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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to offer a babysitter £5/hour?

98 replies

tiggersdontlikehoney · 04/10/2017 17:18

What is the going rate for a teenage (age 16) babysitter these days?

They would be looking after one 4-year old for a few hours in the evening. So just playing, putting to bed, nothing very difficult, then they can relax and watch TV or whatever.

I haven't had any dealings with babysitters since I was a teenager myself so no idea what to offer. Would £5/hour be considered too little?

We are in a small town in the Midlands, so not looking for London prices or anything like that.

How much do you pay?

OP posts:
2014newme · 04/10/2017 17:20

I normally ask what they charge.

But if you don't want to do that £5 per hour is fine for a teen.

gorygloria · 04/10/2017 17:21

My son gets £5 an hour for sitting with 3 youngsters (all primary age) and he’s chuffed with that

TinselAngel · 04/10/2017 17:21

I’ve never had to employ a babysitter, so I don’t know what the going rate is, but as this is over the minimum wage for 16 year olds, then I’d say in principle it’s OK.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 04/10/2017 17:22

You'll ask what she charges, surely?

BeyondThePage · 04/10/2017 17:24

That is fine if before midnight. Charges are generally double that after...

tippz · 04/10/2017 17:25

Sounds OK.

redsquirrel2 · 04/10/2017 17:28

We pay £5 per hour. Usually round it up to the next hour. Double for after midnight. Hth.

RaskolnikovsGarret · 04/10/2017 17:39

The people my 14 year old babysits for were paying £9 an hour. She tried to reduce it to £5 an hour, but they insisted on £7. And they always round up. Very generous.

RaskolnikovsGarret · 04/10/2017 17:40

Apologies, we are in London, ignore me!

Brittbugs80 · 04/10/2017 18:13

Sounds about right. I charge £15 per hour but I'm older, there's always two children at a time when I sit and because it's my second job (self employed) I'm using my own car.

Also Midlands here.

allthingsred · 04/10/2017 18:16

The babysitters I use charges 5 ph.
& we always pay extra for her transport home.

SnorkellingCat · 04/10/2017 18:18

I'm in the midlands and when I get a babysitter for DD I always pay £5 an hour but round up to the next hour, usually costs me £20-30, my teenage neighbour seems happy with that.

NedsMissingHead · 04/10/2017 18:23

My babysitter charges £5 an hour but I pay her £10 as she minds my 5, ( 2 are 11 and 13 so don't need anything doing) always home before 12 too.

MojoMoon · 04/10/2017 18:26

I got a fiver an hour when I was 16.

But I am 32 now.

So five quid seems a bit cheap. I know it is just above the minimum wage but the minimum wage is aimed at apprentices etc who are receiving training and working towards a qualification.

You presumably are not offering that.

ICantStoptheDogChasingFlies · 04/10/2017 18:29

We are in rural Oxfordshire and the teens around here charge £5/hour. We're only a stone's throw from the midlands, so I'd assume that applies there, too.

velourvoyageur · 04/10/2017 18:30

I have never been paid under about £9/hour for babysitting except once at 15 when I got £5 for an evening and was too shy to challenge it!

I feel £5 is a bit of an insult, really - if you trust them to look after your kids, you presumably trust them to do a stellar job of safeguarding, and why then would you pay such a pitiful amount which doesn't acknowledge the responsibility you put on their shoulders? It's not like they're interns who don't know the first thing about the industry - they HAVE to know how to keep a child safe, so automatically IMHO they should be paid accordingly i.e. at least minimum wage plus taxi home.
It's not actually relaxing when you're in loco parentis, as you have to be alert and be ready to immediately react to anything, so I really wouldn't go with the mindset that it's an easy gig and that therefore their time isn't worth much.
Don't know if I'm being v. U in this but £5 does sound awfully low to my ears...

wonkylegs · 04/10/2017 18:30

I've always paid minimum wage but my babysitter is 25 so it's a bit more than that.

velourvoyageur · 04/10/2017 18:32

is min. wage below £5?! bloody hell. then scrap the bit in my answer about 'at least min. wage'! I was thinking it was more £7ish even for under 18s.

Snausage · 04/10/2017 18:32

£5 an hour sounds very little to me. I was earning £10 an hour as a teenager 15 years ago.

I pay £10 an hour for someone to babysit my (just) 3 year old and feel cheap considering I earned that so long ago!

School2018 · 04/10/2017 18:33

Blimey. DS (15) gets £10 per hour, looking after 3 children (not ours).

He is obviously on to a good thing Grin

storminabuttercup · 04/10/2017 18:34

Blinking heck I used to get a tenner for the whole night when I was 16! I think a fiver an hour is very reasonable

TangledSlinky · 04/10/2017 18:36

I'm down south and thought £5 seemed a bit cheap. As a 15yo I was paid £10-12 an hour to babysit and that was some years ago now.

Schvitzing · 04/10/2017 18:36

Depends on how they are at bedtime! Putting my DD to bed would be a 45 minute battle of refusing to brush her teeth, put on pjs, demanding extra stories etc

FridayFreddo · 04/10/2017 18:38

Depends what they have to do with the dc! If the dc are in bed/are old enough to put themselves to bed, then £5 per hour is fine for sitting on the couch watching TV!

DillyDilly · 04/10/2017 18:38

£5 is very little. I wouldn’t call playing with tired kids and putting them to bed ‘nothing very difficult’. At that time of the day, kids can be very hard work.

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