Is it reasonable to ask a babysitter to.......

[Earlybird]

......do chores related to the child, once the child is in bed for the night?

I've got a babysitter coming tomorrow evening. DD will be in bed by 7.30, and I expect to be home by 10.

Would it be reasonable to ask the babysitter to iron some of dd's clothes, and sew in a few school uniform nametapes? I know these are things a nanny would do, but don't know about the protocol of asking a sitter....

our babysitter is also our p/t nanny. we pay her £10 per hour for nannying and £5 per hour for babysitting - which is literally that, sitting in the house with the kids asleep. if she does any extra chores in the evening, we pay the "nanny" rate rather than the "babysitting" rate. so no i don't think it is always unreasonable, depends on the circs.

btw - she asks for extra work, we don't force it on her in the evenings.

Hmm... I don't think it's clear cut actually. Babysitting for children who are asleep in bed is usually a doss, and a mutually acceptable 'doss rate' should be agreed. If you're paying her the same as her daytime rate, I think it would not be unreasonable to ask her to do a few jobs.

When I was a student I used to babysit for friends for free once a week: and I would do the washing up for them, tidy up and clean their kitchen, sometimes do a bit of ironing ...
... that's the kind of saint I used to be!

£10 an hour is way too much for babysitting. Unfortunately I didn't negotiate a babysitting rate with my last nanny/ housekeeper so ended up once paying her over £100 when I needed her to look after DD all day (PLUS give them money to go out and do something.) Horrendous.

However, when I've used a babysitting agency, the sitters get around £6ph and you can ask for one that will iron or do light housework and they get paid about that again for the time they spend doing chores.

Unfortunately, having agreed a price, I don't htink it's reasonable to ask her to do additional tasks after the fact.

Like someone else said - leave the ironing basket in view and if she does it of her own accord then give a bit extra cash.

I wouldn't be keen if I was asked to do it and would probably be less keen to agree to future babysitting.

£10 is quite a high rate but I know plenty of nannies that charge that. I charge £8 and take my own child with me.

Yes, but if you agree before hand maybe its reasonable!
She may have second thoughts and she might not turn up.

What amd i saying. You can get a bin bag done for normally £10 where i live, so if she is good and reliable, id just pay her to babysit.