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

@Circe7 It would be at 14! I got £10 for working all day Saturday 9-6 at a hairdressers at 16-shocking

@Jo8chocolate I'm a teacher myself so I know exactly what it's like... I'm not talking about second jobs.... I guess I struggle with the whole babysitting and having no expectation to engage with the children. By all means ask for more money.... she's right in requesting more money for more children... it's a given surely? They wouldn't take three children to a theme park and only pay for one.

@Poppalina37 I definitely have an expectation that I may have to engage with the chindren (and I enjoy it) I was just comparing these two jobs really and thinking how it was odd they’d be the same amount

With your skill set I'd definitely be charging more for extra children. I know some people have said £15 is too high but minimum wage is £11:50.

We pay £18 per hour for our 9 month old baby and 14 year old- who will stay in his room. This is a local childminding business who cares for a lot of children in our town.

I guess it's each to their own....

I may become a babysitter at those rates

As an ex-nanny & babysitter i would say that you're babysitting rate is £18/19 per hour depending on how many children until they go to bed, then drop your rate to £15ph

Do you pay tax on this income?

Jesus fucking Christ

I think she is taking the p..s. Definitely charge more if they are awake and have to be entertained and also charge extra for each extra child

I'm not in the UK, so genuine question here: isn't a babysitter supposed to look after the kids, regardless of whether they're up or not? Also,what if the kids are asleep, but happen to wake up and ask for food, or something like that? Would you charge extra?

I think the suggestion made re the difference between babysitting and childcare is valid, so a different charge for each. Maybe you could provide a menu of charges upfront, depending on what you are being asked to do and for how many children. Around £10 per hour + travel costs for babysitting a sleeping child perhaps, with increasing additionals according to the situation?

In some countries, baby sitters do house chores when kids are asleep rather than watching the telly. Things like ironing, tidying up etc.

Laughing at everyone getting their knickers in a twist about whether or not it meets the dictionary definition of childcare or whether the OP is a CF to charge £15ph to start with

OP: it's your time and your life, charge what you want. Enough people will either pay it for you or they won't. If they won't you know it won't work.

Personally, I'd up my general rate a bit if I felt the market would withstand it and just accept the easy nights and hard nights all even out in the end.

Do you pay tax? For £15 you should deal with the children without complaning.

Our babysitter has a rate for playing/feeding/tidying the home and a Netflix rate for sleeping kids. She is great.

We work it out. Know her for years and trust her judgement. We top up her pay.
Some times she works day hours and other nightbhours so often easy to sort. It's not a problem. We provide Netflix, snacks and fizzy drinks.

Wouldn't provide that if I paid £15 and the babysitter didn't want to interact with kids only sleeping children - and most likely not paying tax ...

This.
My experience is only agency babysitters pay tax.

No really, I think they just know the value of money and don’t think it’s worth paying someone £15/hour to slob around their house eating their food and watching TV…, whilst apparently “earning” this money.

If you're babysitting, you should expect to look after children. And yes, they can be annoying. If they're asleep, that's a bonus, not the norm.

Oh yes and also this. It’s £15 cash in hand right? So you effectively are earning the same as….? What exactly before tax and NI? 🤣

@medik7 It’s like you have a personal witchunt on someone you’ve never met, creepy vibes