In being a bit annoyed at this text? (Babysitter)

[heyhosilverballs]

So I got the number of a local girl (about 18/19) to babysit ds (3.5) for a few hours while I get on with some housework etc.

She agreed to come on Weds for 3 hours then I asked her what her hourly rate is. I get this back-

"$10 per hour for one child, but the price may go up if there is questionable behavior, if that makes sense."

Aibu to be .

He's 3.5. He's a sweet kid and I think of his friends he's one of the more chilled and well behaved. But he's still 3.5 and very occasionally will have a tantrum (he's only had a handful ever but I can't promise he won't have one) and is going through a very fucking irritating phase of not listening sometimes. Basically, he's a 3.5 year old.

Surely she could just not work again if he's a nightmare.

Now if I go ahead I'll be paranoid he's being perfectly well behaved and on edge!

Am I being daft at feeling irritated?

Yeah your daft, she's just covering her arse for the more 'wilful' children out there. 10 dollars an hour is a bargain

I'd find someone else TBH, it doesn't sound like she has a good understanding of small children.

find someone else, thats a joke.

Yeah I wouldn't hire that person. She wants carte blanche to up her rates whenever she feels like it.

Has she actually met any children? Surely there is always 'questionable behaviour'

Send her a reply - "Sorry, don't understand what you're referring to as 'questionable behaviour', please clarify and include whatever chargeds you might apply"

You're not being daft. That says to me she could charge anything upward of $10 an hour. What does she mean by "questionable behaviour" fgs?! I'd send a text back saying "sorry could you please clarify?"

So basically you have to take her word as to whether he acted up or not and her fee is dependent upon that?

I've never heard of this before and I would be very dubious in accepting it.

YANBU.

Her rate should be to babysit no matter how easy/hard the job is. If she finds your little one difficult then she doesn't come again.

Can you imagine the conversation? 'Well, he cried three times - that's 50 cents extra per minute. Looked at me funny once - extra five dollars.' et cetera et cetera

Really.

Right?! Oh and I say this as a nanny of almost 20 years. Wish I'd thought of it!!

Maybe I'll ask her to clarify what 'questionable behaviour' is.

I LOL'D hard irl at that what a cheeky twat 10ph is generous anyway carers get paid less than that!

I think she's being pretty fair. I babysat for a neighbours kids and they picked up roadkill from outside and chased me around the house with it.

There was nothing I could do to stop them. I literally ended up locking myself in a toilet as they were trying to rub it in my face.

Little gits. I should have been on for danger money there.

Id have rang the parents and kept the doors locked.

I think she means that she might charge more next time if dc is a pita. I can't believe she means she might charge extra for, ahem, challenging behaviour this first time of babysitting?

Dollars? Is this site American?? Who knew?

Troll sorry but .

I've had some fucking rotters during my career but they're kids. You state what you're worth and that's what you get paid.

I'm also worried that she's expecting to sit down and not do much. Will she charge extra for reading a book? How much for mindnumbling boring train playing?

Wow! Babysitting is babysitting - 'questionable behaviour' - what is this? Even the use of the term is worrying. . Don't employ this girl and find someone more ethical.

I'm sorry red. I didn't realise Americans weren't allowed to post. Didn't get the memo it was British mumsnet.

Doubt you'd get away with saying that if the op was from a country other than the States.

And for what it's worth, I'm British and lived there 36 years. Am I allowed to post now?

I would definitely get someone else. Hire for attitude, train for skill. Her attitude sucks.

Dollars? Is this site American?? Who knew?

This site is quite international, what with it being connected to the world wide web and all. No need to be sneery.

I don't think that's necessarily horrible. I think it would depend on how much detail was in your initial contact.

I read her message as "I would charge more if you are asking me to come help because your child has special needs, is outrageously misbehaved, or is otherwise unusually difficult to handle"

If you did not mention anything at all about DC's behaviour beforehand, then due to asking her to come sit while you are still at home, I can understand why she would say that just to cover her bases.

It does NOT sound to me as if she is threatening to raise her rate AFTER she has been, in the event he has a tantrum, though.

I think you definitely need to clarify what questionable behaviour is. It's a really broad term that could leave you open to having the price changed for normal 3 year old behaviour! Also what is the increase? I wouldn't book someone with out a set maximum price. It would feel to open to abuse , if she's worried about difficult behaviour etc she should have asked for more details then given a price. My experience of babysitting (it's been a while) do the three hrs at you standard rate if it's awful and you think you need more either explain to the parents if they re book or don't go back!

Reading my post back, I feel like it made no sense. I'll try to clarify...

I would have read her text as "I would raise my hourly rate UP FRONT if you tell me that there are special/unusual needs, or your child is abnormally difficult to handle all the time, etc."

I did not read it as "I will surprise you after we finish by asking for more money just because he had a normal toddler meltdown."

I think that's better? I'm running on almost no sleep, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I think $10 is a bit less than £10 so it actually makes a bit more sense knowing that you're in the US as it seemed a bit high for a babysitter.

If he's going to be awake when she's looking after him then why doesn't she come over and meet him for a little into session while you scope her out and she can see that he doesn't have any exceptional behavioural issues. Perhaps she's got some hideous tale of being chased around the house by a child holding a dead animal. ( my DD5 came up to me on holiday the other day asking me " what's this" and she had a dead rat in her hands eeeek)