Husband and I are going away for a week... how much to pay the babysitter?

[LondonLisa]

My husband and I will be going on our first holiday away from our 22-month-old daughter. We have someone from her nursery staying with her for the 7 days we are away. This will mean the sitter will take our daughter home from nursery (6-ish) and stay all night and bring her to nursery the next day. Repeat. This will also overlap 2 weekends.
Any idea what fair pay would be? I don't want to skimp but I also don't want to be... ostentatious, if that makes sense.
We usually pay this sitter £8/hr if that helps.
Any suggestions are appreciated.

Gasp! Have never had a message deleted before, in all my years on MN. Is this some kind of ritual that we all have to go through?

congratulations speedy !

you popped your deletion cherry

actually, I read your post and thought it was completely sensible and not at all worthy of deletion

I am sure I have said much worse about our lovely anna

weird

still in shock at the idea of Taco Bells in the UK.

I also thought Speedys post was eminently sensible!

Damn! Missed it.

Its pretty normal to do this if you ever frequent US parenting forums. Although normally its a full time Nanny that stays in the house and lives there if they don't already live there.

Dh and I went away for a week when our DD's were 20mths and 5yo. They stayed with grandparents (who they see every 1-2 weeks and had stayed over for weekends before) and they were taken to school and nursery as normal. I think it'd have been better if they could have stayed in their own house but grandma preferred to have them at hers.

We've not had the opportunity to go away for a whole week again (and are unlikely to) but we try to have a child-free weekend or long weekend away at least once a year. It does wonders for our marriage.

I don't see a problem with what the OP proposed if the caregiver has a bond with the child and she's being cared for in her own house. As for payment she should be paid for every hour she's responsible for the child plus another 25-50% on top. But Laquitar makes a good point about the risk of illnesses and needing a contingency for that.

I haven't read the whole thread but i imagine its mostly full of judgemental hysteria.

Sorry - can anyone explain what 'OP' is?

Aww, thanks Quinty and AnyFucker. It was a long time coming, I can tell you - I've been holding back for aaaages and I actually thought what I said was quite reserved!

Is it even legal to employ someone for this length of time with no breaks? (not read whole thread btw so don't know if this has been raised)

it was very reserved and ladylike speedy, much more so that was actually deserved

have never known you be nasty before and not now

wear your cherry with pride

muminlondon....OP means original post or original poster

ROFL! AnyFucker, you are a Dame!

exploding it has been and the answer is proxy parents are usually self employed so the working time directive doesn't apply. MNs typically work 24/6 for up to 6 months at a time.

I really don't get the huge controversey- yes it's a choice I wouldn't make, nor would many on here, but it's what the OP plans to do and as has been pointed out is nit that uncommon. More usual to leave children with a full time nanny they already know and who knows the house but I have done similar jobs in the past and probably will again!

I think it was me who said op was "entitled" to want time away with her dh. Well, that was a bad choice of a word. I take it back. What I meant was, there is nothing wrong with her wanting some time away with her dh. She's allowed to feel that way. Not all may agree, but people can feel as they wish. That's what I meant.

I'm curious to know if LondonLisa has changed her mind about going away having read all the various posts! The potential for things going wrong (baby could get sick, one or both parents could have an accident away etc.), one thing to bear in mind is that a child under 2 literally thinks they are going to die if they cannot smell their Mum for 8 hours. Which is why it's recommended that if it's essential for you to leave your child for anything longer than 8 hours (& I'm talking a hospital stay when I say essential), you leave behind an item of clothing that smells strongly of you. Like a top you've been for a jog in. There is no doubt the child will be traumatised by the experience and it's doubtful that a nursery worker, having had a stressful day at work, is ideally placed to provide the level of care required and especially so for a child who will be very upset and anxious.

Granard, interesting that you say that. There was an article in the Grauniad about the effect of childhood separation from their parents. It was in the Guardian Family section a couple of weekends ago, and basically backed up a summary of what you're saying.