How much do you pay your babysitter?

[ssd]

Following on from the last thread, I was wondering how much you all pay your babysitters and what area you are in?

We're hardly ever out, but I guess the £2 an hour I got as a teenager to babysit might have gone up a bit?

Hi, have to say i was shocked by some of the prices mentioned on this thread. Before i became a qualified nanny i started babysitting at the age of 15 and i have never had less than £4 an hour. Most of the families had babies though, and i always had to do the 10.30 feed etc and sometimes i would stay over as the parents didnt get back till 2am ish. Then i would get about £30 as even though i went to bed i never really relaxed and went to sleep till the parents were in. Even on the shorter nights say till 11pm. ( never had a family less than 11pm!!) i always got at least £20 and this was what was offered i never asked. Admittedly it is a small town and not many babysitters etc around but i am still shocked at the 2.50 and 3 mentioned earlier. I became a regular for 13 local families and i couldnt have paid my way through college etc if that was all i got paid for it. I am pregnant now ( due in 2 weeks and had enough!!!) and have already asked one of the girls i used to teach if in a few months she would be interested. The deal is £5.50 an hour, i get her home and she can bring one friend or boyfriend. No alcohol. ( not that she would she is lovely) and if starting before 6 then i provide pizza or chinese etc. Am i being too nice?

when you pay £4 it is easy to round up to the 1/4 hour. Personally I'd be careful of allowing friends to come with the babysitter unless you know them.

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amyjo22 that sounds awfuly nice of you. Not sure about the inviting boyfriend over as well though.
But the people I babysit for reguarly always say to help myself to food and if I start before 7 they usually have something special in for me to eat.
Oh and it shouldn't matter if the children are in bed or not when the babysitter gets there because the children may wake up or if there was an emergency i.e a fire.

ahh see, i know him aswell. Like i said i used to teachher dance and he used to come and pick her up etc. decent bloke, great with kids as well. ( would prob have him on his own if she was busy) Also i was always allowed to take boyfriends once they got to know them etc. I like to think i treat her with respect so she will treat me, my baby and house with respect.

PennyLane - of course it makes a difference if the children are in bed or not.

If, say, I hired a babysitter from 5pm - 8pm she would have to supervise their tea, clear up afterwards, supervise them getting ready for bed, read bedtime stories, etc. And cope with any 'nonsense'. If I were to do this (and I don't) I would want a qualified/experienced person and would pay them accordingly.

If I hire a babysitter from 8pm - 11pm the boys are already in bed asleep, and she can do what she likes for the evening - watch TV, videos, DVDS, use the internet, do her homework, whatever. But she has to be in the house and adequately briefed for action in case of an emergency.

Well I assume you just hire a friend or neighbours teenager to babysit then by what your suggesting and paying roisin? But if one of your children was to wake up and was upset would a 14 yr old know how to handle that? What if one of them woke up ill, would she have the expierence or the ability to know what to do and to assess if it was serious or not?
One of the boys I babysit for quite often wakes up with nightmares screaming and very upset, he also sleep walks. But then I'm expierenced to deal with that.
But if your only paying her to sit there and watch tv and cope just incase there is a fire, I guess you don't mind if she ignores them if they wake up.
As Amy said 'I like to think i treat her with respect so she will treat me, my baby and house with respect.'
If you pay peanuts your'll probably get a monkey. ;)

I pay £10 for 3 hrs, which I don't think is peanuts, and I don't get a monkey. The girls we use are 17 and 18, one is planning to go on and do teacher training. My boys are 5 and 7 now and very rarely get up in the evening, but they know the girls well and I have no hesitation that they would cope. And in any case we are always easily contactable if not.

When the boys were little and needed more attention, we used a qualified nurse and paid her accordingly.

I don't know why you're getting on your high horse about this. I go out for the evening, a teenager comes and sits on my sofa for 3 hrs for which she gets paid £10. She's happy, I'm happy, the boys are happy. On some evenings she works in a bar and gets £5 per hr (we live oop north - wages are lower here).
Given the choice she would babysit every night - working in a bar is hard work. Sitting on my sofa is not

Sorry that should be "nursery nurse" not nurse

If I had to pay some of the prices quoted on here for babysitting, quite honestly DH and me would very rarely go out together. We are lucky enough to have parents who can do it for free, but it must make a night out very expensive! Quite shocked at some of the prices!!!

I remember babysitting as a teenager (for family), getting children ready for bed, playing, stories, and until 11-12 o'clock for £3 A NIGHT!!! When one relative gave me a £5 I was so chuffed

My how times have changed!

We have a nursery nurse from the local leisure centre creche who babysits. She charges £5 an hour and we usually go out for 4/5 hours so £20 - £25 for an evening. We feel it is worth it because she is qualified, Police checked for her job and the children know her and like her. So far we have only asked her to watch them in the evenings and both DSs have been excited to have her read them a bedtime story and have then gone to bed without any hassle leaving her to watch TV.

She did ask last time if she could bring her boyfriend over (she lives with him) and DH and I said no, I feel really bad about it as I know she just wanted some company but we don't want anyone in the house that we don't know.

You're right, Hula, we rarely go out....

My babysitter must seem lucky, but she's another qualified childminder. I pay her £20 for 2.5-3 hours, or just under £7/hr. She thinks it's a lot for me to pay her, but I think it's a lot of responsibility for her to look after a baby, a preschooler & a 5yo. Neighbours & local teenagers have offered to sit for us... but I just cannot imagine leaving the baby with them & a 3yo who still needs help (due to her frilly dress addiction) getting to the toilet.

We pay £6-£7 per hour - 4 different girls from dd's nursery - qualified and very nice. Sometimes, when they arrive, dd (21 months) is in bed, sometimes not - we still pay the same. Given choice, would use gran but she lives 40 miles away so can't - she looks after her one day each weekend.

£6 an hour (I upped it from going rate of £5 as felt it was only fair-my salary goes up sp why shouldn't the babysitter's?)
Also add on £3 for going and coming as we are a little way out of town.
Don't subscribe to changing/reducing it because the kids are in bed. They are responsible and that is that. Imagine if your line manager said 'Well, you've got an easy two days coming up so I'll adjust your salary accordingly.'
Not on!!!

What do you think of this!? Mum I know went skiing when her baby was about 9 mths for a week. Paid a girl from the nursery £200 to look after him. In nursery 5 days a wseek, but her responsiblity thereafter.

evryone seems to forget that you may spend the majority of the time on your arse babysitting but you're not 'at home' you can't switch off and relax, get the washing done, unload the dishwasher, spend time with DH etc...

I charge £7 per hour and i think that its worth it. it does make a night out more expensive (as i know being a parent and a nanny) but how often do you get the chance to go out now.

fair comments MD. if i do a weeks work 7 days and overnights it could come to £900 odd.

Too right...
Chances are, the babysitter has nothing much to do, but she is there in case of an emergency.
Many jobs are like that. Have a friend who is an anaesthetist. Describes it as 95% routine boredom, 5% absolutely s*ing bricks.
Same could probably be said of paramedics,firefighters and so on.I
would never try to shortchange a babysitter (despite cringing as I hand over £30 to her for a night lounging on my sofa nine times out of ten). Despite being morally unable to do so, would worry about it being taken out on the kids...

If I can't use my au pair, then I get a teenager from church for about £5 an hour. It works out at around £15 an evening, mostly.

well i guess that none of you would ever use me then as i charge £8 per hour and £125 for a 24 hour "proxy parenting" shift.

I have worked hard to get the salary i feel i deserve. If you are happy paying £2 an hour to a 14 year old then fine but what if something goes wrong....how will they react? Do they know the signs of meningitis for example?

Shinypeople - actually I think £125 for 24 hrs is good value. My boys are awake for about 12 hrs of the day, and I would not want to pay less than £10 ph for someone to care for them. They are extremely hard work and demanding at times, and I feel that I am 'worth' that. But what I do baulk at is paying high hourly rates for an evening shift doing nothing. I am not talking about looking after toddlers here, but primary school-aged children who are asleep in bed and extremely unlikely to wake up.

Guess not, Shiny.

It just makes me laugh how some people won't think twice about paying £10 for 2 drinks on a night out but begrudge paying it for someone to look after their children. Just because your children aren't toddlers doesn't mean they don't have nightmares, worries, or get ill.
Not to mention I probably spend at least £5 in petrol getting to and from the places I babysit so i wouldn't make much profit would I?

But a neighbourhood girl is free to transport, and if it is a teenager from further afield, we do the driving. We don't expect the babysitter to fund their own transport.

I [b]like[/b] giving work to local teens. I think it is good for them and teaches responsibility. I'd rather do that than give money to a profit-making enterprise.

I totally trust my first choice babysitter (after my au pair). She's 16 and very responsible; and she wouldn't hesitate to contact my next door neighbour or her own mother if she got into a sticky situation.

And what parent goes out without their mobile these days?

Yes, we always provide transport to our babysitters.

I think I know my kids better than you anyway. They don't get up in the evenings: it just doesn't happen. Some children do, I know. Mine don't. They go to bed (early), go to sleep, stay asleep and stay in bed.

If they were "high maintenance" in the evenings it would be different, but they're not!

The babysitters I "employ" are not doing it as a profession, they are earning pocket money, not doing it as a means of supporting themselves. I am not exploiting them, it's an arrangement of mutual satisfaction.

To be honest, rate is meant to be mutual agreement anyway. If a babysitter accepts £2 per hour, so be it - surely they should say something if that rate doesn't suit them. No?