What do you expect of your babysitter?

[milliec]

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to me what your describing is more aupair or nanny than babysitter.
i had bad babysitter experience at weekend(she buggered off and left children while she checked on her dog!)
your new one sounds amazing!

our kids are always in bed when sitter arrives, sounds you have a gem there!

but if they werent I wouldn't expect dishes to be done, or floors mopped or kitchens tidied up. maybe toys put away that they were playing with, but nothing else.

how much do you all pay your babysitters?

I don't expect a babysitter to do more than just sit there frankly as my kids always in bed.
However I had to go out early tonight and she put them to bed which was a heavenly treat for me as i have done it alone every night for six weeks.

I could have wept with gratitude.

£6 an hour

£5 an hour

DS's babysitters are all from his nursery and qualified.

They will get him snacks, interact with him, get him into his pyjamas and supervise tooth-brushing, read him stories and put him to bed (if we have had to go out before bedtime).

I would never expect them to wash up, clean or tidy. They are babysitters, not cleaners or au pairs.

We pay £8 an hour (SW London, that's a fairly typical going rate around here) plus in theory transport home but in practice with the sitters we happen to use that's not an issue.

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id hang on to her while youve got her.send her down to cornwall too!

i expect DS in bed, fed and warm. I don't expect any washing up or cleaning done, although it's courteous for toys to be picked up after him.

I also expect them to sit on their bum, watch telly and probably be quite bored waiting for us to come home!

I always put my boys in bed before baby sitter arrives - tbh we have only ever used friends daughter who is 15 so would never expect her to put them to bed for me. If we have family round to babysit, then they do everything!

£5 an hour

Usually it's our cleaner who babysits. She gets the same £9 per hour that we give her during the day here in London, but usually she'll need to put 3yo ds3 to bed, and make sure the 3 older ones have obeyed lights out ! Also, although i always tell her to sit down and watch tv once ds3 is asleep, she'll usually do a load of washing/ironing, and will have wiped down kitchen surfaces if we need to get out of the house while it's still teatime.

Once, for a midweek babysit, she asked how long we were likely to be. i said not to worry it won't be too late as it's midweek; that wasn't her concern, she was just toting up hpw much ironing she could fit in !

(She told me she's addicted to ironing ..and no you can't have her number !)

Ensure the children are alive when I return.
Drink my tea
Drink my wine
Eat my biscuits
Watch my DVDs
Surf my web
£8 per hour (SW London too)

Milliec , you are asking it seems more than someone to babysit .

I babysit quite often , the most I have to do is put a child to bed and read a story , but parents have already feed and bathed them.

I charge £5 per hour . I work at a pre school and currently studing NVQ3.

I have been tempted to put my price up to £6 per hour but most of the time I am just watching TV or doing my studying.

Keep hold of the new one

I have only ever left my daughter with quite old (25-ish) and experienced babysitters who aren't fazed by the fact that she goes to bed very late.

I pay 10/11 euros an hour plus taxi home if after 12.30. They get to eat supper with my daughter (very nice food, laid out by me and no cooking) which I expect them to clear up. I also expect them to play puzzles, dolls, read books etc but they can also watch a DVD with her if that's what she wants - basically they have to do what she says to keep her happy. That can include a bath.

Milliec I have to agree with the couple of posters who say your requirements are a little more than babysitting, given how early you need to get out to your meetings. Your current lady sounds great ! Would it be worth bunging on an extra 50p per hour, and clarify how great it is, and how appreciative you are, that all the cleaning/tidying is done, and dd quiet or even asleep into the bargain ? The extra money would be to acknowledge that these lovely "extras" are now duties because you're paying more than babysitting rates. Then you've a better chance of her staying. If you do 3 meetings a month and maybe a trip to the cinema or a restaurant, that's weekly, and worth having a long term reliable person in place, imo.

wow, is £5 plus an hour the going rate for a babysitter?

i know. that's why i can't afford one!!

Minimum wage is £5.52 an hour (or £4.60 for 18-21, or £3.40 an hour for 16-18) so it doesn't seem unreasonable or surprising to pay £5 plus an hour (granted, babysitting isn't normally an onerous job, but it is responsible).

I used to put small kids to bed as a teen age baby sitter. The kids were mostly age 3-8 and I knew a lot of them from church families or beaver scouts, once child in bed I got to raid bookshelfs, do my home work & eat bisciuts. no washing up unless I felt very guity about the number of biscuits.
Now I havn't yet asked a baby sitter to put boy to bed (only 19m). I do expect them to keep an ear out for crying and comfort and re settle if needed. I expect to pay 5 an hour unless its a friend doing a swap with me.
Mostly I expect it to be 5 quid easy money , BUT if child is sick or inconsolable its not easy money.

if you advertise for a babysitter youll get a babysitter, you seem to be wanting a adhoc/parttime/eveing nanny??..you need to be much clearer on this and what you expect of them, taking into consideration their pay.

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iF your first babysitter knew what was expected of her and she left dirty plates on floor then you are better off without her .

I babysat for a regular family last night , after putting their daughter to bed , it was lovely to sit down and relax , if you know what I mean. If I was at home i'd be thinking , right ironing needs to be done , this needs to be done etc etc.

BTW - I do check the children everyhour so I dont completely chill out !

well if they have all known what was expected then she was out of order, so glad youre sorted with this one..tbh, shes not superwoman, shes just doing wha youve asked , other one ignored yourr equests!, but glad shes nice!

Omg 5quid an hour???? I used to babysit when i was 14 for 5quid a night! I used to bath, feed, play n put kids to bed (5) n (3). I used to wash the dishes that me n the kids used, tidyed up toys and put their dirty clothes in washer ready for their mum in the morning