Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think teenagers should be cheaper than qualified people?

236 replies

Topofthepopicles · 28/07/2021 10:55

We regularly use an agency for babysitting and have a level 3 qualified registered childminder who is in her 50s babysit for us.
She is fab, but for times when we are (literally) down the road we’d love to have a cheaper babysitter in their teens. Our children have never woken up in their sleep and are in bed by the time we go out. We could literally be home in 5minutes.

Loads of people advertising their teenager sons and dds are available for babysitting on Facebook (obviously would check them out first) but AIBU to think teens these days expect a lot!
So have 3 I have casually enquired about have want more or the same as the agency rate I pay for our qualified, experienced babysitter!

I am not that old and babysat a lot in my teens - I never expected the (equivalent) rate these teens expect.

Are people going to book them? Are they out of touch or is it me who is BU?

(For record even though this is AIBU I am not in a fury and will just carry on using our babysitter - so no drama 😁)

OP posts:
FangsForTheMemory · 28/07/2021 13:38

Goodness. I used to babysit in my teens (this was in the late 70s) and for an overnight stay looking after two children I got the princely sum of £1.50. In total. This is (according to an online value of money calculator) about £13.

pleasedonttextmyman · 28/07/2021 13:43

@BuffySummersReportingforSanity

I wouldn't encourage my kids to take a minimum wage either, unless it really brings something to their cvs, they need to aim higher

You're effectively encouraging them to be unemployed then. And also potentially committing yourself to funding them semi-indefinitely. A candidate with experience stocking shelves, working a checkout, bussing tables, or staffing a kids holiday club is a much more attractive prospect to someone recruiting for a "proper" entry level job with prospects than someone who has never worked. Those graduates getting shiny jobs in the City and large corporates are getting them in part on the skills and references they earned at minimum wage.

Where did you see my kids didn't work at all? I said to aim higher and build their cv, not do nothing...

You are talking about a field I happen to know quite well... Grin

Those graduates getting shiny jobs in the City and large corporates are getting them in part on the skills and references ABSOLUTELY
they earned at minimum wage debatable...the wage not being terribly relevant in itself.

Regardless, when most families pay from £10 an hour, accepting a piss take £5 an hour is not doing anyone any favour.

CaptSkippy · 28/07/2021 13:45

@BuffySummersReportingforSanity

I wouldn't encourage my kids to take a minimum wage either, unless it really brings something to their cvs, they need to aim higher

You're effectively encouraging them to be unemployed then. And also potentially committing yourself to funding them semi-indefinitely. A candidate with experience stocking shelves, working a checkout, bussing tables, or staffing a kids holiday club is a much more attractive prospect to someone recruiting for a "proper" entry level job with prospects than someone who has never worked. Those graduates getting shiny jobs in the City and large corporates are getting them in part on the skills and references they earned at minimum wage.

The one thing I have discovered is the higher you set your rates (as long as you don't go beyond the ridiculuous) the more likely you are to get hired and will actually be appreciated by your employer. I have done jobs for low wages and 9 out of 10 times I get treated like shit. I ask for higher, I may not get the job, but when I do I know they will appreciate the work I do and see value in me as an employee.

It sounds paradoxical, but teaching kids to value themselves if they want their employers to value them is paramount. Teaching kids that minimum is acceptable and they are "lucky" to get any job is to set them up for exploitation.

Qualified childminders could probably get 20/hr easily. You time and efforts and qualifications have value.

Callaird · 28/07/2021 13:47

Wow! Where are you?

I have a nanny for 45 years. I didn’t go to college or uni but I have done course since and I get paid well for working hours.

I’m not working at the moment, was looking after my parents who had different medical conditions. I looked for baby sitting whilst they were with carers, mainly to get out of the house otherwise the carers would be constantly asking question, coming for a chat as dad was antisocial and mum couldn’t speak. The most I was offered was £8 ph!

JustLyra · 28/07/2021 13:49

DD charged £7 per hour before midnight (minimum 3 hours) and £10 an hour plus taxi home (which is about £6/7 in our village) after midnight.

Yerra · 28/07/2021 13:52

I spent every weekend babysitting neighbours kids and family friends kids with holiday homes in area. I used to do 3 or 4 hours a night and it was pocket money. watching TV with 2 channels mainly. Probably got no more than £10 for the night but it was seen by my parents and that of the adults i was minding, that it was better than nothing. we minded from when we were 14 - kids mainly now would not do it and most of the parents of 14 year olds would not let them do it. Times have changed and the same teenagers now have their heads stuck in phones or other technology . Different world.

MaverickDanger · 28/07/2021 13:52

We’ve not used a babysitter yet as DS is too young, but we have a teenage neighbour who has offered when he’s old enough, and she has said she’ll do a 4-5 hour evening for £20 and snacks.

MotionActivatedDog · 28/07/2021 13:53

YABU

The children are asleep whether the babysitter is qualified or not. The qualifications are irrelevant. You are paying for the persons time. 3 hours is the same amount of time for a 50 year old as it is for a 17 year old.

Travielkapelka · 28/07/2021 13:58

£7.50 an hour is more than ample and £25 - £30 for an evening is more than ample. They really don’t need more than that if they’re in the house with kids (not babies) who will either sleep through or watch tv or do tik toks with them.

Have teens and would be thinking parents had lost the plot for them to get more than that for sitting on their WiFi.

V happy for my kids to work Min wage at the moment. They have high aspirations and I would be extremely surprised if that was what their career salary would be but does nobody any harm whatsoever to have some work experience at a very basic level

SquirmOfEels · 28/07/2021 14:00

One of my DC does £10 per hour baby sitting, which involves collecting her charges from the activity camp, bringing them home and then keeping them amused and out of the way until the WFH parent can break off.

If you compare that to the cost of an after-school nanny, it's very cheap. It's a reflection of the odd timing - it's not a slot that works well round other commitments so is always at a premium price

London, btw.

Mrsjayy · 28/07/2021 14:03

I'm 50 I babysat as teen I took a fiver so£15:seems fair for a night. You can't expect a teenager to be responsible etc etc but just give them buttons can you how is that right ?

Sally872 · 28/07/2021 14:03

I think £5 for an hour is not worth it but £20 for 4 hours is. Especially if unlikely to need to do anything.

To the poster who wouldn't let her teen be taken for a mug by accepting less than 10-15 per hour that is fine if they can find work at that rate or don't want the money. But many would happily sit in for £5-£7 an hour and I dont think that is u reasonable.

I think I would be charging for the evening if I was a teen. £25 for 7.30pm til 11.30 If you're back at 9.30 still £25. Also a lift or taxi home.

Mrsjayy · 28/07/2021 14:05

An hour not a night *

Oblomov21 · 28/07/2021 14:06

I babysat from aged 14 to mid 20's. Admittedly in the 80's and 90's. I was paid £20 for the evening. Be that 8-11, 8-12? I was happy with that.

The rates these teenagers any these days make me ShockAngry

Oblomov21 · 28/07/2021 14:08

£15 for a daytime childminder in some places, that's hard work.

£15 for a teenager when your kids are asleep and don't wake up. Give over.

Loads of my friends their Young daughters are advertising their services at £15 an hour makes me wanna choke.

DdraigGoch · 28/07/2021 14:08

@gogohm

Supply and demand! assuming they are under 18 I think the minimum wage is around £7 an hour but if they are asking more then they either don't want to work or have plenty of clients
Minimum wage for a teenager is £4.62/hour.
pleasedonttextmyman · 28/07/2021 14:08

To the poster who wouldn't let her teen be taken for a mug by accepting less than 10-15 per hour that is fine if they can find work at that rate

they do, it's the current rate! (£10 or £12 but people round up). If someone wants to pay £15, why not.

I would also judge the parents who are so entitled they think it's ok to pay a fiver when they fancy going out and refuse to pay a fair rate.

pleasedonttextmyman · 28/07/2021 14:11

It's a good lesson, CF resent people's salaries, people's holidays, people's bonuses... it doesn't mean your time is worth any less and you are wrong in refusing anything but a fair rate.

Yes, having someone come to your house and babysitting your own children has a cost. 🤷 You can't get everything for nothing.

You wouldn't take a job for £4 or £5 an hour, would you...

Paint69 · 28/07/2021 14:14

I think it all depends on what time they are needed and the circumstances. I pay my niece £15 per hour as it's usually late at night (9- midnight) factoring in she has to get a taxi her and back and she has work the next day. I do slightly agree with pp if you are paying £15 should it matter their age?

BuffySummersReportingforSanity · 28/07/2021 14:16

Where did you see my kids didn't work at all? I said to aim higher and build their cv, not do nothing...

What are they doing, then? What are the credible, structured jobs they are doing that pay above NMW and are open to unqualified teens with no other experience, and how are they making themselves the preferred candidates above the many fully grown adults no doubt jostling for the roles?

HarebrightCedarmoon · 28/07/2021 14:17

@actiongirl1978

My sons school teachers offer babysitting - fully qualified, safeguard trained, first aid trained prep school teachers: £8.50ph.

Yanbu.

That's their problem. It doesn't have to be a race to the bottom.
HarebrightCedarmoon · 28/07/2021 14:19

@Oblomov21

I babysat from aged 14 to mid 20's. Admittedly in the 80's and 90's. I was paid £20 for the evening. Be that 8-11, 8-12? I was happy with that.

The rates these teenagers any these days make me ShockAngry

Have you ever heard of inflation?

I used to get paid £3 an hour to work in the pub in 1992. I wouldn't expect my daughter to get £3 an hour now.

LowlandLucky · 28/07/2021 14:24

My Niece charges £5 an hour if children are already in bed or £10 for the first hour if she has to put them to bed.

pleasedonttextmyman · 28/07/2021 14:39

BuffySummersReportingforSanity

they wouldn't be babysitting for less than £10 an hour for a start Wink

ViciousJackdaw · 28/07/2021 14:56

@pleasedonttextmyman

I put more importance to the safety and well being of my kids than the quality of dusting in my house frankly.
Put the children to work as your cleaners then and you can have it all!