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

Definitely charge more - you are a nanny if they are awake! Not just a babysitter.

You can charge whatever you like

its up to them whether they agree

No you can’t charge more because you’re having to interact with children! It’s part of the job surely!? You could charge more per child though

People don't seem to want to part with cash when it comes to hiring people to look after their children.......

I do some agency babysitting. I expect to look after the children give them light food, maybe play for a bit and put them to bed. That's standard babysitter. Any times they are already in bed see it as a bit of unexpected bonus an easy gig!

Totally unreasonable if you’re offering a babysitting / childcare service. My daughter is nearly 10 and doesn’t go to bed till about 9:30. Am I meant to force her to sleep at 7 or pay more?

No money changed hands but I remember my neighbour saying we should babysit for each others kids to help each other out in the evenings so we could go out etc. I did sit for hers a couple of times and they were never in bed. Had to do a whole evening with them and then bedtime. When she babysat for me my dc was fast asleep and in any case the neighbour sent over her husband instead of coming herself. I stopped doing it after that.

My point being that there is babysitting and babysitting. Some is harder than others definitely.

But depends what you're getting paid. If it's a decent amount then I think expecting to just sit in the house undisturbed eating snacks is unrealistic

I'd take it that you're very lucky indeed if they're in bed. But it shouldn't be the default expectation of childminding. The job isn't simply to watch telly and eat while they sleep. If sometimes it is then bonus. But you can't say 'go to bed bc I CBA to do my job, or get fined'.
If you don't think it's fair then increase your rates across the board to reflect that some clients are higher maintenance than others. Or just quit that family.

This thread is bonkers.
I babysat (& nannied) for years & I can't remember ever arriving to find children in bed. I was handed babies/toddlers & directed to the older kids. Entertaining them before bed & putting them to bed was part of the job.
higher charge after midnight was normal (& counter to the "if they're awake" as far more likely to the sleeping then)

But they are parting with cash! £45+ for an evening out.

It's just that the OP doesn't think that was enough given the level of work involved for this particular family.

So you expect people to pay you 15 an hour to eat and watch tv while they do all the work of putting kids to bed before you get there? It amazes me that you complain about actually having to do work that you are paid for. I can understand if you are getting paid a lot less to just sit and watch tv while the kids sleep, but 15 an hour you should not complain to have to do the typical thing sitter does. People pay the same during the day. If you were not happy with it, then don't work for them again. But don't expect all kids to be sleeping when you babysit.

The OP is choosing to do this. She's offering a service and people are paying and now she's complaining because they are expecting her to do some actual childcare while the children are awake.

She isn't being forced to babysit by families for a pittance and if she hated it, she could stop.

She set her own price point and has now realised she's made a mistake. The easiest thing would be to rise her prices rather than invoicing parents for awake hours and sleep hours.

The expensive comment alone would make me not want to babysit anymore.

I have never asked a babysitter to prepare games for my DC. I would prioritise people that put their DC to bed/ have well behaved DC. I would definitely charge more £25 for 3 children awake. Or £15 for 3 DC asleep.

How would you figure out a rate, though?

What if one child sleeps fine but the other two don't, for example? What if they're fast asleep for half the time but wide awake at 9pm because of a nightmare? Do you break your price down per child/per hour?

It just doesn't work. If you think £15/hour is too cheap then raise your prices, but you can't chop and change what you charge based on what the kids are doing!

I agree with you, OP. Some people have no idea what a nightmare their children can be like with a babysitter. £15 per hour is nothing when you're having to deal with badly brought up children.

You should charge more for more children. You can always charge them less if at the end of the night they were angels and you didn’t have to do anything except watch tv! It sounds like the mother was being tight and trying ‘get her moneys’ worth’. IMO it is not your job as a babysitter to put children to bed, feed them or play with them. I would expect a babysitter to make sure nothing drastic happens whilst parents are out. If they want you to entertain, feed etc then charge childminder money. Perhaps you could advertise both services, childminding and babysitting? If they’re asleep in bed on arrival it’s babysitting, anything more it’s childminding (costing more).

There is a vast difference between babysitting and childcare. She shouldn't be asking you to tidy up after the children, you aren't their nanny.

If she has queried your price then she doesn't value you anyway, so I wouldn't go there again.

Of course it's a babysitter's job to put children to bed if they arrive before bedtime!

But surely the solution to that is to just...charge more to begin with?

Nurseries and childminders don't charge less for the hours the children are napping, do they? You just charge a flat rate regardless - because you can't sign up to do childcare and expect to not have to care for the child

There is no /

It's babysitting or it's childcare

That's probably a very small proportion of the cost of the night out.

But it was always thus, those with a huge responsibility for the care of unrelated children are expected to accept buttons for their efforts, but it's no problem to spend spend spend on a night out adults only.

Ah but it's the parents' holiday, they deserve it I suppose.

It's amazing how many people want to negotiate a baby sitting price because they think it's too expensive.

They just see it as extra pounds for a night out.

I used to babysit a lot. There's a huge difference between a child who's in bed asleep when you arrive who then wakes up, needs a drink and a little soothing but is basically already in bed and juggling three wide awake children, none of whom want to go to bed. Who'd want to leave two children up to mischief downstairs while getting the first into bed? Sounds like a nightmare. Supernanny would struggle with that. (What happened to Supernanny?)

Two-tier system, OP. Ordinary baby-sitting — keeping an eye on a sleeping child is one charge. Childcare — feeding a child/ children, cleaning up and wrangling them into bed is standard fee + childcare surcharge. Much more risky than being there to ensure a sleeping child is safe and asleep.

The official definition of babysitting is literally "caring for a child while their parents are out", lol.

It's exactly the same thing as childcare.