To ask a reasonable babysitting fee?

[StackedTeacups]

My daughter is nearly 15 and ready to embark on some simple babysitting - afternoons/ early evenings for a short time to start, with me round the corner as back up if needed. What would you consider a fair hourly rate? We are in the south east, just outside London

I can’t imagine many parents wanting to leave small children with a 14 year old.

Babysitting is generally around £7 a hour here.

Sounds great OP. I've used 15 year old babysitter before and it's been a similar set up whereby the babysitter lives very locally and parents of said babysitter were on standby if needed (thankfully always been fine and never required!). We pay £6.50 an hour and are Berkshire based.

For an unqualified 14-year-old with no insurance and (presumably) no first aid training, no more than £5/6 an hour: there are qualified and experienced nannies and nursery nurses with certs and insurance who advertise on our local forum offering babysitting at £10-12 an hour, and your DD isn’t going to be able to compete with that.

I would also say £5 - £7

Who on earth would want to leave their baby with a random 15 year old?!

£5 an hour

@PixieLaLa

Who on earth would want to leave their baby with a random 15 year old?!

Maybe not a baby but dd was looking after neighbours children from the age of 14 - as were most of her friends.

I would say about £5 an hour is good. I would make sure she has first aid training before starting as well.

Babysitting mid 15- 16+ is £5 hour here, usually a minimum of 3 hours pay for short babysits (as have to drive them there and back, unless the babysat for parents drop them home) . A 17-18 yo might earn more at £6+ an hour

But wouldn't expect a 14 year old to babysit for same rate as a slightly older teenager . I guess it depends on how capable and responsible the teenager is.

I’d only use someone of that age if I knew them really well. I’d pay about £8ph

A 14-year-old should not be responsible for other children. It’s not fair on any of the children involved.

£6ph here. Agree that it would generally be age 16+

I used to babysit at about 15-16 but it was for neighbours in my street so I guess they banked on the fact my parents were practically next door in an emergency!

I used to get £2 an hour in the 90s. I guess £5-7 sounds reasonable.

I definitely remember babysitting 5 yo twins, and then a family where one child was 10/11 but the youngest was under 5.

I pay a 16 year old £5 an hour (that's what she gets in her other job) to look after my school age children.

My mid-teen got £10 an hour a couple of years ago.

I pay our 15yo neighbour 7.50/hour (London) for babysitting my primary school aged kids. I do know her parents and they live very near so that is definitely in the back of my mind as a security.

My 13-year old makes a small fortune babysitting! I'm a little baffled at the idea that a 14-year-old can't be responsible for young kids for a while?

I think £5-7 an hour is reasonable. My daughter earns about $10 an hour usually.

Oh why can’t a 14 year old have the chance to babysit? My niece is 14, I’d be ok if she sat in the house while DD was asleep if I went down the pub or something local.
At 15 I was out clubbing (90s) - teenagers are babied nowadays

Oh my god, I used to get £5 a night circa 1990 - 1994. That was usually from around 5:00pm till midnight and more often than not for 2/3 families at a time. Always seemed to be having sleepovers at each others houses 😅 Although I used to love babysitting for one neighbour who had a bingo obsession, she'd always come home with pockets full of pound coins she'd won on the bandits, pissed as a newt and her husband would give me a handful of their winnings. Give me £42 once.😂😂