I am a stay at home mom, living on Long Island with two kids ages 11 & 8. Whenever my husband and I go out on a date night we have always had one of the kids Grandmother's or my sister babysit because I was always way too paranoid to hire a babysitter and I am very lucky to have family close by. We are going out on Saturday night and for the very first time hiring a babysitter. The babysitter is the daughter of one of my girlfriends and I have known her for years and feel very comfortable leaving my kids with her....the question is...how much do you pay a babysitter???? Since I have never done this I have absolutely no idea. The babysitter is a 14 year old girl in the 9th grade. She will be here for about 5 hours and my kids will be awake the whole time. My kids are very well behaved and I don't expect that they will give her any trouble at all. I plan on renting them a movie to watch and I will have dinner prepared in advance so all she has to do is microwave plates when dinner time rolls around. I asked my girlfriend how much I should pay her daughter and she told me to pay her whatever I thought was fair. I certainly don't want to be cheap, but I don't want to go completely overboard either....What do the rest of you Mamma's do?????
It really varies by region. In my area $10 is standard, although for time when the kids are mostly asleep but not overnight sitting, or for youngish sitters $8 + tip, or a "night" fee (like $25 + dinner, or $40 for the night) works as well.
I live fairly close to you.
The going rate around here is about $10. For mother's helpers it's $5.
Seeing as your sitter is young and your kids are older I think you could probably get away with $8.
Good luck!
We pay $7 an hour for 2 girls that are 7 & 4. Your girls are much older and can do more for themselves than mine can. I think $30-$35 for 5 hours is fair especially since she is only 14. Once you get a sitter that is older and can have a real job it's nice to pay them a little more. Just remember that you might need her again and you want her to be willing to sit for you the next time you need her. You can always give her a little extra next time if you think she went above and beyond just babysitting. When we have a sitter for a long day trip (ballgame type thing) then we pay a flat fee of no more than $50. We have favorite sitters that play games with the girls, do arts & crafts...things like that. Those are the sitters that we ask first. Hope this helps!
Since your kids can pretty much take care of themselves at that age and she won't have to do much, I would think $30 is fair.
I don't have experience paying for an evening babysitter, but I have a 13 year old who will soon start babysitting. I think the price depends on a few things... the ages of the kids, will be they up or asleep, do you expect the babysitter to do dishes or other chores, would you like to see her come back on a regular basis or at least once in a while ( I think this is a big one)? Make your expectations clear on what you want them to do regarding dishes, playing , tv watching etc. A good babysitter will be in demand and you want to pay her enough so she will want to come back. I remember when I was a kid my parents had a regular Saturday night out and my sister and I always requested a favorite babysitter. It is worth paying a bit more to have someone who knows your routines and your children enjoy, if you pay too little, you might not get a great service from them...
I'm in CA and we pay our baby sitter $12 an hour to watch our 2 and 4 year olds. I tell her family usually watches the kids and you aren't sure what to pay and ask her what her rate is. If it is that or below then I would think it's fair and will keep her coming back. Having a consistant baby sitter for a little more is worth more to me than paying a stranger down the street. =)
Ask her what she charges. If she doesn't care, then start from there. My daughter makes $5 an hour for one child. This child is a high maintenance 3 year old so I'm not sure if this is good or not...LOL Good luck!
Here we pay $5 an hour for 2 children, 5 and 6. For older kids like yours I would think that would be more than sufficient. I usually add $5 to the top, so 2 hours I pay $15, 3 would be $20 ect..
Probably between $8 and $12 an hour. If you go much below minimum wage you won't hang on to her and if she is a good sitter you will want to keep her.
Every area differs. My area is a higher paying area vs a rural area.
When we used sitters, we guaranteed $40 CASH. She saved the night for us so even if we cancelled, we paid. We added on top of that the number of hours. Our date nights were usually $60-$80 CASH. Date night is a priority and we still do it weekly.
Our daughter is 15 and she now babysits. She sat 2 and 1/2 hrs for 1 family of 3 children 6 and under last week and was paid $30. Our neighbor with 3 very highly active girls under 8 recently paid her $40 CASH for 2 hours.
We usually paid more vs less to make sure we got a good sitter and that sitter usually stayed loyal to us. Pay well and you keep a good sitter.
Given the circumstances, I would say that $6 and hour would be fair.
Please take into consideration that I have no experience with this and have always been under the impression that a babysitter makes less than minimum wage...and my first thought was to just give her $40...but that would be paying her $8 an hour and I thought that was a bit much.
Regarding Emily E's answer, is that $8 an hour? Surely it is...
I think for a 14 year old, watching 2 well mannered older children, I think I'd give her about $40. However little she may have to do in actuality, it is still a big responsibility, and should be treated as such. Plus, if she feels well compensated, she may enjoy sitting for your kids again, and will no doubt do a good job at caring for them and entertaining them, knowing how well she was paid in the past.
Just my opinion, and I am speaking from NO experience! My mom is the only person that watches my son, at least at this point. He's only 4 1/2.
Good luck with whatever you decide!
