to offer a babysitter £5/hour?

[tiggersdontlikehoney]

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?

[OlennasWimple]

LOL at sending a 4 yo off to bed being no big deal....!!

[AndersArms]

I pay a lovely 17 year old £8 per hour. She asked for less but we have 3 DC who can be unpredictable at bedtime so I want her to be incentivised to keep coming back!

[rachrach2]

My 18 year old babysitter asked for £5 an hour and thats what I pay when children are in bed (she has a a side business that she works on when at mine). I round up (don’t pay for taxi as she drives), but I pay her more if they’re awake and she has to actually play with my children or put them to bed as £5 seems very low if she’s not able to get on with her other work.

[Grilledaubergines]

Given the age I think £5-£6 reasonable. An over 18 I would say around £8 is fair. I’m in the south east and qualified childminders seem to charge around £7 an hour so for a babysitter who may not have any childcare accreditations etc I don’t think it’s too bad a deal.

[CorbynsBumFlannel]

CM's generally charge more for working outside of normal hours though - if that's a service they offer.

[RaindropsAndSparkles]

DD babysit and has since she was 15/16. Admittedly SW London, posh end of Surrey. She's 19 now. £9 per hour min (£7.50 for neighbours) and cab home. Even when she had her first jobs because I was 2/3 mins away it was £7/8.

[RaindropsAndSparkles]

Should have said, as much as £12 oh for some families. She babysat on NY Eve and got £150. She stayed overnight though and looked after the children from 6.45-9 by prior arrangement

[Mrsknackered]

I used to pick a girl up from school and drag her to her dance classes, the park, whatever museum her Mum had lined up for her. She was only in reception and it exhausted her. They gave me £5 an hour and used to complain about covering my travel fees and/or a bottle of water (for her) that came out of my wages. I was also trying to study A levels and was pregnant and very alone!
So looking back on how disrespected I used to feel receiving £5 an hour. I would pay more. I always pay our baby sitters £8 an hour (not in London anymore) and pay for a cab home.

[Beamur]

£5 an hour for teenage sitters perfectly reasonable where I live, plus we make sure they get home safely.

[MargaretCavendish]

I used to get £5 an hour back in 2001, so given inflation I was apparently doing very well comparatively... One glorious New Year's Eve I got £150 for babysitting - it was supposed to be £100 with them back at 1am but then they got drunk and kept ringing up and offering me more money 'for just another hour'. At the time it seemed like the most wonderful windfall anyone had ever had. Unfortunately, the couple later split up because of his alcohol issues, which cast rather a shadow over the whole thing...

[Seren85]

I was paid £5 an hour 17 years ago. That did include playing with the children and bedtime though. It seems low to me.

[melj1213]

I live in the NW and my 17yo babysitter gets £5 p/h when she watches DD9 ... I also leave snacks/drinks out on the side for her to help herself and I also offer a bit extra for the bus fare home (she lives on a direct bus route from my house and the stop is less than 1 minute walk from my front door) or pay for a taxi (if it's late enough to be after the last bus) if one of her parents can't pick her up.

She has been my babysitter for the last couple of years so clearly she's happy with it and her parents are family friends so if they had an issue with it they'd have no problem mentioning it if she didn't!

[NewLove]

Wow I used to get £5 an hour when I was a teen - I'm now 39!

[crumpledwand]

I used to get between 10 and 20 pound for the whole night!

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

Technically £5 an hour, but it would often be rounded up so if I was there 5-10 I'd get £30/35 plus I'd eat with them.

But I did have to do dinner, homework, music practice and bed.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

I ended up with a few families as a result of the music practice actually - I had a few reluctant clarinettists on my books! I used to take mine and we'd play together. Or I'd take a recorder for with the flautist.

[lostpigeon]

to look after your most important....fiver an hour is an insult.

[melj1213]

fiver an hour is an insult.

No it isn't ... it's more than the national minimum wage for under 18s and considering that some babysitters don't actually have to do a lot more than send kids to bed, if they aren't already in bed when they arrive, then £5 p/h to spend the evening watching my tv, sitting on my sofa and eating my snacks is not bad extra pocket money.

If the babysitter is expected to entertain/play with little kids, negotiate dinner/homework/bathtime/bedtime or there is more than one child then that is a different story but £5 p/h as a base rate to start from is hardly pennies.

When my babysitter comes round it's usually the evenings - DD has usually already had dinner, done her homework (or is finishing it off as the babysitter arrives) and is fairly self sufficient so the babysitter is pretty much only there to be an "adult presence" and has to do very little work.

When I leave, all my babysitter has to do is tell her to go up to her room at her bedtime (where she is allowed to read for a while) and then about half an hour later tell DD to turn off her light if it's still on.

Occasionally if I know I'm getting home not too late and it's the weekend then DD is allowed to stay up till I'm home so she doesn't even have to send her to bed ... then all the babysitter has to do is negotiate whether to watch X factor or Strictly until I'm home.

[Tatiebee]

I'm a childminder and charge £4 per hour so I'd say £5 is reasonable.

[bogofeternalstench]

I don't know about 16 year olds but I'D babysit for £5 an hour! :D

[babybubblescomingsoon]

For babysitting I only charge £10 per hour and I'm a professional nanny in London so I think that's fine. I charge more for nannying though.

[Pinkvoid]

I only babysat once aged 15 and it was enough to frighten me off ever attempting again .

I babysat three boys aged between 3 and 10. The eldest invited half of the street in and they started running amock, threatening to drink the wine in the fridge and generally throwing their weight around. I'd never looked after children before and was pretty frightened! They eventually cleared off but the kids didn't go to bed until 10pm, just wouldn't sleep. I was expecting their mum to come home soon after but she just didn't turn up so I ended up falling asleep there, woke up the following morning to £20 on the coffee table and the key to let myself out... I wasn't impressed and felt robbed!

Having said that, £5 an hour is probably fair given the fact it's over minimum wage for under 18's. I see no issue.

[Mrscog]

I think those of you who got £5 per hour 15+ years ago were just really lucky - around here the going rate was £10 for the whole evening, then maybe an extra fiver if it was after midnight.