£5 an hour to babysit!!!!!!

[FlusteredFairy1]

I am gobsmacked that a mum (not mb) thought she could get me to babysit at £5 an hour. I often do it cheaply (not that cheap though) with meal included for 2 local mums. But £5 was taking the proverbial. I am not greedy and charge £6.50 - £8.50 depending on location. I get loads just from these two as they can go out more often. I love nannying which is full on and babysitting is sitting usually !!!!! So therefore smaller fee. Any thoughts?

My son is paid £10 an hour now for babysitting. He wouldn't do it for £5 per hour that was what I used to pay a babysitter for him 15 years ago!!

Sorry I meant to say he is 20 and has full First Aid. I wouldn't let either of my children babysit until they had First Aid.

£5 an hour

No way....

That's taking the Mickey!

I pay £5/hour for neighbour's teenager, but mainly for just a few hours when we're close by, children asleep etc.

I pay between £6 and £7 for nursery nurse students - of whom there are many nearby - paying £7 for just a few hours, to allow for the travelling etc. If they help for a whole day, for 1 child, I pay about £50/day, knowing that a fully-trained nn doing holiday care here gets £55/day for 2 rather energetic boys.

I can't get a babysitter. I was told cheapest was £10 p/h.
My 2 are in bed when the babysitter arrives and don't wake up.
Just seemed too much.

I would expect to pay £5/hr for an unqualified not-a-childcare-professional to sit on the sofa eating biscuits with sleeping child(ren) upstairs but no responsibilities except dialling 999 in the unlikely event of an emergency.

I would expect to pay £7.50-£12.50/hr for a childcare professional, but I would not employ a childcare professional to do such an easy job. It's like offering Michaelangelo £50 to paint my ceiling. I know he's capable of doing a job which would be worth a lot more, but that's not the service I require and it's not a good use of his talents either for him to do the £50 job or a good use of my money for me to pay more than I wanted for the more challenging job that he's capable of but I don't need.

OP you are quite right to stick to your normal prices and if she doesn't want the professional service she doesn't have to employ you.

Can't believe babysitting is a professional service these days.

I pay £6/hour to one of the ladies at DD's nursery.

Oblomov are you in London? 10/hour is going rate.

I pay £5 an hour. But then I only have teenage babysitters, or friends for whom I simply return the favour.

I don't need a nursery nurse or a nanny. As you say in the OP, "babysitting is sitting", usually....

Of course it's a professional service. Not everyone has relatives who will do it for free.

Never used them, but we looked at sitters to get an aprox cost per hour.
The apprentice nursery worker snapped our hand off for £5/hr, and couldn't beleive we rounded it up to the nearest hour.
Seems to be more regional than the national services make out?

If you'd like more money, why not suggest you can do some ironing/clean out the fridge etc when the children are asleep to ensure you get the hourly rate?

I'm a qualified nanny of 19 years. Maternity nurse experience, work with children who have sen and/or serious medical conditions for my day job.
I charge £5 for babysitting. In Sussex for context. I'm sitting on my bum watching TV, reading etc. I generally pit the kids to bed and then that that. If there was a problem I deal with it. Easy money if nothing happens and I get the TV remote instead of watching blinking sports all evening.

We pay £8ph. Qualified nursery workers. I think that's reasonable - it's the same as we pay our cleaner and although 4 out of 5 times the cleaner would have the harder job, I'd still feel bad paying more for the house to be looked after than my children. And the 1 time out of 5 more than makes up for it! We round up and leave them a meal/drinks.

I charge £7.50p/h in NLondon, £10 if I have two children.

I'm a experienced CM, and often get called on to babysit by my parents. I charge that because it's my free time, and children will occasionally wake up. It wouldn't be worth my while to work for £5p/h, I work 11Hr days, so earning £20 for an extra 4hrs work is just not worth it, however earning £40 is!

Just to add, if you are over 21 £5p/h is considerably less than minimum wage (may also be less if your 18) so I would flat refuse to work for that!

I earned £4 per hour when I was 15, 30 years ago!!

I charge £10 per hour now, been a nanny 28 years, loads of baby experience. I have a great job, earning a good salary, I don't need to babysit so ask for £10 per hour, minimum of 4 hours (they go out for 3, they pay me for 4) I sit maybe 10-15 times a year.

I'm working this weekend, looking after a toddler who is in a great routine, is easy as pie to look after, will (probably touches wood) sleep 7-7 and I will get paid £15 during the day and £10 from 7-7. I work for this family because they appreciate that I am giving up my free time to help them out. So they can have a weekend away and know that their child will be well cared for. I work long hours (7:30 finish time) so don't have much time or energy to go out after work so don't give up my free time for nothing.

Well, why is she telling you if she really found a better deal? If I were in your place, I'd reply "I am glad for you that you found someone you believe to be suitable. My rates remain the same if you wish to call me in future" and leave it at that. There is no way I would babysit for that rate, even for one child. It's something my almost 14 year old with little experience might consider though.

The rare times I babysit, the kids (under 5's) are still awake and running round the house at 8pm. Long gone seem the days when children would be asleep in bed and you did not hear from them all evening.

If you want lots of work, set rates low. If you don't want to do it often set rates higher.

So you think you should get more an hour than a nursery manager? okkaay then

If nursery managers are getting less than £5 an at work, they are working below minimum wage. If they agree to £5 an hour outside of work, that's their business. It's a poor reflection on their generally crap wages if they need to take on that extra work at that rate. It doesn't mean the OP has to agree to it. If the mother in the OP really had a plethora of workers willing to work for a lower rate, she wouldn't have bothered mentioning it to OP - she was just trying to 'bargain' her down I think. The children in question are not toddlers either, I doubt they would be in bed by eight.

Management usually get paid 6.75 to 8.50. Higher end is with a degree and many years experience.

People will pay £10 an hour for a cleaner, £25 an hour for a hairdresser, £50 for a plumber - but begrudge a paltry £5 an hour for someone who takes responsibility for their children's safety and well-being.

wow

When my DD was very little I only employed nannies/au pairs (working FT for my friends) as casual babysitters as I wanted someone experienced and responsible. I therefore expected to pay nanny rates.

When she got older I employed teen neighbours and paid less!