My son is 3 1/2 months old and we have not yet left him with a babysitter. I am wondering what is a typical hourly rate for someone to watch my son for a couple of hours. Thanks as always.
We pay our babysitters $10 or more/hour (we have 3 kids) if we don't have to pick-up/drop-off the sitter. And like a previous poster, we never had a teenager babysit until our kids were a lot older. We asked around at our daycare center if any of the teachers took on additional sitter jobs. One did and she's been our sitter for 7 years. IMHO, it's worth every penny to have someone you trust and that is trained.
My personal feeling on this matter is this: I think teenagers shouldn't get more than $5 and hour. You have to think if they are working a job they are only getting paid somewhere around $5-6 an hour. I used to babysit when I was in high school and only received $5 an hour and I thought that was a lot of money. If the babysitter is a college student or nanny I would pay them $10 and hour. I don't think the college student or nanny would give you a chance if you didn't offer them that much :)
Good luck and don't give too much!
ak
I'm in Oak Park and we pay $10/hour for weekend/evening babysitting for a teenager with little experience. I think that's a little high for inexperienced, but we really want her to want to babysit for us since she's right down the block and great with the kids. We pay $11/hour for an adult who has nanny experience.
We pay highschool girl $6 an hour. If it is an adult we pay more. Paying a little more ensures they will come back. Your baby will get used to them and if the kid lives up the street all the better. $6 an hour might sound like a lot but it's really not. McDonalds pays more than that and the job is easier lol. So getting someone and paying them enough to make it worth there while is important.
Hi R.,
We've never used anyone younger than 20 to babysit our kids and we always pay $10/hour.
Yeah, it's expensive, which is why we hardly ever go out. :)
Best of luck!
M.
