Charge more for children who don’t go to bed?

[Alwaysforgetthecrackers]

I do babysitting/childcare over the summer in a busy, tourist area.
The majority of the time I’ve always had 1-2 children and when I arrive, they’re in bed sleeping and stay asleep for the evening, parents give me the remote, kindly say I can help myself to food and all is great.
I recently sat for someone who had three very active boys, they were still up when I arrived, wanted constant snacks mum asked me to make and tidy things away. They all had different bedtimes, mum wanted me to play games with them, put them to bed etc, little one fought with me on this and eldests bedtime was literally just before they returned home, so I spent the rest of the evening getting him snacks, tidying after him, playing games.
I’m ok doing this…it did make me wonder though, should this be the same charges as basically sitting with the child already in bed?
Also, nice as this mum was, she initially queried the price being a bit expensive, whereas all
others have been very appreciative

You can set what ever rules you want. I personally would find this almost impossible to implement. What quid I say - "if they are asleep its x amount and if they are awake its y amount"? I think babysitting is meant to involve the children, and if they are asleep and no trouble then that's a bonus. Not the other way around.

You’re paid to babysit though. Not to watch Netflix and scroll through your phone

@Izzymoon Sorry, that was supposed to say *Not until 11

Not necessarily. She's paid to ensure they are safe.

Entertaining, feeding and wrangling into bed is a great deal more and should be compensated accordingly.

Every babysitter I had would have asked if they need to give lunch/dinner/food . Nobody expects them to cook but if they happen to be babysitting around food time then the expectation is they would put the plate with food in front of the child and put the plate in the dishwasher afterwards.

@Izzymoon It worked out at a tiny bit over, they booked from 7.15-11, but rounded it up hours wise to four hours, I mean wasn’t much but

Depends on the age of the child. When mine were tiny ( less than 3 ) would put to bed before going out.
With older children whose bedtime is 8pm or later I would expect babysitter to read a story and put to bed or with a nine year old play a bit and then ask child to go to bed at 9pm.

Teenagers always happy to o come back so I don’t think we are unusual. I think you charge too much by the way OP!

Honestly this is part of your problem, if they could book you for 15 mins of an hour I can see why they would expect to pay you for the 15 mins of the hour used the other night.

This is part of the problem with running a business in such a casual way, you aren’t making your t’s & c’s clear at all.

@olympicsrock The area I am in and by experience and qualifications, I don’t think it’s too much at all.

It's up to you to create your own pay structure based on hours, number of kids and expectations. Of course there's a big difference between hassle free TV viewing and having to manage/entertain little ones, tidy, cook etc. That's hard to predict. I'd say the latter is more like being a nanny/childminder and comes with more work and responsibility so you could argue that deserves a higher rate. I think the key point here is this mum was expecting you to do more than the usual so don't work for her again if you're not happy. Generally, be clear about your T&C's.

I think when people are comparing the charge by the babysitter vs minimum wage, they are forgetting that minimum wage is assuming people are working steady hours . In any job which is seasonal or self employed and hours not guaranteed, then the charge reflects this. Consider what you would pay a gardner - a good example of someone who charges higher rate in the summer as has less frequent work in the winter .

I don't agree with charging more for awake children. But more children then yes, because that's more work.

If you charged £20 an hour, say, and she booked you 8-11, then when confirming, I'd say I'd arrive at 7:45, the cost until 11pm is £60 and that's payable if the evening is curtailed for anything other than child sickness. She shouldn't be paying by 15 minute chunks!

Exactly.

As a freelancer I charge double the hourly wage of my salaried job because my freelance business is sporadic and has overhead.

OP is free to charge whatever the market will bear. If she's in an affluent area, especially.

One awake child is normally more work than 5 sleeping ones.

I'd expect any babysitter to be able to make a snack and put the kids to bed. If they are tricky that's just the luck of the draw. Having them already in bed is a rare luxury! Certainly for £15/ hour which is high in my opinion.
What happened to me once was I was asked to babysit toddler twins and an older child. My sister was their normal babysitter but was unavailable. So reluctantly agreed. I arrived to find the older boy had three friends over for a sleepover! That was really taking advantage. By the way I was 14.

Increase your rates to £20 an hour. People will pay it.

If we need someone to give the kids tea/put them to bed etc then we pay a lot more than if we just want someone to be on the house while they're asleep - which I think is totally reasonable!

(We have different sitters for each of these scenarios as they need very different skill sets!)

Although £15 an hour is very much the feeding them and putting them to bed rate. (We still provide snacks and the remote for after they're down!)

You just need to be clear about what you're willing to do and what you aren't, and let potential clients know up front what that £15ph rate includes.

If you're happy to take on extra duties like cooking or entertaining, then perhaps decide how much more you'd want to charge - I dont think it's unreasonable to do that, it just needs to be clear when the client's deciding to hire you.

And let them know that the amount you've agreed in advance for the evening is payable even if they come home earlier.

One of our babysitter has a "day rate" when the children are awake (25% more), it seems fair. She wouldn't charge us this for bedtime routine when she arrives 45-60 min before bedtime, but if it's more 1.5-2h she would.

£15 an hour to watch TV and eat provided snacks is ridiculous tbh.

This is pretty typical as day time is more akin to nannying. Evening rate would usually be after about 6pm and include snacks and bedtime routine with some stories and helping to settle. Which is quite nice anyway. You still get the rest of the evening to yourself (hopefully 🤣)

Genuine question, do you sometimes arrive to new families once the children as asleep? If you do and they wake up aren't they really freaked out a stranger is there they haven't met before?

Actually I was just talking to dd1 about her babysitting experiences as a late teen (I said in pp that ds was the neighbourhood king of big boisterous family babysitting).

Dd1 reminded me that she had two separate rates:

Rate A - kids in bed, or older ones quietly amusing themselves, just needing a brisk reminder about teeth & lights out. Dd1 on sofa by 8pm, munching crisps & texting her gf.

Rate B - for active kid wrangling OR no bother kids as above, but dd1 would make herself useful by doing designated chores eg. deep cleaning a kitchen or doing a pile of ironing or, on one occasion, painting the dining room!

If parents signed up to rate B & their kids didn't settle, the chores did not get done & dd1 still got paid.

If they signed up to rate A but the kids didn't settle, they were politely told that they would pay rate B in future, or could look elsewhere.

It worked - but obviously this is a 15-17yo, not an adult.

Basically, you can offer whatever you like, & clients can decide if it suits.