babysitting

[dizzydo]

My aupair has been asked to babysit and sleep over as the couple will be very late she says she has been told she will be paid up to midnight. I thought if you slept over you should at least be paid a nominal sum each hour you are there, i.e sat £5ph until say 12pm and then £3-£4 per hour sleep time even if it is to a max of say 7 hours. Anyone have any ideas.

I definitely wouldn't babysit if they weren't going to pay me for the entire time I was there!

Just because she goes to bed doesn't mean she won't have to get up if the kids wake up etc...

Guess it depends on whether the children are likely to wake up, oh, and also whether they want the children rescuing should the house burn down after midnight.

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I would say a fixed rate!
Waht do babysitters cost now these days?

I would suggest she would be paid until the parents get back....

when i was younger and did more babysitting i often got the choice.... to stay over or go home REALLY late.... i preffered to go to bed at normalish time TBH (i ALWAYS new the families REALLY well if i stayed over tho!)

also the children whi i would be looking aftrer where older and you could pretty much garantee they would NOT wake up!

Hi,

I have been a babysitter for many years now and have sat for several parents who have wanted to stay out very late, eg- past 1.30-2.00am. I usually opted to stay the night because I could go to bed and rest/read/doze untill they returned. (I found it impossible to really sleep till they got back)

I fully expected to be paid until the parents returned, whatever hour that was, because YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS A BABYSITTER DOES NOT END WHEN THE CHILDREN ARE ASLEEP!!!

As far as money, I charge an standard hourly rate untill midnight of £5.00ph. This goes UP after midnight. Time and a half! I don't feel this is unreasonable, as I am 28, have 15 years of b/s experience and am a fully qualified nursery nurse. I did charge less when I was younger, naturally, but then everything cost less then didn't it!(I used to get paid £1.00ph when I first started aged 13)

A friend of mine will do overnighters where the parents don't come back till the next day and she charges a set amount for the whole period with agreed arrival/departure times.

Definatetly think your aupair should be paid until the parents come back, if they are not happy with this, tell them to find another sitter. In my experience, the most likely time for young children to wake up is in the early hours of the morning, after having had a few hours of sleep. Expecting a babysitter to deal with a child who lets face it, only wants Mummy or Daddy at that time of night, without being paid is imo totally NOT ON

Sorry, I always go on and on, but childcare, in any form is something I care a lot about.

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

As I thought these people are being extremely cheap which always amazes me given that you are asking someone to take care of your most precious commodity.

My aupair sat for them but said she couldnt stay over after all so they came back at 12.30 but only paid her for the half hour at standard rate - fortunately got her a cab home tho.