£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?

That's interesting, eastmids, because I'd wondered that myself about numbers & babysitting, & been unable to find anything very clear online.

I try & avoid it, but on a couple of occasions I've ended up being the one staying at home with our 3, plus the guitarist's 2, backing singer's 1, & fiddle player's 4!

Presumably at that point it's just a sleepover, & insurance doesn't apply?

morton michele cover for either 6/7 children but only from 2 famillies at one time or they are classed as a cm, and obv the nanny/babysitter is not in their own home

also if an emergancy did happen how would she get all 10 to hospital?cant leave any behind, cant get all in car/ambulance

What things have happened whilst babysitting? I can recall many occasions when a baby/toddler has vomited all over their cot. Finding spare bedding can be fun.

One child, aged 5, did a poo in their bed.

No ambulance/hospital trips, that I suspect is rare but could happen.

Ah the stories we could tell - do share... What has happened whilst you have babysat? At one point as a teen I used to get £2 an hour but you can't really compare 22 years ago against now.

I used to get £1 an hour rounded to the nearest 25p!! It was in the late 80s/ early 90s though but in affluent part of south east!

£5 per hour here. teenagers wanting pocket money and experience. I provide food and transport tv and wifi. i have no short of takers at £5 per hour.

Hi Cindy as you say when a parent goes out they have no idea what may happen while they are out so many children have been sick while I have been baby sitting.I have had several power cuts ,once with 8 month old twin s,they both woke up screaming ,luckily the neighbour was able to lend a torch and candles.I once had someone try to break in while I was sleeping over with 5 children under 10 ,the parents were in Portugal.He banged on the door at 4 in the morning ,when I came down he was wearing very little and he told me he didn't know where he was and he was coming in now..I rang the police who took 20 minutes to come,so I chatted to him ,trying to calm him down a little,,through the window next to the front door..I asked him what he had been doing out so late he said he'd been inthe graveyard.I asked "Why".He told me he had been researching his family tree.luckily the police came then!

Similar here but with dogs! I work as a dog walker and cat sitter. Someone wanted me to look after their cat - keeping him company for a couple of hours, feeding, watering and doing his litter tray - and their fish and water their garden for £6 a day. I normally charge £8 - £10 for this service and politely declined.

Over the years I use had countless children be sick - wet theirselves - have a melt down at parents gone out - power cuts - huge storms so scared children

Yes rare to go to hospital but it's more the above things that a 15/16 may have trouble with

As a very young babysitter yonks ago...I had the father of the kids playing silly buggers around the house...banging on windows...rattling letterbox and generally scaring me...before mobiles or even house phones. Turns out that him and his wife were divorcing and he was trying to intimidate her...he didn't know I was babysitting. He was mortified when my Dad walked over to collect me and couldn't apologise enough. From that day on I have to lock all doors when I am babysitting.
I charge my normal rate.. £9 an hour for putting the DCs to bed, cleaning up and doing a few loads of washing. Once I sit down I charge £7 an hour. If I have a horrendous night/evening (and boy can they turn quickly...watching tv quietly then bam....Toddler screaming...D&V EVERYWHERE!)..... then I charge full rate. I just wouldn't do it for £5.

I pay mine (all teenagers) £3 an hour. I have a few I can call on, and they're all perfectly happy with the arrangement. They watch telly, I make them pizza before I leave and have other nibbles and pop for them and I've never had any complaints. I did have one who tried to up her rates, but I just never booked her again - her loss.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2713063/Babysitter-20-hauled-court-dog-house-working-escaped-attack-neighbour-kill-cat.html

What 15 year could deal with this.

Sounds like a grown adult couldn't deal with it either, given that the babysitter in question was 20, so I'm not sure what that proves, other than that there will probably always be incidents that even grown-ups who babysit can't handle. If anything, that story could serve as a warning to people who have au pairs or nursery nurses and the like and act as a salutory lesson to all of the people on this thread who think they are ok because they book an adult to mind their kids. Incidentally, if it had have been a teenager under 16, then the owners themselves would have been prosecuted which to my mind is much fairer than blaming the babysitter given that the garden was not secure - she wasn't booked to mend their fence.