How much do you pay your babysitter?

[herm4]

My DD has been asked to babysit for a 2year old. The lady asked her what she charged per hour. My DD just said, "what ever you think is reasonable". We have never used babysitters for our kids and have no clue what the going rate is....

[PrincessPerky]

The going rate is huge...but I don't pay it...

I have heard from 10-20 dollars an hour..which you know for quality care is really worth it, kids are important, but since we can't afford it we don't pay it. (a night out is expensive enough!)

We do pay a flat fee of 20$ plus taking the girl home for watching 3 kids at bedtime (an hour of awake time, the rest sleeping kids)

We also get free family care, though if they ever had to come here we would pay the same 20.

[herm4]

OMG! 10-20 dollars!! That is so expensive. My daughter was thinking more like $4 an hour.

[Ima saver]

When my daughter use to baby sit 25 years ago, she charged $1 an hour. $20 an hour is more than most men make an hour doing construction work! (around here)

[mom-from-missouri]

The last time I had one (for 3 kids) I paid her $18 an hour-she came to our home. That was about a year ago and it was for almost 4 hours.

[zetta]

In our area the going rate seems to be $12-$15/hr for the first kid, plus an extra $2 for each additional kid.

[jodi]

Holy cow! We just raised what we paid our sitter and it would be peanuts in some parts of the country! (although I think it's quite appropriate, even generous, given her age and our rural location). Last year, we paid our sitter $15/night for three hours - two very easy kids, ages 2 and 3. This year, we pay $20/night. Our sitter is only 14, so I think almost $7/hour is generous. If it were a teenager who can make more than that at McDonald's, I might pay a little bit more.
We are very fortunate to have family who can help. We just need the sitter on bowling night when the rest of our family is bowling with us

Depending on her age and experience, $4-5 may reasonable (particularly if she's 13-14 years old and just starting out babysitting). It's a good way to get referrals for future jobs too. I used to work for $2-3/hr. when I was a young teenager (15 years ago).

[Snave]

we were $10 an hour when we lived in Nashville and are now in Ohio and pay the same. Needless to say, we don't go out much!

[aida2003]

Babysitting a toddler is not easy and it's also a very resposible job. When i was in college (in Detroit), it didn't matter whether I babysat 1 child or three. I always got $10/hr. This was 6+ years ago. It depends on the area and its living standards, I think.
Oh, and when I did evening babysitting (Fri or Sat night), I got up to $15/hr and sometimes they added a tip. This I like the best: kids went to sleep at 7-8pm, I watched TV or browsed Internet then and got paid $70-100 when (ritzy) parents partied.

[vinnieg24]

the going rate around here is about $10 a child an hour. If it's at night and they put them to bed with no problems and it was a five hour night. Usually give them a couple dollars extra so $60

chilcare can be expensive. But worth it for a good babysitter

[jIM_Ohio]

I made $3-4 baby sitting neighbors growing up. 20 years ago.

We will pay our SIL $25/day per kid for child care. 8-10 hour day.

I think $7/hour is reasonable. $20/hour is steep, but if kids will be awake all day and are as energetic as me, that might be a bargain. The baysitter for our twins will be my best friend's daughter, and I think $7-10 an hour makes sense. Her father is a firefighter/EMT and mother is a nurse, so if there is a problem, I am sure the 3 of them could do better than my wife or I.

I charge $75/hour for the soccer teams I train, so everything is relative (some might consider soccer practice more like childcare depending on the age).

[herm4]

Good grief! I need to become a babysitter...I had no idea that the pay could be that high.

[Snoopy2645]

well dont know how old she is but I would say $20-25 a day 6-7 hrs would be a fair amount wouldnt that be over $3 an hr unless of course you live in a rich area & your dd is older than mabye more

[pearlieq]

The going rate around here is $8 - $10/hour. We have one cheapie mom on the block who only pays $5/hour. She wonders why she can't get a sitter!

Heck, I made $5/hr back when I was in high school in the mid-90's.