I have recently started working 10-15 hours a week after being a SAHM for a while. Right now my oldest is in school when I work and my youngest is in preschool. I am thinking ahead to the summer and was thinking I could hire a neighborhood teenager to watch my 2 kids for 2 days a week. Then I will have the rest of the week to play with my kids! There are 2 teenagres that both said they would be interested. Both are mature and responsible kids and have babysat and dogsat for us in the past. Our kids love them both. One is a 14 year old boy (almost 15) who will be going into his sophmore year in high school. One is a 16 year old girl (almost 17) going into her senior year. One, I have to decide who to hire. And my main question is, what would you offer to pay? They will have my kids for 5-6 hours a day for 2 days. Our kids are ages 8 and 3.5 yrs. They will be at our house and can walk to the park or ride bikes. Let me know what you think a fair hourly rate is. Thank you!
Keep them both. Because things come up and you will need a backup, guaranteed. My daughter got paid $8/hr for summer babysitting. Which I think is fair. Maybe alternate weeks or days between the two sitters.
I would hire both... one for each day. Two days a week for a HS student is a big commitment and HS students (no matter how mature) are not known for their consistency.
What to pay them? $8-$10 an hour would be fair.
Also make sure to have very clear parameters regarding:
- Hours of working (time to arrive and time to plan on leaving)
- Use of cell phone during "work hours"
- Where they are permitted to walk with your children (I would not allow bikes)
- Whether or not they are permitted to have friends join them
- Structure of the day... a HS student is not going to "know" how to structure a FULL day for two young children, so please leave them a suggested schedule, including leaving out any videos that are OK and lunches either premade or easy to assembly in the fridge. To get a feel for what may work, ask your child's preschool teacher for a copy of their daily schedule (if you don't already have it).
$8- $10 an hour.
and yes, see if you can work them both into the schedule.
good for you. your kids will love this arrangement! i wish more moms would take advantage of good teenagers as babysitters and mothers' helpers.
:) khairete
S.
I would hire both. ( I have my two kids in two differnt home daycares and it is working out very well) That way if one is sick, you can fall back on the other, or if one has vacation with the family. Options is always the best. also both have differnt things to offer. Boys are more "playful" more rugged. Girls are more set back relaxed.. They offer different experiences to your kids. One day might be a painting pictures day and the other could be a build a fort and break it down type of day.
What to pay.. well you can do a flat day rate or you can hourly. $5-$=10 and hr or maybe 30-45 a day?
Good luck.
If they both are qualified and your children like them both, I would be inclined to hire them both. That way, they each have 1 day of work a week, it also frees up their week for extra social time with friends, and you have a backup if one of them get sick, go on vacation, etc.
I don't know your area but in our area the going sitter rate is $10/hour.
My 18 yr old averages $12-$15 per hour CASH for her weekend sitting jobs. She gets booked up to 6 weeks in advance as well because she is pretty popular with the parents and children. She keeps the children active and busy.
Good luck.
In my experience the boys are better with the kids then the girls. When boys babysit they tend to get down and play with the kids, while girls tend to talk on the phone and roll their eyes alot. I would have them each babysit a couple of times on the weekends, then see who worked out best or who your kids liked best. I would offer minimum wage at least.
I would hire the girl for babysitting and the boy to take the dog out for walks. Thats a long day for a 14 year old boy to watch little children. Just from experience I think girls are a better choice when you have a daughter.
I'm not sure about pay......
but what about hiring both? Each for one day? Would they prefer that?
The best way to figure this is out is to see what the going rate for teens in your area is. I have found that it varies vastly region by region.
This might help, and if you aren't looking for hourly maybe do a flat rate.
http://childcare.about.com/od/occasionalcare/qt/babysitte...
Okay. No need to read anymore responses. Krista P. said what I was thinking---1 per day. That way no feelings are hurt and your kids get the best of both teens.
If you hire both of them, make sure you pay them the same. They may "compare notes" and it will really cause a mess if they find out that one is making more money than the other.
Dawn
I babysat for a family with elementary aged boys when I was about 16-17. I watched them every weekday in the summer while we were out of school. Whoever you hire, you can ask if the other person will be your back up person and you might want to keep the other kid on call for date nights so it's not just the weekly person babysitting. I'd probably hire the older teen for a routine gig, especially if she has her own transportation. But you could certainly hire both for 1 day per week and keep them both for date night, too.
What to pay? Our niece gets an average of $10/hr for watching our 4 yr old. I would average it out and say, "So what about $120 for the week?" or offer a daily rate, with them knowing it could be 5 or 6 hours.
