Last night we had a birthday celebration amongst my group of friends. I was going to take the kids with me but one of the older cheerleaders (she's going into 7th grade, very responsible, and is just AMAZING with my kids) offered to babysit at her house. I graciously took her up on the offer and away I went.
The kids were with her for a total of 3 hours. We didn't talk about price because she kept saying she just loved hanging out with my kids and didn't want any money. This was my very first time ever paying for a sitter and I wanted to get it right. At her age, she doesn't realize how much of a help her offering was. I figured that I would pay her $5.00/hour/kid, which equals $30. On the way home she calls me and informs me that I paid her WAY too much to just have fun with the kids. She was willing to give me all but $5.00 back! I told her how much I appreciated it and wasn't going to take any back, she deserved it.
So my question to you fellow bloggers, did I over pay? What IS the going rate for kid-sitters?
3 comments:
Sounds normal. 10-15 years ago, I used to get paid $5/hr. per kid. BUT, that was putting them to bed too. If it's just playing for a few hours, maybe less.
Around here its usually $10/hr for 2-3 kids. I might pay $8/hr if they were younger than 16 (for 2 kids). I figure, they are responsible for the well being of your kids.... can never pay too much for that, in my opinion.
I think it's too much. That being said, we always overpay our babysitter as well. We don't use a babysitter often because C's parents usually watch them for us. So when we use a sitter, I like to make it worth their while so they will say yes next time. But should these kids who are too young to get a job really be getting paid more than minimum wage? Especially with older kids like yours who don't require a lot more than just playing with them and having fun.
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