£10 an hour for babysitting?

[EmpressOfTheSofa]

Is that really the going rate?

I’ve been lucky enough to never really need an evening babysitter but we have a thing coming up that my usual family or older dc can’t help with. I’ve asked around and it looks like a tenner an hour is standard? That would be sixty quid for sitting watching telly all night. I have one 10 year old who will put himself to bed. This is for a local teenager, I’ve had three offers from different kids all at £10 per hour.

If this really is the going rate I’m going to start offering my services! I used to charge half that per child for actual childminding fgs. Am I just out of touch?

I use an app called bubble, some of them want £20 an hour! I’ve got a few really good sitters with SEN experience for my SEN DS, all charge around £12 an hour. Annoyingly because of being a HCP I need 3 hours 2-3 times a week as there’s a lack of out of hours childcare. Costs me a fortune but I’ve no other option. If you’re interested in the app my referral code is; CYXDP gives £10 off your first sit.

m I used to get around £2.50 an hour back in the 90’s!

We paid £5 an hour in 1995, so £10 sounds about right.

It’s ridiculous, I wouldn’t pay that for a teen to babysit, some adults don’t earn that per hour and as for £15 an hour that’s the same as someone earning 31k a year.

£10 an hour for a teenager sounds a lot. If they are under 18 they might only be earning £5 an hour in a real job, with more strenuous work than reading a bedtime story and watching tv. £20, some nice snacks/ready meal and a lift home sounds about right. A take away too if it’s going to be a long evening out.

When I was a teenager I worked so hard in my parents business evenings and weekends for very little. The Saturday night I got to babysit for their friends as a one-off was bliss. I sat in peace watching telly all evening with a lovely tray of roast beef sandwiches and crisps and coke. It was so much more enjoyable than my usual job! I was absolutely gobsmacked when they insisted on giving me £10 too at the end of the night too. (That was early 1990s, they were a lovely and well off couple).

It's what we pay for one in London

£15 per hour round here. It makes an evening out very expensive as you also have to make sure food is provided for dinner/snacks.
The night out needs to be worth it!!!

£10 an hour is too much

i can’t believe people leave their kids with random older kids! I thought that died out years ago with other things we now know to not be a good idea!

I used to babysit for 4 families on a regular basis. Never once had an issue with needing first aid. I’m not sure what I used to get paid, it was prob £2.50 an hour. I loved babysitting because I love kids. It wasn’t really work for me. We pay pour curre t babysitter about £6.00 an hour. No cab home needed as she lives on our street. To me £10.00 an hound is far too expensive and means spending over £100+ plus for a night out. its babysitting not rocket science

This is why we don’t go out 🤣

I used to charge £10 per hr 10 yrs ago.

I was experienced in Early Years , first aid etc. Used the time for studying for Open University

You're not "just paying them to watch TV", though.

You're paying them to be awake, alert, sober and responsible enough to deal with an emergency, sickness or an accident. You're also paying for peace of mind.

£15/hour round my way in London. Inow restrict going out to half term when the kids go to my parents.

Yep. £10 an hour. Fully qualified nursery nurse peads first aid etc. I feel £60 is a bargain for looking after my most precious people!

We pay a level 3 early years specialist to babysit for £10 an hour so that seems expensive to me - or maybe ours is just very cheap! Ours works in a nearby nursery and does ad hoc babysitting.

We're in a normal part of London by which I mean not cheap and not crazily expensive.

£10 an hr is definitely not going rate here. I would never pay that. We are lucky to have family and had friends teens that could help out for cheaper. We pay teen dog sitter £5 an hr when its short time, professional dogs sitter is paid a small fortune (worth every penny to keep their deliquent arses in check)

Babysitters don't tend to do that as a full time job though.

It's a few unsociable hours per week or month.

Anyway I use mature students/early education workers who ate DBS checked.

Sorry I should have said no way would I pay £10 an hour for a teen babysitter, obviously for a professional that's different

I wouldn't pay per hour for a teenager. I'd offer an amount for the evening. £20. They'll only be watching TV or doing their homework.

DD was charging £8/hr as an 18 year old looking after 4 under 12's. Two were 4 year old twins. She really earned her money. She often had to deal with mishaps. She also did an overnighter for them once, as they were very late home. They often rounded it up though, as I think they acknowledged she did a good job for low pay.

😂I get £8 / hr for dog sitting, & will include a walk in that. I cover holiday lets, where dogs cannot be left unattended, carry insurance and do not expect transport, or human snacks.

I will charge extra after midnight unless we agree beforehand. I am pretty busy in the high season.

I pay £15 for my child who is already in bed and never wakes

I paid £5 an hour 20 years ago!

When we pay someone we pay minimum wage and make sure they have refreshments and can get home ok. Our kids are very easy going though and go to bed really well. So hourly wage depends on age.
We have our own teenager now so he tends to look after his brother as part of his chores to pay for his football season tickets

Most people I know who do this use teens whose parents they know well and are usually around for emergencies. It still seems to be very common practice now. Random teens you don't know is very different.