To think she should pay my DD more?

DishyFly · 2023-07-23T15:51:37+00:00

DD has got herself a little summer job this summer helping the neighbour with her dog walking. She is to go in during the day and take the dog out for a walk and she is allowed to stay around there for as long as she likes, etc. she is very happy because we are a busy household (3 siblings that are a decade younger than her) Neighbour is paying her £15 a week. That's honestly nothing. I'd normally have got that back in the 80s. DD seems happy enough but I feel a bit like I should be encouraging her to know her worth. It's a lot of effort every day and I don't think neighbour would be happy if she skipped it on any days, etc. DD is 14.

FOJN · 23/07/2023 16:53

I think it depends on how many days a week she is walking the dog and for how long.

FourEyesGood · 23/07/2023 16:55

If she’s getting the neighbour’s house to herself all day (therefore getting a much-needed break from the younger siblings), she’s getting a pretty good deal. Yes, £15 per week isn’t much, but the use of the house makes up for that.

Original poster

DishyFly · 23/07/2023 16:55

5 days!! Walk length hasn't really been discussed. DD has lots of plans for places she will take the dog around the area, so the walks aren't going to be short. £15 is insulting and I feel she has only been offered that as neighbour knows she is a child and that seems rather unfair

OP posts:

HundredMilesAnHour · 23/07/2023 16:56

FourEyesGood · 23/07/2023 16:55

If she’s getting the neighbour’s house to herself all day (therefore getting a much-needed break from the younger siblings), she’s getting a pretty good deal. Yes, £15 per week isn’t much, but the use of the house makes up for that.

Agree with this.

elderflowerandpomelo · 23/07/2023 16:57

Well I have the opposite problem. DD fed neighbour’s cats for 9 days and was paid £45 (and given a thank you present). It took her 5 mins twice a day - quite a rate of pay! And she could (though didn’t) hang out there too.

its hard to get it right!

YourNameGoesHere · 23/07/2023 16:57

FourEyesGood · 23/07/2023 16:55

If she’s getting the neighbour’s house to herself all day (therefore getting a much-needed break from the younger siblings), she’s getting a pretty good deal. Yes, £15 per week isn’t much, but the use of the house makes up for that.

Agreed. I think the £15 on top of the access to the house all day is actually very generous of your neighbour.

Whinge · 23/07/2023 16:58

DishyFly · 23/07/2023 16:55

5 days!! Walk length hasn't really been discussed. DD has lots of plans for places she will take the dog around the area, so the walks aren't going to be short. £15 is insulting and I feel she has only been offered that as neighbour knows she is a child and that seems rather unfair

Your DD is choosing to make the walks longer, but you're annoyed at the nighbour.

She also has access to the neighbours house every day of the week which is incredibly generous of the neighbour. If DD isn't happy with the money then she needs to say something, but I actually think it's a pretty fair deal.

XelaM · 23/07/2023 16:58

Your neighbour is a total CF. I pay my neighbour £25 per day to walk my dog.

elderflowerandpomelo · 23/07/2023 16:58

btw I think £5 hour is right and the neighbour should know she’s squeezing things here.

AnotherDelphinium · 23/07/2023 17:00

I’d say £5 a day is a reasonable amount, as the unlimited house use is also a “benefit in kind”.

Shortandsweet20 · 23/07/2023 17:03

I pay my dog walker £12 an hour. So I would definitely say she's not being paid enough, what if she doesn't want to use neighbours house all day? Her time is still being used to walk the dog

millymollymoomoo · 23/07/2023 17:04

I think it’s taking the piss. They should agree a rate fir each dog walk ( eg £6 per hour and 1 hour walk per day - or whatever they agree) then do that

a dig walker would charge £15-20 an hour where I live! Obviously wouldn’t expect that but £15 for 5 walks is way too little imo

ForeverFriendsAndPierrot · 23/07/2023 17:05

Hold on....

They may give her an extra 'bonus'
They may give her a gift
They can give her a reference

£3 a walk is fair enough

She can then go on to do this for other people and charge more

ForeverFriendsAndPierrot · 23/07/2023 17:06

It's a start!

SpringViolet · 23/07/2023 17:07

Agree that £5 an hour the reasonable for 14 year old doing an hours dog walking so she should be paying her £25 a week.

The fact that she can stay in the house is neither here nor there in terms of payment as assume she’ll keep the dog company, let it out if it wants another wee, which is just as much a benefit for the owner as for her.

I think it’s a bit late now to renegotiate though as neighbours obviously is a cf and it would create bad feeling which may affect DD. Should have discussed it with DD before she agreed to it. Make sure she knows for next time!

YourNameGoesHere · 23/07/2023 17:11

ForeverFriendsAndPierrot · 23/07/2023 17:05

Hold on....

They may give her an extra 'bonus'
They may give her a gift
They can give her a reference

£3 a walk is fair enough

She can then go on to do this for other people and charge more

Indeed. I think it's an important point that these days 14 year olds can barely do anything as a job. Not many people want them babysitting, there's no paper rounds or weekend shop work etc.

The fact she's gone out and found something which will in turn lead to other work is very lucky. If she feels like negotiating then honestly at 14 it should be up to her. Although I suspect half your frustration could be that you won't see her for most of the summer as she will be escaping her much younger siblings so she doesn't have to help entertain them.

CheeseCakeSunflowers · 23/07/2023 17:13

There is no minimum wage for under 16's but for 16 and 17 year olds its £5.28 per hour. If the walk is for 30 minutes 5 times a week then she's earning £6 per hour, if the walk is taking an hour each time then its £3 per hour. My guess is the time taken for an average dog walk would be somewhere between the two so although the pay might be on the low side its not too bad especially as she gets use of their home. As long as dd is happy then I think its fine.

BeyondMyWits · 23/07/2023 17:23

Is it a job? Or are both sides doing each other a favour, where both benefit?
I'd be more worried about if she is insured if she loses the dog, or the house key? If it is "a job" those things are usually in place (as well as all the legal stuff around employing minors). A favour... not so needed.

XelaM · 23/07/2023 17:23

YourNameGoesHere · 23/07/2023 17:11

Indeed. I think it's an important point that these days 14 year olds can barely do anything as a job. Not many people want them babysitting, there's no paper rounds or weekend shop work etc.

The fact she's gone out and found something which will in turn lead to other work is very lucky. If she feels like negotiating then honestly at 14 it should be up to her. Although I suspect half your frustration could be that you won't see her for most of the summer as she will be escaping her much younger siblings so she doesn't have to help entertain them.

Show quote history

My 13-year-old has a job mucking out stables. She gets paid £20 per day. Mucking out is much harder work than dog-walking, but she's very quick and it takes her about 2 hours to muck out the stables she's given, so works out as £10 per hour. £3 per hour is not great, especially as dog-walking isn't always a straight-forward job and the neighbour would have to pay a MUCH MUCH higher rate to a dog-walker.

FofB · 23/07/2023 17:24

We are paying a teenager £5 a day to check on our chickens. They will actually be here 15 minutes per day but I've factored in that they will be walking to and from us, so about 45 minutes per day. They seem pretty pleased to get £35 cash at the end of the week.

YourNameGoesHere · 23/07/2023 17:25

XelaM · 23/07/2023 17:23

My 13-year-old has a job mucking out stables. She gets paid £20 per day. Mucking out is much harder work than dog-walking, but she's very quick and it takes her about 2 hours to muck out the stables she's given, so works out as £10 per hour. £3 per hour is not great, especially as dog-walking isn't always a straight-forward job and the neighbour would have to pay a MUCH MUCH higher rate to a dog-walker.

Show quote history

Your 13 year old is in the minority with earning so much. Her wage is 18p less per hour than that of a 21-22 year old!!

continentallentil · 23/07/2023 17:27

I’d have thought a fiver for an hours walk (or whatever the minimum rate for 15 year olds is - you can look it up)

However, if she’s happy to let your daughter hang at her house that’s added value. So perhaps let it be for this holiday, but negotiate going forward.

XelaM · 23/07/2023 17:28

YourNameGoesHere · 23/07/2023 17:25

Your 13 year old is in the minority with earning so much. Her wage is 18p less per hour than that of a 21-22 year old!!

Show quote history

Yes, it's definitely great hourly rate, but it's a hard job and she has to be out the house at 6:30am on a Sunday 🙈

Singleandproud · 23/07/2023 17:30

So she starts off on £3 a day, shows she's reliable, gets a reference, word of moth spreads and next holiday she can charge more or take on more dogs.

Is it something she'll enjoy? Then congratulate her and let her get on with it, its enough for her to go to the cinema and get some Popcorn with friends and will be great for her self esteem.

There was a great piece of social research that asked passers by to litter pick an area of grassland, those that volunteered and did it for free accepted the task and enjoyed it, most of those that were offered a £5 for the same task turned it down and those that did it didn't enjoy it as they felt their time was worth more.

Niftyswiftie · 23/07/2023 17:35

My son has fed next-door guinea pigs for 2 weeks and was very generously given £70.