Posted by unregistered user at 5/12/08 11:27 a.m.

I like to pay teenage babysitters $25 - $30 a night, I think that is like $5 a hour and I provide dinner which is usually pizza. I only ask that they clean up after themselves. I would rather them have their focus to be on my child and not on my dirty laundry. I really like to get older people to watch her, they like to do it in their home, which is great since my house is usually messy and they will usually do it for free.

Missy

Posted by unregistered user at 5/12/08 11:51 a.m.

I paid my babysitter (i.e., step-daughter) $2.50 per child per hour. It usually ended up being around $30 for the evening. If it got to be too much, we'd round down quite a bit.

I asked her multiple times to clean up the dishes after they eat and make sure the kids clean up and get to bed on time, etc., etc., and I've never been happy with the results.

It would seem (to me) that kids don't feel like they have to do anything other than watch the kids while they're hanging out at your house. It's a gripe of mine. I mean, all I'm asking is to clear the dishes and stick them in the dishwasher.

Things have definitely changed since I was a kid, getting $2/hour for watching 3 kids AND being expected to clean up!

Posted by unregistered user at 5/12/08 5:06 p.m.

We pay $12-15 per hour for two school age boys but restrict our sitters to young adults who are expected to be able to prepare a simple meal, drop a kid at a sports practice or orthodontist appointment and help will homework. We don't expect clean-up other than restoring things to the condition they were in before we left.

Posted by Christina Hyun at 5/12/08 11:53 p.m.

I pay $6-$8/hr depending on how old they are and what I know they will do as far as following my directions regarding things like dinner prep/clean up. I do expect sitters to at least put their dishes in the DW (just like my own kids do) and clean off the kitchen table. I appreciate it if the sitter has enough common sense to direct my kids to clean up the mess they made during the evening, whether that be in the livingroom or elsewhere.

But I also know if I don't totally spell out my directions in minute detail that no sitter I hire will think to take care of these things on their own. That's kind of disappointing to be honest. I agree w/ the 2nd commenter that sitters used to know to do more. Not so any longer. This is something I've been thinking about for a while -- wondering WHY it's changed so significantly...and not for the better IMHO.

Thanks for all the input. I appreciate you all taking time to leave your answers.

-bm

Posted by unregistered user at 5/13/08 5:47 a.m.

Young teen babysitters should take the Red Cross babysitting class. It teaches skills they might not have and a CPR class would be good too.

Posted by Christina Hyun at 5/13/08 10:06 a.m.

128154,
Those are good suggestions, although I don't think those classes teach basic household common sense - ex: loading the dishwasher or not leaving dirty plates in the livingroom. I've heard there are general babysitting classes for basics like this, but none of us in my generation took classes. I think our parents taught us.

-bm

Posted by markira at 5/14/08 4:38 p.m.

I don't pay for babysitters because by the time I've got the sitter and whatever the evening out itself is going to cost, I'm in small-loan territory.

Offering a kid-watching exchange with a friend who is a parent is another option. I'm fortunate in having the kids going with X on a regular basis, plus parents who live 15 minutes away.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/19/08 10:30 a.m.

As a teacher of the safer sitter class www.safesitter.org, I can tell you, you should never ask a sitter to cook and make sure your sitter has had some sort of safty tranning. We live in a scary time, and who you trust your children to is important! Ask for references, based on all the above infor, offer a price YOU think is fair.
Tanna