Babysitting rates in your area??

[TatumsMom]

My daughter is starting to babysit - well, officially, that is. She is the oldest (14 years) with about 15 younger cousins (some are my best friends kids that are considered "cousins" ) all under the age of 11 down to 3 years so she has LOTS of experience with young kids and really loves it. She's been paid here and there by some of the cousins moms when she watches their kids but now that she's getting asked by others to babysit, we're just not sure what the going rate is. I know it's different in all areas but when someone asks "what does she charge", it's hard to know what to tell them. She's supposed to be asking some friends at school to see if she can find out but I thought I'd throw that question out here too.

Thanks in advance!!

[bchgirl]

A lot more than the 50¢ an hour I earned. LOL. Going rate here is 6 bucks an hour....sometimes more than that. My daughter has earned $50 in one evening...I told her...I would've had to watch some kid almost 4 days straight to get that. Heck I remember counting up the hours just to reach 5 bucks.

[ladybugg74]

In our area maybe 10.00-15.00 for a night maybe 5-6 hours. That is for one child.

[TatumsMom]

Originally Posted by ladybugg74

In our area maybe 10.00-15.00 for a night maybe 5-6 hours. That is for one child.

Hmmm, that sounds kinda low. That would be less than $3 an hour.

I am thinking somewhere in the 5 to 6 dollar range but wasn't sure. Thanks for the responses.

[mizzwanned]

It all depends on the area and the experience. Since she is 14 i think she can ask for $6 or $7 an hour. At 14 i used to get like $5 an hour. Now i get $15 or more but i am 21 with experience, i havent babysat in a while tho except my baby niece. I think $7 is good. See what the family says

[RebelBelle]

My cousin Jennie charges $5 an hour for 1 child with an additional $2.50 for each extra child per hour. So if she were watching 2 kids, she'd make $7.50 an hour. For 3 kids, she'd make $10 an hour. Not a bad business if you can find parents with a busy social life and money to burn.

I made $2/hr back when I babysat and there was no additional child fee...

[MissPinkBarbie]

My babysitter charges $20 an hour. It sure adds up, I tell ya!

The avg rate around here is $15-$20 an hour.

[autumn star]

I pay my babysitter $10 per hour for my two. My two are 9 and 6 so all and are very independent, she just needs to make sure nothing happens to them.

[ashleere]

In my area if they are CPR certified they can et at least $10.00 an hour. If not usually min wage $8.00 to $8.50. Good luck and have fun.

[TatumsMom]

Originally Posted by MissPinkBarbie

My babysitter charges $20 an hour. It sure adds up, I tell ya!

The avg rate around here is $15-$20 an hour.

Wow! That's steep. I think for our area, the 5 or 6 bucks plus $2.50 per additional child sounds more like what she could get. Even maybe $10 for two but I doubt she could get more.

I had 3 sisters (one newborn plus a 9 and 11 year old) that I babysat for about 4 years before they moved away. I had a standing once a week time when they went bowling plus full weekends when they went out of town. I got paid pretty well but that was over 20 years ago. I loved it though. They actually flew back from Florida for the girls to be in my wedding a few years later. And I saw the two older girls last year when they came back to town for their dad's funeral. Plus I had summer sitting jobs where the kids were a little older but their parents just didn't trust them to behave all day while they were at work. Those were easy! I'm hoping for my daughters to find families like that to babysit for on a regular basis.

Thank you all for your responses!

[TatumsMom]

Originally Posted by ashleere

In my area if they are CPR certified they can et at least $10.00 an hour. If not usually min wage $8.00 to $8.50. Good luck and have fun.

Yes, I have tried to get her in a First Aid certified course but the Red Cross in our town doesn't do that anymore and the surrounding towns have waiting lists where they are waiting to have enough kids interested to warrant having the teacher come from far away to do the class. It's not a large city where I have a ton of opportunities to find a class like that. We're still wanting to do that though. It's a good idea anyway.

[TatumsMom]

Originally Posted by mizzwanned

It all depends on the area and the experience. Since she is 14 i think she can ask for $6 or $7 an hour. At 14 i used to get like $5 an hour. Now i get $15 or more but i am 21 with experience, i havent babysat in a while tho except my baby niece. I think $7 is good. See what the family says

Yeah, well.... as far as what the family says..... when I told my cousin's wife that I think the going rate is $5-6, she said she once had a nanny that charged $6 an hour but also did stuff around the house all day so she couldn't see paying my daughter that much. Shoot, I almost told her.... why did you let her go? Give her a call! That's cheap! Seriously, the two kids she's wanting Skylar to babysit are 1 and 2 years old. The two year old you have to watch constantly or he will climb on the roof of the house! I would say those two are worth at least 6 bucks an hour!

[hartygirl]

$10 is fair across the board for your daughters age. Especially if she has to bathe, feed or change diapers. Baby sitting is hard work people, its not just entertaining!

[TatumsMom]

Originally Posted by hartygirl

$10 is fair across the board for your daughters age. Especially if she has to bathe, feed or change diapers. Baby sitting is hard work people, its not just entertaining!

I think that's fair also for two boys 1 and 2 years old - especially this 2 year old - but I don't think the mom is willing to go that high. She usually uses her 15 year old daughter to do all the babysitting but I think her daughter recently rebelled and they've come to realize that it wasn't fair to her to make her do it all the time. We'll see what they offer the first time.

[Charmed777]

Originally Posted by TatumsMom

I think that's fair also for two boys 1 and 2 years old - especially this 2 year old - but I don't think the mom is willing to go that high. She usually uses her 15 year old daughter to do all the babysitting but I think her daughter recently rebelled and they've come to realize that it wasn't fair to her to make her do it all the time. We'll see what they offer the first time.

Sounds like they may be headed down the road of trying to take advantage and if that happens, I hope she finds other, more reasonable and generous families to sit for. That is practically indentured servant wages these days.