Cost of baby sitting

[Niloufes]

Our baby sister recently told us that she is putting her costs up to minimum wage per hour, £7.20 an hour. Am i being unreasonable to think this is too much? She comes round when our 3 year old daughter is asleep and waits until we get home. Only once has she woken up and needed a drink and so the sitter is just sitting watching tv the rest of the time. Is this a normal amount to pay? we paid £6 before. aibu?

[arethereanyleftatall]

This is such a good business idea, I'm getting carried away...
Employees are cleaners, have DBS and are first aid trained.
Buyers pay less than the cost of cleaner plus babysitter, cleaner gets paid more.
It's brilliant!!
So many people I know really begrudge/can't paying £30plus before they've even started their night out, thus don't do it.

[shiveringhiccup]

You want her to provide you a service but expect to pay less than minimum wage? To have sole responsibility for your child? To be there to sort out any kind of medical of other emergency that could arise? YABU and rude.

[shiveringhiccup]

*or

[expatinscotland]

'So many people I know really begrudge/can't paying £30plus before they've even started their night out, thus don't do it.'

Then how are they to afford paying £12/hour?

[Orwellschild]

The clue is in the "minimum wage". I hope your conscience encourages you to do the right thing. I spend a lot of my time at work "sitting down", generally emailing. I'll just pop up to HR and ask if they can dock my pay down to £6 an hour due to this.
Blimey.

[arethereanyleftatall]

Expat - because £12 ph is cheaper than £10 ph for a cleaner plus £5+ Ph for a babysitter.
I'm not sure why you're pissing on this idea so much - don't employ a 'cleaner/babysitter' if you don't want to. I would.

[OutwardBound2016]

£8 per hour, she's a teacher at DD's pre school, we trust her totally and our DC's love her. I think £8 is pretty cheap for the responsibility they are taking on...

[maggiethemagpie]

I've done babysitting as an adult and really felt that charging min wage was taking the piss (I didn't set the price, that was done by the agency). I didn't do any actual work. Just sat on the sofa watching tv and eating. I was really just there in case there was an emergency to deal with. Got £40 a few hours. I would have done it for less than min wage, £20 plus travel costs.

[RortyCrankle]

I'm trying to understand, OP, why you only want to pay an hourly figure which is HALF of what I pay my cleaner, to look after what I assume to be the most precious thing in your life - your child.

YABU.

[Winifredgoose]

I used to get £5 an hour as a 16/17 year old, outside London, in the 90s. Considering this is a 40 year old.woman, I think it is a shame she had to ask.

[Quirkygal]

My daughter gets £5 an hour for two autistic children and looks after them during the day and evenins so plays with them, cooks for them, puts them to bed etc. which I think is too cheap

[teatowel]

It is rare for me to get to a sit and the children to be already in bed. I play games, sort out snacks and drinks oversee the preparation for bed , and read the bedtime story. Sometimes older children arrive back from sports practice etc. and I get their tea before seeing them off to bed. Small babies need a lot of time and care. It's not quite the cushy number people seem to be making it out to be. I enjoy it but I do because I need the money The constant late nights are tiring and my own social life is limited. It's my choice to earn my money like this but I expect to be paid properly.

[19lottie82]

Why don't you call a babysitting agency and see how much they charge?

And yes YABU to pay less than NMW..... That's just tight. OK she may not be doing much, but she's still being responsible for your child and giving up her own time to do so.

[arethereanyleftatall]

Rorty - it's half because your cleaner actually does something. A babysitter, after lights out, does nothing. Regardless of whether the sleeping child is precious, the 'job' generally entails no work whatsoever.

Op - vote with your feet. Don't use her anymore. Put a shout out on Facebook for £5 ph for a babysitter. You will be inundated with people wanting to do it.

[Familyof3or4]

Wow, I pay £5 ph to a teen and that feels expensive

[expatinscotland]

'I'm not sure why you're pissing on this idea so much - don't employ a 'cleaner/babysitter' if you don't want to. I would.'

Um, I'm not. Why take internet sprites so personally? I'm wondering how someone like the OP, who is too tight to pay min wage for a babysitter, also pays a cleaner. Because the assumption is that people who employ babysitters also employ cleaners, so they'll want to extend their own costs to employ someone who does both. How does that work when someone is too tight to even pay a sitter NMW, much less also hire a cleaner.

[arethereanyleftatall]

I think the only argument put forward by posters who think the op should pay more is 'because your dc is too precious to not'. But the op is talking about exactly the same person babysitting. Her capabilities aren't going to increase if she's suddenly paid more.

[AgathaMystery]

In the mid 1990's I got £5 per hour.

It's now 2016 & we still Pay £5 per hour. Our sitters do, literally, sit. One writes her makeup blog & one revises.

I would happily pay them minimum wage but then there will be hoovering/cleaning/ironing to do as well.

We have used the same daily for years & all their DD have babysat for our DC. I think they would ask if they wanted more...?

[MrsFogi]

Find an au pari or teenager in the area and vote with your feet if you feel the price is too high.

[IpreferToblerone]

Local teen £5 ph rounded up so three half hours pay £20. Why use an agency they have overheads to pay hence more expensive.

[nannynick]

This is interesting as it shows what value people place on childcare.

Should it matter how old the person is, if the care is during the evening or during the day, or on the number of children? They are all certainly factors that could be considered when deciding what to pay for childcare but for the person doing the job, it is the same amount of time.

Most people are paid for the time they work, not for how productive they are in that work. Look at your own job... are you paid on an hourly basis or on a results basis, or perhaps a set fee for the project but the project length could vary?

With childcare it is all about time, isn't it? It is someone else's time caring for your child/children. This means having someone come to care for one child is expensive - if you have 3 or 4 children the cost may be more viable.

A teenager will often be happier with a lower amount, they value their time less. It does not mean they are any less capable at doing the job. When I cared for children as a teenager, I was just as capable as I am now in my 40's.

If you can find someone you trust who accepts less, then that is fine. If you have found someone you trust who wants a bit more then you go with that or you find someone else.

[Catvsworld]

Sorry but it's her evening

If you want it cheaper get a teen in you can get away with £20 and mc Donald's

[Catvsworld]

We don't pay anyone because usually the cost of going and and a baby sister is to high we haven't been out together for 4 years and I am going out for the first. Time in 2 years Saturday

[arethereanyleftatall]

Nanny nick - re time - when I babysit of an evening, I do my own admin for my own business at the same time. So, I'm essentially getting paid twice. So, yes, it does make a difference if you look after children during the day or the evening.

[Iggi999]

So, by this argument..why do we pay bankers more than teachers? Surely people looking after your dcs deserve more than someone looking after your money?