£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?

Your last comment makes absolutely no sense I'm afraid.

I used to charge £3.50!! That was about 15 years ago. Last time I was in London my parents 16 year old told me she charges £7.50 an hour. Adds a fortune to a night out. But such is life, I needed a babysitter and that was what she charged.

My point was why would you want to work in the evening, as extra, for less than you earn per hour during your working day.

£5p/h is far less than minimum wage, unless you're happy to pay an unqualified 16yr old to babysit of course.

I am perfectly happy to pay an unqualified 16yo to babysit. It's completely different to daycare in terms of quality of experience and training required, as it is occasional only and my children are in bed for the majority of the time.

Same here. It's a body in the house who can evacuate the children if the house catches fire an check the kids are killing each other. Now obviously that would be a very very important job and worthy of a lot of money, if it were in any way likely. Having an "unqualified" teenager there is absolutely fine for vast majority of children and the vast majority of nights out. Obviously if the child(ren) have a lot of additional needs, it might be very unwise to employ a teenager. For most children a teenager is just fine.

Many of my friend's children with jobs at 14 or 15 around here (eg in shops or garden centres) earn £4/hour. Obviously the employer gets (or can get) a very good deal, but that's market economics for you. The teenager does usually gain a little from the experience, even if it's not monetary in value.

Do your children go to bed early or you out late most the time? As mine go to bed around 9pm and if we went to say the cinema would want someone 6pm-10pm so first three hours children would be awake

When they were younger, we usually put them to bed before the sitter came, and always if using a teenager. As they got older, they put themselves to bed. They are always fed before we go out. Never has it been like day childcare.

theres a nanny near me who charges this on a fb site im on, or £25 for an evening - mums bite her hands off and when i said i earn minimum of £10ph and 4hrs worth and often nearer£13/15 for wedding work they were omfg not going to pay that

i wouldnt want to work for some of those mums, not coz they dont want to pay but their attitude stinks

i work for lovely famillies who appreciate me and think whatever you charge rem if the parents arent happy paying it then they wouldnt use me, and re book me many times

Duchesse - dog walkers don't charge £10 per day. They charge £10 per walk. Most dog walkers I have met, walk for around an hour, some walk more than one dog at a time.

I met a woman (when we were looking for holiday dog walking cover) who earned between £100 and £170 a day and then farmed the dogs out to teenagers for £2.50 per dog!

I charge per £10 per family. If relatives or friends are added to the equation, I drop my hourly rate per family. I.e., one family = £10. Two families £7.50 per family = £15. Three families £6 per family = £18. Up to five children. All my regular families (some are ex-employers) are happy to pay me this. None of their children are under 4.

Although there is no UK law saying how old a babysitter should be, the NSPCC recommends that babysitters should be at least 16.
When employing an under 18 year old legally you are still the responsible adult. An under 18 year old can not legally be responsible for another child (unless it is their own child). So should you come home to an accident you could be classed as neglectful in your parenting.
Most professional nannies do not need to babysit and do it as a favour to their families. I personally will charge my normal day rate.

"No there is no legal age for babysitting. It is the responsibility of the parents using common sense to make the decision. It is worth bearing in mind though that a child under 16 years old cannot be prosecuted for neglect or ill treatment of children in their care. The parents/carers/guardians would be charged in that situation. However, any person who is 16 or over and who has responsibility for a person under that age could be prosecuted.
The law does not specify how old someone has to be to babysit. However, the NSPCC recommends that no one under 16 should be left alone to look after young children. If someone under 16 is looking after a child, the parent or guardian, and not the babysitter, remain legally responsible for the child's safety. Parents should still use judgement when choosing a babysitter, as some 16 year olds might not be mature enough to look after younger children. The same careful judgements apply if your child wants to babysit for others."

This is from the sussex police website and the age of responsibility appears to be 16 not 18. As I said my dd is 16 and has been employed to do some respite care for a child with sn. This has involved a DBS and social services approval.

Good post bruffin so 16 and 17 year olds can be responsible and DBS I didn't realise that.

My ds had to have a crb when he became a lifeguard at 16 as well.

I am always astounded that parents try to pay so little for babysitting.
You are leaving your precious children in the sole charge of another adult whom you would trust (?) to act in any kind of emergency.

The price is for total security and peace of mind that your child/ren will be absolutely safe...£10 in Central London would seem reasonable to me.

I find it hard to understand why people are prepared to pay more for their cleaners than for their babysitters!
I am a parent who is happy to pay £10 an hour for an experienced mature babysitter.

we may be doing the same job, but i have an hourly rate that i stick to, its my time and if i want to work then i need to be paid what i think i am worth - which as i said parents never quibble and always re book me so i cant charge too much

MY DD was getting £5 an hour 15 years ago!

I agree with those saying I don't see what you are so excited about.
She made and offer, you didn't want to do the job for that money. You said you'd do it for another amount, she didn't want to pay that. End of.

As so many have said, the money being offered is for the job to be done - it doesn't matter if you normally earn £600 per hour for your day job, you aren't being asked to do that - you are being asked to babysit, which, for dc that age, is not exactly arduous.

Teenagers in my area charge £5/hour, I'm a childminder and I charge £7.50/hour. Most of my babysits are around 4 hours so it only makes £10 difference for the whole night. I drive, the teenagers don't, so parents don't need to worry about paying for a taxi. The families I babysit for all have babies/toddlers and more often than not I have to do feeds, change nappies and settle them to sleep. Parents with older children may well be happy using a teenage babysitter but there are also plenty of mum's who don't feel happy leaving their pfb with someone young/inexperienced.

With babysitting it isn't always about person just sitting watching tv it the what if moments so if child was ill do they know what to do, how far away you are, do you have family locally does babysitter have family locally.

If you have older children and popping out locally a teenager is fine

Little ones or going far or not easily contactable maybe an experienced nanny.

Prob won't happen but has - baby or toddler suddenly becomes unwell with something like croup sudden onset normally and needs medical attention you are uncontactable as no mobile reception and they have another child as well to care for- would babysitter be able to cope. (Most experienced nannies would get the ill child to ooh doc or hospital one way or another but could a teenager)

I charge SAME day eve nights it's my time I am charging for to do a childcare job and if babysitting I couldn't take on a night nanny job so therefore my time costs the same whatever type of booking it is.

Well according to this, I was ripped off when I babysat as a teen.

The whole evening I got ......£5. Didn't matter how many hours it was.

About 20 years ago. It was a pittance then.

I pay:

17yo dd of friend from work, £5ph. She chivvies my 3dc off upstairs then puts her feet up. Sometimes she invites a mate to keep her company. My dc are easygoing and all school age. On our return dh drives her home.

I call her if we're going to the pub & for a curry & could be home in ten minutes in an emergency.

OR:

23yo ex-bandmate of dh's, final year medical student who spent her gap year volunteering at an orphanage in Indonesia, happy to babysit anywhere up to 10 kids, cook supper, & sleep over - £60 if we're going to be back before 1am, £90 if it's all night.

I call her if dh has a gig the other end of the country & we split her fee between 3 band members with dc.

Horses for courses, isn't it...

Raven just make sure that the med student knows no insurance will cover for more than 6children for nanny babysitter and I wouldn't do any work with children especially overnight without insurance it's highly unlikely something will happen but should it for the £75 a yr insurance costs I would recommend to any babysitter.

Obv for an under 16 babysitting the children parents remain responsible for them.