To think that £20 for a night of babysitting is ridiculous

[Holly102]

My DD (who is 16) babysat for a local mum, I have known for a few years from my DS’s school.

She asked me, on Monday, if my DD would do her a massive favour and babysit for a couple of hours on the Tuesday as her usual babysitter had cancelled last minute. She offered to pick her up and drop her back as it wouldn’t be late . She told me it would be 7 until 9.

So yesterday evening DD was collected at around 7. I texted her at 9 asking if she was on her way home but she wasn’t so I told her to message the mum. No response.

At quarter to eleven my daughter gets a message apologising but does she mind if she stays until around 11:30. It was a Tuesday night, DD is 16!!!! My DD, being young, felt she couldn’t say no.

This is not the end of the story though, the mum finally arrived home at 12:30!!! Far from the 9 o’clock first agreed. She apologised profusely but the proceeded to pay DD only £20.

Is this completely unfair behaviour. Is £20 what my daughter should expect?

Staying out until 12.30 am, when 9 pm was agreed, is outrageous for a 16 yr old during the week - the fact that she was so tight with money adds insult to injury. Yes, she should've been paid £30 and really more due to the lateness.

Hopefully next time (NOT with this person) your DD will set some boundaries around timings and rates. I would expect to pay a teenager about £6/hr and a more experienced babysitter £10/hr.

I think your DD is probably young enough for you to ring up the CF and point this out, although I would wait until she asks again and then tell her exactly why your DD won't be babysitting for her again.

£20? It’s not 1983. £10 per hour for babysitting here. We are all aware of minimum wage, right?

I think she should have got £5 to £10 more (she did pass midnight)
However, I think the real issue here is her telling your DD 9pm and then not rolling through the door until 12:30. That’s what I’d be angry about the most. She didn’t put her in a position where she could say no really. She didn’t even contact her until 22:45! Appalling behaviour. I would have to let her know that too!

£5 per hour is fine for babysitting,but arriving home over 3 hours later than expected is not fine and I'd be fuming if my 16yr old had been taken advantage of in this way.If this woman had any decency as way of an apology she should have paid your daughter double rates for each extra hour she was forced to babysit for thus bringing her earnings up to £45.

£20 would have been quite generous for 2hrs for a 16yr old. However, not for such a long time. She needs to give more money. I think even if she had paid DD more she is totally taking the mick. 12.30 is way too late for a 16yr old. I would not let DD go there again.

My dd at 16 charged £5 per hour but was always paid extra for a late sit. She has been paid £50 for one job that the parents got home around 2am ‘unexpectedly’.

Young girls round here Expect £10 an hour. I think That's too much. £5p/h is fine.
£20 for an evening is fine. The fact she was late, was not.

her usual babysitter had cancelled last minute

yeah right. Her usual babysitter, if there was one, got fed up with being taken for a mug.

Where I live in surrey, my daughters received £8.50 an hour. Now one daughter is 21 and drives to/from babysitting and she’s paid £10 an hour. My younger (now 18) still gets £8.50 but the families pay for her uber or drive her back home. Certainly NEVER ever has anyone had them out until 12:30 on a school night! That’s horrendous! I would tell you it happened to me when I was younger. My parents cane and got me, my father staying until the people came home, telling them they were very rude to stay out so late, later than agreed and for a teen in a school night.

£5 an hour and £10 an hour for any part of an hour after midnight. Agree terms beforehand. This woman was completely out of order given your sixteen year old had school the next day, that she stayed hours later than agreed and did not return when she said she was going to.

To be honest 16 is to young to babysit, there are no hard rules regarding age to babysit but if something happened to a child in their care can they respond with first aid? I doubt it, also they are not insured. These are your most treasured things so pay for a good mature registered babysitter. I am a ofsted registered childminder and babysitter with all the correct qualifications and charge £8 an hour and I am booked every Friday and Saturday, even week day evenings. Parents can enjoy their evenings out knowing their children are in good hands.

To be honest 16 is to young to babysit

Huge generalisation. Some 16 year olds are perfectly capable of babysitting, and will react better to emergencies than some older adults.

£4.20 will be the minimum wage in a few months for 16/17 year olds...definitely not underpaid, but defo taking the piss rocking up that late

16 too young to babysit of course it isn’t.

We pay £20 8-12; £25 8-12.30; £30 8-1 and if we anticipate any later it’s a sleepover with family!

I definitely think she was underpaid!! We're also in the South East and the girls at my DS Nursery all charge a blanket rate of £8.75 for evening babysitting. We paid our old babysitter £10ph, she is also very wrong to treat a 16yo girl like that, my eldest is in his teens and I sometimes feel as though parents who only have young children don't actually realise that he is still a child, it makes me quite cross.

That’s really late.

I got £5 per hour in the 90s. In the 80s my babysitter was paid with a box of quality street.

I think everyone agrees that it was totally unacceptable to not return until 12.30 when she'd asked OP's dd if she would sit until 9.30. That's a give.

On the amounts though - I think ChocolateWombat has it - the dcs weren't babies. They were older dc who the babysitter would just have to tell it was bedtime and check they'd cleaned their teeth - possibly read a story. Vast majority of the time she would be doing whatever she wanted (homework / watching TV / faffing about on the internet.). It is not comparable with CMing where you are busy with the children all day. It is not comparable with working in a shop or a bar or cleaning or even working in a Nursery, where you are actually 'working' the whole time. Hence why most people are happy to babysit for a fixed sum, or a lower hourly rate. Indeed, I sat for 4 1/2 hours on Saturday, drove myself there and back, for free (well, they gave me some chocs)

I disagree with this Babysitting is a random few hours with associated inconvenience and always costs a premium. 'Casual work' is really appealing to lots of people - it means you can do hours when it suits you, without the commitment of regular hours day after day.
My ds (who is only 21 now, so not years ago) worked 2 different jobs when he was in the 6th form - so aged 16 - 18, which were hard graft. One he did 9 hrs across the week and got £35 a week, the other was in a well known chain of shops in the City Centre (so he had train fair to pay out of it) paid him £3.59 an hour. He MUCH preferred the odd babysitting gig where he had hardly anything to do, no expense, and got £20 for 5 hours of sitting on a sofa.
Both my dds also have say, and are quite happy with £15 for a night doing not a lot. It suits everyone there - if you are paying out a tenner an hour or some of the amounts suggested, then only the very rich would ever go out, and no babysitters would earn anything.

£20 is reasonable for age etc but time should've been agreed!

To be honest 16 is to young to babysit, there are no hard rules regarding age to babysit but if something happened to a child in their care can they respond with first aid? I doubt it, also they are not insured.

I never understand the "not insured" argument. What use would some indemnity premium be if your dc were actually hurt ? It would be irrelevant.
My 16 yr old has a full paediatric first aid qualification, yes. She is also a qualified lifeguard. She's also been a young Leader within the Scout movement for coming up for 3 years. She's also looked after other people's children since she was about 11, on a sort of 'Mother's help' basis. I have every faith that she would react very well in an emergency, as many of her peers would. Age is far less relevant than common sense, personality, and experience.

Indeed, when we had our pfb, my first babysitter was my CMer's 16 yr old dd. She knew FAR more about babies than either dh or I did.

‘ can they respond with first aid? I doubt it, ’

My first aid knowledge at 16 was far better than it is now at 37. I think many adults will be in the same boat.

Wildflowerfloosy - CF and CFs are 'cheeky fucker' and 'cheeky fuckers'.

£20 is not enough for 5 hours babysitting, that’s only £3.65 an hour. Plus the fact the Mum stayed out much, much later than agreed and had your DD up so late on a school night means she should have given some extra as an apology/ thank you.

£30 would have been a fair amount, your DD was definitely underpaid.

I had something v similar. I explained DD was 15, it was her first babysitting job & a school night. They said 6-10. When they rocked up at 10.40 they found me in their front room (DH had taken DD home). Nuff said.
She got £20. She won't be going again.

Everyone suggesting that an unqualified babysitter should earn more than minimum wage I think is bonkers! As someone else pointed out, the whole point is that you get paid for not doing a lot (watching TV etc) so the rate does drop.