I'm a babysitter & parents are regularly back late with no extra pay.

[adoggymama]

Basically that, I've been babysitting for a family now with a toddler for over 5 months, they are regularly late back from the time agreed with no texts to say when they've left. AIBU to want them to pay me overtime? The extra 20mins each night add up over the weeks!! I need to get to the Sainsbury's by 11 before it shuts tonight (had no time to go during the day due to work) and they were supposed to be back by 9.45

They also never leave me with food (or milk!) in the fridge for the child. He's 2 and a half and they only feed him pouch foods for 6+ month olds at mealtimes. (I know this because I've looked after him during different periods of the day over time).

When they come home say that’s 4hrs at £x so £x

If you are babysitting surely you don’t need to feed him and would be in bed

they're ripping the piss out of you because you are so nice and they know you won't challenge them.... you need man the hell up lady

you can do this

@showgirl I'm not joking- there was no fruit in sight in that house! I offered him a banana last week I had brought but he didn't want to eat it.

@RB68 They have offered previously but I declined due to wanting time afterwards to unwind and walk. I did make it to Sainsbury's this evening :)

@SilverPartyShoes I agree, last week I did buy him a toddler spaghetti bolognese meal- he loved it! Wolfed it down. The only 'actual food' I've seen him eat around his parents was a chocolate but the lack of food in the house genuinely confuses me as to what they feed him!

@Redland12 you are right. They offered me an extra hours pay if I came in half an hour earlier tomorrow so that makes up for tonight at least. I charge £8ph too. £12 for two children.

Thanks @SilverPartyShoes, I've always decided that when I/if I ever have a child I would feed them healthy home cooked meals all the time. It's not hard to make your own healthy baby/toddler meals and freeze them! X

@ThrownMuse aww, hope you're home now! That's annoying that they didn't give you an exact time frame :(

@Blondeshavemorefun I'm often there during the day and early evening to late evening. Hence why I have some meal times to contend with.

@Gemini69 hahathanks for the moral support!

adog YANBU to want paying extra for working longer. They were at least 35 minutes late last night, so an extra hour for a half hour tonight does actually make you straight and it doesn't cover the extra time they'll be late tomorrow or the stress you have wondering if you'll get to the shops in time.

So say to them tomorrow when you arrive, that you appreciate the extra pay, but you need to mention that they have been coming home later than agreed each night, and in the future you will need to charge x amount for every y minutes (or part) for that too.

On the food front - are the pouches enough for him in the evening (i.e. does he say he's hungry after?) and are you sure they aren't feeding him anything else and just leave pouches for you because it's easier and they don't want to ask you to cook? If he's hungry anyway, you need tot ell them it's not enough. If it's all they are feeding him, you could try a talk with them if you feel up to it, or you could refer to social services. But you shouldn't just leave it because if they really aren't feeding him anything else that sounds a bit neglectful.

They seem to leave their child with you an awful lot. Given that they can't be bothered to feed him properly, do they have any real interest in him?

Often there daytime

Sounds more like a nanny then

Either way the child needs to be fed proper meals and you need to be paid

Just wondering if there’s a medical reason for the pouches? Something wrong with his swallow for example? Might be worth checking this before giving him other food yourself.

Oh and yes, confront them on the extra time - so disrespectful. We’ve had someone babysit for our twins once in two years, and we came back early!

could you casually mention you had your usual bolognase meal and he was showing so much interest you let him have a bit and he wolfed it down wanting more if they wanted to get some in for him.say it as a ha who new he loved this kind of thing.

They are taking the pi*s! I hope they pay you including for the part hour when they are late home.

Ask them to make sure there are at least basics in the fridge, most people leave a bit of food (French bread and cheese for example), for the sitter and always enough milk and beverages. They should leave something for the child to snack on if they are a 'big' child and still up.

Don't know if it helps but my Dear Niece does a lot of baby sitting and had a chat with her "clients" that she had been asked to do some additional babysitting and needed to formalize her rates and duties for all. £10/hour watching 1 or 2 children, £15/hr for 3 children; overtime charged in 10 minutes increments with the first 10 minutes over free as "things happen" then £12/hr after the agreed time "to make the math on 10 minute intervals easy (£2.00/10 minutes = £10 first hour, £12/hour next) and £20/hour for the hours of 1am-6am (basically an overnight). Treating it professionally and saying it had to do with the request of other clients gave everyone an out so no blame was assigned and showed she was in demand not someone to take advantage of. I think having a professional chat with them is the way to go, not confrontational and not assuming they are trying to take advantage they may just be really bad at time keeping and may not realize that they are knowingly or unknowingly taking advantage, The food thing would worry me and I would add that into the discussion as to whether they would supply snacks for you and the child or whether you should buy some and add it to the bill? Good luck!