My 13 year old daughter is about to start some serious babysitting. She took the babysitting course when she was 11 and has had several jobs since then. She thinks she should now be charging $10/hour based on what her friends tell her they charge but I think it should be more around $6 based on her age. I used to pay my senior high school/college sitters $10/hr. We decided to take a poll to come up with a fair amount. Your thoughts or experiences with either your children who babysit or what you pay your sitters, please? We are in the north shore suburban area of Chicago.
Extra details: She has been making $5/hour plus tip (and sometimes more) since she was 11 yrs old. Her $10/hr friends DO get jobs but I believe mostly from family. She is a very good (fun) sitter and makes sure to wash all dishes & put toys away so that must account for some of her big tips :) She has had first aid & CPR classes too. I just hope she never needs to use that knowledge!
Well after discussing the answers and seemingly settling on asking $6 or 7/hour, she had a neighbor ask what her rate was for babysitting and her response was, "whatever you feel comfortable paying me!" She said it isn't easy for her to tell them an amount. This particular neighbor is known for not paying much at all ($2-3/hour) and has a fairly high maintenance child. I think, in time, my daughter will develop a comfortable response and be able to ask what she feels her time is worth without it being excessive. Thank you all for your comments.
Well who knows.
Your daughter's friends who charge $10/hour, gets jobs?
There are adult Child Care Providers.... who make less than that per hour. And they are adults, who do this as a career. And they are CPR certified and First Aid, certified.
I don't know about Chicagoland but MN is usually somewhat similar. I pay my college educated, experienced babysitter $10/hour for one and $12-$13 for 2. Given she's 13 I would say $6-$8 for 1 kid and up from there. Once she can drive and has more experience I would say she could go up to $10. But again, if her friends really get $10, then she could try for it. I would ask how many kids though and get more facts.
My 14-year-old babysits. She is CPR certified and has taken the babysitting course through Central DuPage Hospital. She doesn't actually have a set fee she charges. She takes what she gets, and people pay her between $5 and $10 an hour, depending on the number of kids.
Once she is older and can drive herself, I think people will pay her more. The going rate around here really is $10. I paid that years ago when I had babysitters for her. I always believed that if you paid well, sitters would keep coming back... and that way I always had a sitter if I needed one. I never did have a sitter tell me what she charged. They always took what I gave them.
I think $10 sounds a little steep for a 13-year-old. I think $8 sounds more reasonable.
Wow, showing my age and that I don't use babysitters, I remeber when I did it, back in the late 80's to 90's and be really lucky to get $5/hr, those were the ones who came home really drunk and didn't realize what they paid me. LOL; Since her friends charge $10, I might do $8; under bid them and get more business, it also really depends on the kids, how many are they good or bad... I had these 2 little boys who I hated babysitting for, but did it anyway...
We are in Arlington Heights and the official rate I'm paying my babysitter (who is 14) is $8.00. I usually give him a tip and/or round up the hour and with that he always gets at least $10.00 an hour. In my head I can rationalize paying $8.00 and giving an generous tip much better than being charged $10.00. But if I found a babysitter and I'd ask how much she wants and she said $10.00 I would probably go for it, too.
Sorry. I think of a baby sitter as someone who comes over and watches the kids so you can have an evening out. Most adults I know don't even make $10 per hour in their full time jobs so there is no way in heck I would pay a teen over $5 per hour for the kids.
I pay my adult babysitter $20 for up to 4 hours with one child and $30 for both kids up to 4 hours. I am not going to pay fer $40-$50 for one evening while I work for $8 per hour.
I would not pay a 13 year old the same as a college educated adult. I would probably pay $5 an hour.
