How much would you pay?

[Lightbulbs]

More what is reasonable rather than AIBU....

I have a DD that is 19 months and I'm due my 2nd DD in July. As it's the summer holidays, I'm thinking about asking my younger sister (15) to help me with the toddler. How much do you think is reasonable to pay her per day?

It won't be sole charge
She lives in Wales so will live with us Mon to Fri
We are based in London
She'll have her own room
We'll pay for her trains home
Will be for 5 weeks max/ only a summer holiday job

150-200 a week.

I pay my teenage dsd £25 plus takeaway money (normally pockets it) to babysit my ds for an evening, he needs no looking after - on x box in his room, so I think you are maybe looking at £100 at least per week plus give her time off. Like others said, would she want to do it? No chance at 15 would I do it

I think the hours are the most unreasonable thing you suggest - she's a teenager! Getting up at 7 every weekday for 5/6 of the holiday weeks sounds like an absolute drag, and it's hardly fun schlepping to and from Wales every weekend too.

She needs this time to refuel - I think you should go back to the drawing board about how she can help you during this time.

Something like 5 hours a day of help - which will make a massive difference by itself - 4 days a week, 4 weeks max and free time whilst she's in London. To be honest, food purchase, prepping and cooking, and cleaning and tidying would have appealed to me more at that age, and she can have a nice relaxed time with her niece/nephew otherwise - no doubt she'd take the baby off your hands anyway at some points.

It seems a lot more natural set up to pay her to outsource the 'life admin' stuff rather than pay her for being an aunt.

#thecatsthecats

Gosh, no.... I wouldn't have her working 7am to 7pm! Just in-between those hours. I'll still get the kids up in the morning... it's just the odd help throughout the day... the odd couple of hours.

Thanks everyone for your help. She absolutely adores children, is brilliant with them and would love to do it but I would only do it if she was fairly paid.

After reading some of the comments though, I may go back to the drawing board. It is a lot to ask... perhaps help out for a week rather than the summer holidays!

Maybe she could come every other week. That way she gets time to enjoy the holidays and also a chance to earn some extra cash.
I would think £100 would be fair if you paid all expenses on top.

£5 ph. Doesn’t sound like the best help to have though, I would be finding someone else. I’d have hated this at 15, I’m sure most teenagers would.

£150 a week

People on MN are so dramatic, if your sister wants to come down and hang out with you and help you I think it sounds like a sweet deal all round.

If she wants to and is willing to do it, and you get on well, I'd pay £100 per week for a 4 day week and send her home on a Thursday night.

Between 20 and 25 per day. I loved babies and toddlers at your DS's age (still do) and would have bitten your arm off for this. How much did you have in mind OP?

If she's 15 you might end up being a parent to 3 children!

£20/25 a day ; have her for an initial week then just see how it goes - seams pointless making too many rules till you have both tried it x if she loves it and likes London she could do all summer or she may want to travel each week - but cannot see a reason to stress about it and every reason to go with the flow x

And depending on relationshipd and money I would maybe ask parents to pay trains as they won't be feeding her ! The paying board and food is to Thier advantage not your sisters X

£100 for the week, mon-fri plus her food and perhaps u could have a girls night out once a week to.cinema or something

Far too much to expect of most 15 yr olds imo. Maybe start with a few days at the beginning of the holidays and leave it completely flexible so that she doesn’t have to return and feel awkward about it if it’s not working for her.

In terms of payment, I’d probably offer £30-£40 a day. If you put your older child in childcare in London to make your life easier it’d probably be double that so it feels like a fair enough amount to me.

Or if moneys tight perhaps £10 a day with couple of day trips out together. Thinking about it I'd have happily helped out for free at that age just to stay somewhere different during the holidays

That's a big role to take on at 15.
How would you feel if one day she decides she doesn't want to help that day? What if she wants to spend time with friends but it clashes when you expect her to help you?

Are you sure it won’t just create more work for you? The 15 year olds I know are all lovely but they can still be hard work at times. I would think they’d be bored doing more than a week of this.

We pay our teenagers £25 a day to look after their younger siblings during holidays. They usually only do a week between them - so one will do one day and the other two days while I'm working.

When I was 15 (almost 16) I had a job as a waitress. I earned £60 for a weekend - arrival at 9am, leave at 11pm. I couldn’t wait to move onto a job in a factory - I did 6am-2pm Saturday and Sunday’s and got £159 per week.

You would need to stipulate exactly what your expectations are.

She might just think she is coming for a jolly.

I'll pay my sister 200€ per week to look after a 3yo 6hrs per day Mon-Fri for a few weeks. As a teenager I was always made to babysit younger cousins etc for minimal money and I hated it.

I did this for my sister when I was about 16/17 and she’d just moved house. She basically just wanted support and I was good with babies and adored my niece.
I stayed with her for 3 weeks and just basically entertained the baby whilst spending time with my sister.
I was never left on my own babysitting unless she just nipped to the shop. We went out and about on days out. I helped her paint a couple of rooms and set up furniture as she was on her own. I was there more for her, just in case she needed me.
I absolutely loved it and in no way expected to be paid as it was nice to spend proper time with them.
As I was leaving she bunged me £180 “for all my help” that was 20 years ago

I think the risk with this one is that if you are too vague about what Dsis will need to do and when, she may end up feeling she never gets a moment to herself or a chance to relax (and, as others have said, at 15 there are restrictions on how many hours she should be working) and you may end up feeling that you are not getting the help you actually want. For instance, she settles down to watch something on TV and you ask her to do whatever which she doesn't respond to as quickly as you would like - you might both get cheesed off. Perhaps the best thing is to have a daily or weekly plan of when she will be "on duty" and when she is free although this may be hard to decide until the baby arrives, every baby being different. Concerning the issue of payment, how about offering an end of job "bonus" in terms of something she wants (?clothing ?tech ?pampering) as long as the job is well and reliably done?

I really don't think it's a fair thing to ask. She will feel like she has to say yes. She should be enjoying the holidays. Visit as a guest for a week and help out a bit but not give up her whole holidays.

aww sounds like you have a lovely relationship with her. And I imagine lots of 15 year olds would love the chance to live away from parents in London for the summer. Honestly the way some posters spin into a frenzy. She's obviously not going to be grafting hard 12 hours a day. Even when she's minding the older child she'll be able to watch TV and be on her phone. And you don't need help with housework.

If you feel up to it maybe go out as a family a couple of days and show her some sights. Buy her nice treats to eat and take her shopping a few times. A few hundred for the five weeks is ample