid £25 for spending the evening with a friend - and they could have gone to bed, so didn't HAVE to stay up until 3? How old are the children and what time did they go to bed?

I wouldn't pay a 14yo the same as trained nursery staff. Nor would I pay both if the 14yo decided to bring a friend.

But £25 sounds low for nye around her I would expect to pay £40 for nye and it would be a given that you wouldn't be back before 2ish so the parents were daft to think they would be back just after 12.

I pay our babysitter (she's 16) £5 per hour. If I came back late I would always pay extra.

That is the going rate around here apparently.

I realise you can't exactly compare nursery staff with teenagers, but it was to give a rough idea of payment.

£25 for 7 hours is much less than minimum wage.

And I don't see why teenagers should be paid less for the same amount of work.
Ok if just sitting around when children are asleep.

Still, the children could easily have awoken or been ill.

And the parents should definitely have given something extra for being over 2 hours late.
The girls could he still gone out to party at 12:30.

How did they get home?

£25 for a teen to babysit for nye is fine. Why were there two teens? If the patents requested bith of them.then they should pay both of them. If the teens chose to both go to.keep each other company then that was theit choice and they cant both expect to be paid imo.

Ridiculously tight.
I pay £5 per hour for a 14 yr old to babysit, so from 8-3am would be be £35 minimum and i probably would round it up to £40 as it was NYE. But, I would not pay for the 2 girls - either one takes £40 or they half it! Their choice.

Oh - I didn't understand that the dd/her friend slept over at the home of the dc.

OP - what do you think would have been reasonable payment?

I disagree - I don't think baby sitting aged 14 has anything to do with minimum wage.

If people are really paying up to £70 to a babysitter, how on earth do you ever afford to go out? That's insane!

Stingy - mind you I once got totally shafted as a teenager. I would babysit for three different couples who all knew each other but one night 2 of the couples were let down so I agreed to have all 8 kids at one house and to sleep over. Adults rolled in after 3am and do you know how much they paid me? A FIVER... in total.

Safe to say I never babysat for any of them again.

I wouldn't pay twice because the babysitter took a friend.

Like others have said who's idea to have two girls babysitting? If the parents requested to sitters they should have paid more if it was the girls idea to go together then they have to accept sharing the profits.

We're the parents expecting two girls?

*were (bloody iPad autocorrect)

Sorry, you said in the title there were three kids

We pay our 17 year old neighbour £5 per hour and our nursery worker double that. TBH I'm not sure I would expect a new year's eve premium for a 14 year old as I wouldn't expect them to be giving up a party/pub trip like someone older. I'd probably give extra for goodwill anyway and I definitely wouldn't be 3 hours late, that's just awful.

They didn't expect double for both of them being there.

I'd have thought about £30 for a normal pre-midnight babysitting. This being NY and til 3am a smidgen more was called for.

She's planning a price list for next time.

Minimum wage under 18 is £3.86. If the more was meant for one that would be £3.57 which is okish if the kids were in bed. I do think it is stingy as a harsh early lesson for your daughter about laying down your terms before you start.

£3.57 per hour? I would say £5.00 per hour is reasonable for a 14 year old.
So £35.00. so yes, a bit stingy.
If it was your DD's friend's job YABU to expect them to be paid separately.

I babysat for £1.00 an hour in 1990 !

I agree Remus.

We are talking about teens getting paid to watch telly while the kids are in bed here. They are not 'earning' - they are doing a wee job cash in hand...but way to go to teach your kids to expect something for nothing. £25 is well sufficient.

If you are expected to pay out £50 plus before you've even left the house, then most of us can forget going out at all. Most of us don't have that sort of money for teens watching tv and texting their friends.

Thank God for teens with realistic expectations.

Outrageous, frankly. And taking advantage, IMO. Even if they didn't want to pay two sitters surely a minimum of £50 for NYE? I pay sitters £10 per hour or an agreed rate. I'd expect to pay well over £50 for NYE really though.

Good plan re price list!

So basically, they were paid £25 for spending the evening with a friend - and they could have gone to bed, so didn't HAVE to stay up until 3?

That's not the point, and in my babysitting days i wouldn't have gone to bed when i was on duty.

It's a ridiculously low amount and taking the piss for NYE.