What to Pay a Baby Sitter

I have no idea what to pay a babysitter, we are lucky and have family in the area. But I have been looking for families in the area to trade time with on ocasion, rather than pay babysitters. I am a teacher in Saint Paul and a mom to 1yo Noah and 3 yo Hannah.

Hi L.

Do you have a sitter you would recommend? We live in Como Lake area of St. Paul?

We have 3 year old girl.
What did you pay the sitter?

Thanks for any help.
J.

I just used a babysitter for the first time about 3 mo. ago. I have 2 children; ages 2 1/2 and 15 mos. My girlfriend referred me to her and she has two children herself. She said she paid her $10/HR. So I THINK THE GOING RATE is $10/hr, but we have 2 kids, if you only have 1 child I think $7.50 is reasonable. Times are a changing!

Hi L.,
I'm a full-time nanny and also do some babysitting on the side. I usually charge $12/ hr. for one child and this is common for an adult babysitter if they are experienced, reliable and engaged with your child. Depending on your neighborhood, you might find a teenager who will work for $5-$10/ hr. Check on Craigslist because I saw a lot of sitters who want to find babysitting hours. Look under childcare. Good luck,
L.

Hi, I sometimes have a 12 year old watching my daughter when I am in the house and she charges $5/hr. I have paid $10 for babysitters when they are college age or older. High school I usually pay around $8 - I guess I'm cheap, but I think experience counts too. I have 1 daughter 18mo.

I remember the days when I was paid $2/hr or $20 for the whole evening for four kids - times have really changed. Good luck!

For the last couple of years I've been paying about $4/hour for one. Now that I have 2, I'm paying $5/hour. GOOD LUCK!

I am a mother of 4 ranging in age from age 9 to 19 months and we pay our sitter $8.00/hr for all of them. Most of my friends with two children pay theirs around $6.00/hr.