Hi, I am a mother of three children myself and a couple days a week I babysit a 4 and 7 yr old for about 10 hrs a day. I get paid 100 dollars a month. The children's parents recently asked me to watch them five days a week and would be willing to pay me 200 a month. I personally think this is not enough and I was curious about what is the average rate you would charge in this situation for babysitting.
I would assume that you have the 4 year old all day and the 7 year old just before and/or after school. For all day care full time for the 4 year old, I would think that would be at least $100 a week (probably more like $125) and for the older child I would say another $50 a week. I would ask for at least $150 per week for this type of arrangement. They are only wanting to pay about $50 a week and that is totally ridiculous!
I watch twins who are 7 after school for about an hour up to an hour and a half. I get $50 a week just for that. You should already be getting paid a lot more than you are. For 10 hour days 5 days a week you should be getting at least $200 a week. Most people charge around $125 for 8 hours a day. It seems to me that they are trying to take advantage of you. I would print everyones responses and also call a few day cares and get price quotes to present to the parents when you inform them of how much you would like. That way they can't accuse you of overcharging them. Stick your ground and if you need/want that extra money then go slightly lower than what they would pay elsewhere. Then you can inform them that they couldn't go anywhere else for that price. If they don't take your offer then let them go see what they would REALLY have to pay elsewhere and they will probably come back to you. I hope this helps.
I don't know exactly what you might want to ask for as far as money. However I take my 10 month old daughter to an in-home daycare 5 days a week from 8:15-6:00 and pay $100 a week. Therefore if you were only getting $100 for a whole month for 2 kids multiple times a week, then you should definitly be getting more for 5 days a week. I would at least suggest $150 a week for both the kids. Hope this helps, and good luck!
Hello C.. Oh my, you are soooo underpaid. Teenagers get at least $5.00 to $10.00 an hour for babysitting. I personally would ask for $25.00 a day per child for a 8-10 hour day. Part time kids - just say 4-5 hours I would ask for $10-$15 a day. I think these parents are taking advantage of you. I'm not sure what your relationship is with them, if their your friends, I can understand you. If you are their sitter, then you are a somewhat a professional, they need to realize this. You of course can handle this your way, but I really can't believe the parents of these children only pay you $100. per month. You know daycares ask $35-$50 per day. Well I hope you will stand up for yourself, your definately not getting paid enough. In reality you are making way below minimum wage, $1.25 an hour is surely not enough to exist on for anyone, and if your watching them 10hrs. a day it is even less.($200.00 per month/160hrs(8hrs.x5days=40hrsx4wks). I hope you will talk to the parents. You might even want to print some of these responses so the parents can see how much other sitters are getting paid. I know life is not fair, but wow, all the work you do to provide a safe, loving, learning atmosphere for these children, I hope you realize now that you are truely not paid enough. In fairness to you, your quite the individual for doing this, sitting is not an easy job, I definately know from experience. I wish you luck. God Bless.
Hi, my name is T. and I am a stay at home mom and have baby sat in my home for 4 years. I used to charge $3 an hour per child but I stopped that when I talked to other sitters and I currently charge $25 a day per child for full time. Don't let people take advantage of you. Baby sitting is a stressfull job, make it worth your while.
Wow u r doing them a huge favor! i do in home daycare but charge 25 - 30.00 a day for each child no matter how long they r there, and believe me there isn't a cheaper place, we are all about the same, and you deserve it! explain what you think is fair for payment. stay firm, i know it is hard. if you can't ask them face to face- try writing it down first. if it doesn't work out and you still want to babysit, make a flyer and hand it up at a local grocery store or hand them out to people. hope this helps!
I agree with the other ladies. I pay my babysitter either $110/wk for full-time or $35/day (or $3.50/hr-- I pay an extra hour just in case.). So I think asking for a little more money isn't all too bad. I think asking $100 a week to keep them would be fine. I thought my babysitter was cheap - but she provides excellent care for my child. So I don't mind paying her the money.
I would just suggest to them that you thought about how much to charge them for the month and you felt that $400 a month would be more than fair. Especially for keeping them full-time/10 hours per day. They will pay if they feel you are an adequate caregiver. People charge way more than that - so you were a steal!! :-)
Keep up the great work. Us working mom's appreciate it!!! :-)
K.
