babysitter pay

A 15 year old neighbor is going to start babysitting for us for an hour or two here and there while I go to the gym or dh and I go to dinner. He doesn't have much babysitting experience outside of caring for his siblings and cousins, so he hasn't really set his rates yet. How much do you think we should pay him? I'm clueless what the going rate is for babysitters nowadays.

[Sheherezade]

In seems to range from 4 - 10 dollars an hour based on the area market and the number/age of your kids. My guess would be 6 dollars an hour. (Boston was 8-10, Ohio is 5-7)

[PrincessFiona]

In Fl, it was $6/hr for 1 child, $7 for two and $8 for three....usually, the kids wanted a 3 hour minimum too
Times sure have changed, haven't they? I remember being thrilled on New Years Eve when I was 14 because I got $10 for watching two boys from 6pm until 3 am or something crazy.

kris

[PrincessFiona]

I think I'll put together a little bill for dh I wonder if I could claim for back pay too. :>

I think that $5-6/hour is a good start for that situation. My neighbor pays her HS sitter (who drives now) $8/hr for two kids.

You're lucky to have found him! All the high school aged kids in my neighborhood want to babysit but their social and school schedules are hard to trump.

[Vanquisher]

Here the going rate seems to be $7-$8 per hour regardless of the number of kids 1-4. If you had more than that, I would think it would go up. I paid two girls $12 an hour to watch a group of about 10 kids for an event (the parents were also there).

It's insane. I remember getting $1 an hour (felt totally gipped by the way getting that). I remember thinking that $3 an hour would be so much money.

It kills me to pay for babysitting.

[Tenacious_D]

My SIL got paid last year $15 an hour for one child I think average is $8 - $10 per hour.

Wow, who knew babysitting could be so lucrative? $15/hour...:thud: Man, who needs college when you can make a killing as a professional babysitter?

Thank you so much for the advice. I'm thinking of starting him around $6-8/hour and he can work his way up from there. We really are lucky to have him...he's an Eagle Scout, Black Belt, excellent student, has a great personality, and my son absolutely adores him....plus he doesn't have a girlfriend for us to contend with!

12 year olds here get like $5 an hour. The job boards at the U are asking for sitters at $7-$10 an hour. In Richmond college kids got $9-$12 an hour.

[Gwendolyn]

I am so glad this was brought up. I always ask my students to babysit...I teach mostly early childhood ed majors. I want to make sure I pay them well so there is no confusion about the student/teacher relationship, but I don't want to over-overpay either. last time two friends babysat together. They said two for the price of one, but really there were two of them. It came out to only like $6 an hour each...$12 for both. I picked them up and dropped them off and we fed them dinner. They insisted that it was too much, but I worried that it wasn't enough. Then I worried it was too much.

Don't you love obsessive personalities!! :thud:

Now I am afraid to ask either of them again because I'm worried about the pay scale! :!

[HeartRN]

$14/ hour here for the sitter I had to use when Keelin's school was closed for the holidays....and that was actually the LOWER end. California really is expensive. :!

OH...forgot to mention, that $14/hour was in ADDITION to her tuition at preschool, which I had to pay even though the school was closed...apparently they give all their teachers the one week paid vacation in an effort to retain them (which truly has worked...but STILL!! )