how can they ask this much?

mommyhood

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 4:05 pm

ElTam wrote:

Quote:

People pay hispanic ladies $10 an hour to clean their house. Having a reliable person to watch your children isnt worth as much? I never understand why people complain about the cost of childcare. Arent your children the most important thing in your life (along with DH of course) and arent they worth at least 10 an hour?

I pay $8 an hour, unless it is daytime and all the kids are up. I don't think your comparison is a good one. I try to always plan it so the kids are 100% ready for bed and all the babysitter has to do (at most) is read one story and listen to them say Shema. If I can, I'll get them in bed first.

I always make sure there are drinks and snacks for the sitter and tell her to help herself. If we are out late, I tell her it's fine to go to sleep. I provide transportation home (and to my house if it is not very close or if it is snowing/raining).

So, I am not asking them to clean my house; I am asking them to sit in my house while my kids sleep and I go to a chasunah or whatever. If the kids are awake, of course I pay more. I have a college degree and I would take $8 to sit on someone's sofa, talk on the phone and read a book.

When you take any babysitting job you can't rely on the fact that the kids are going to stay sleeping, there's always a chance something will go wrong and a kid/kids will be awake. And even if the children are really sleeping, who wants to sit on a couch for 4 hours, is that really how the teenagers you know spend their free time. I was always so bored when I babysat for people who didn't have a computer or a monitor. Teenagers might not have the responsibility of adults but they still have lives and giving up their night to confine themselves to one room for several hours in not the ideal evening and they expect (rightfully so in my opinon) to be paid for it.
I know I personally felt very uncomfortable falling asleep at someone else's house it meant waking up with a start when the parents come home making sure you don't look like a mess and it just doesn't feel good.

MrsDash

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 4:14 pm

chanamiriam wrote:

I made about $7 bucks an hour when I was babysitting between 1979 and about 1986. I don't need to pay babysitters anymore and my daughter who is 12, is certified by the red cross as a babysitter and who is a real get down and play kind of kid, is being paid $10 an hour. As far as I can tell, she did not request this much money and the parents have paid her whatever the going rate was, which it seems is around $10 an hour.

When I needed day care, at first I was mortified at the cost but then I realized that you get what you pay for and my baby was my most precious thing. I did shop for a mix of cost and convenience as well as excellent care. I had a great provider who was just amazing and who really treated my baby like he was the only one on earth, along with the others in her charge.

I think that's outstanding of you and your daughter! Thumbs Up

I believe all babysitters (& parents) should have training in CPR and First Aid.

The American Red Cross often have those classes lumped together in a single session package. The full day class includes Adult, Child, & Infant CPR, AED, and First Aid. The CPR & AED certifications are good for a year, and the First Aid certification is good for 3 years. If you renew your certifications before they expire, you do not have to take an entirely new class. The most you have to do is take a refresher course.

Lady Bug

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 4:29 pm

As a teenager, I had a neighbor who constantly called me to babysit her kids. She was a party planner and was out of the house at the hardest hours - usually from 4-8. I would go to her straight from school, and I needed to give the kids supper and keep them entertained, even when they got tired. I didn't have patience to put them to bed, because I was never given instructions.

Guess what - she thought I was doing it as a favor to her, and never paid me a red cent! I did babysit for other neighbors without asking for money, but here I felt like she was making money in this time, and I was helping her with her work, she should pay me! Boy was I glad when she moved to a different neighborhood!

Kayza

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 8:04 pm

Laughing Bag! wrote:

I cant understand how girls can ask 10$/hr for babysitting as a girl I used to babysit a lot and max I asked for was 5$ I understand if a married woman would babysit and ask 100$ fine but a young high-school girl aren't they embarrassed aren't the parents embarrassed to let them.
I babysit a lot myself I ask 6$/hr if I would go to s/h house yeah maybe id ask 10$ but I was mad to see a girl grab $ out of my pocket Wink

just like that :{ WOW am I fuming and there isn't much I can do about it cuz the next time I need a babysitter these are the same girls I can call.

I'm so mad anyway that's just about what I wanted to vent about! :{

Grabbing money is out of line. But the idea that a girl's time is not worth anything (or very little) is not one that you can expect her to accept. And a parent certainly can't be expected to accept that. I don't know how long ago you babysat, but unless it was last year, EVERYTHING is a lot more expensive.

People who do short stint babysitting tend to charge more per hour than those that baby-sit for longer term, by the way.

Laughing Bag!

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 8:13 pm

Lady Bug wrote:

this is being taken advantage of and I would either give an excuse not to go or ask for payment. However as a teenager who babysat A LOT it usually was evening when ppl went out to parties or simchos kids usualy slept and the onse who didnt I usualy just let be with light instructions to go to bed, if I ever had a real hard time I did find the ppl give extra as compensation. the whole thing abt going to babysit was to have a night to myself with a phone to myself s/t a friend wud come along, s/t I did homework or read a book and of course it was nice to make some extra petty cash.
I still think that 10$/hr is alot for a teenager to ask its not like she did anything besides for being in my house with 2 sleeping kids, she got to do her homework with peace and quiet. and she carges 10$.

I myself cant see myself charge this much yes I do babysitting and it is by day but still I dont think its appropiate unless the kids didnt give her the peice and quiet or s/t crazy happned or I gave her housework to do... but that isnt/wast the case!
I'm sti a mad :{ but I guess there is nothing I can do besides staying home and not looking for babysitters.

Kayza

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 8:19 pm

cm wrote:

When I was a young teen in the early 1980's, my peers and I got from $1 - $1.50 an hour, roughly one-third of minimum wage at the time.

Wow! I was making a fair bit more than that in the late 70s - earlier 80's.

Quote:

I found it especially humiliating when one mother had her toddler son count out a few quarters for my wage.

I would never have gone back there - regardless of the amount. I agree - that is humiliating. What I don't understand is why any parent would do that to the person she wants to take care of her kids.

Quote:

It's not surprising that we all gave up babysitting by age 16. Why bother?

Agreed. I get annoyed when I hear parents complain about the difficulty in finding baby-sitters in the same breath as they complain about the cost and other "demands" of babysitters. If you grudge your babysitter the money you pay her and don't have any respect for her needs, why would she bother baby sitting?

Quote:

Fast forward another generation - when I used sitters about ten years ago, I was pleased for their sake that the rate had gone up to the equivalent of minimum wage. I was also pleasantly surprised that I could get older teens with a little more maturity and capability.

True - and even with younger sitters, if you are willing to pay and treat sitters well, you will have a much better chance of getting a good sitter. The smart girls don't want to spend time for nothing, and they don't want to go to places where they won't be treated right.

Quote:

It's true that I used sitters much less often than I otherwise would have, because it is so expensive to go out. But the sitter is only part of the equation - it's also expensive to go out to eat or to a show.

True. And, in most cases there is enormous need to go out often. It certainly is not the obligation of the high school girls (who mostly have fairly busy schedules, by the way) to enable parents to go out on a frequent basis.

kenz

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 9:01 pm

In the late eighties/early nineties I got $3.50/hour and did quite well - I babysat whenever I could and that provided me with all my spending money until I started taking part time office jobs after school. I managed to have money for extras, for trips, and even for gifts for my parents.
Now I rarely - and I mean rarely, once every few years maybe - hire a babysitter; if my husband/mother can't be home with my kids, I generally don't go unless I absolutely have to (by choice), but from what I understand the going rate is between $8 and $10. I do find that high, but mostly because I wish I'd gotten it when I was a kid!

Kayza

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 9:12 pm

Fox wrote:

4. Expect to pay premium if you or your kids develop a bad reputation. My DDs have enough babysitting offers to be choosy about their clients. Some of the ways people get marked off their list include: kids who repeatedly hit, kick, or otherwise engage in violence against the sitter or siblings; helicopter mothers who want reports of eating, elimination, and educational activities in which their child engaged that would make nursing charts seem haphazard by comparison; paying too little for the circumstances. Now, I admit that last one is pretty subjective, but I've seen some doozies: the mother of 5 under 5 (all awake and needing attention) who wanted to pay $5 per hour; the family that never seemed to have money on them and always promised to drop off a check -- only to require significant collection efforts; the family with a dog that bit my DD . . . These folks find my DDs to be inexplicably busy when they call, and most of my DDs' friends have become "busy," too.

Boy does this bring back memories... You left out some other good ones, like not giving the sitter pertinent information (such as foods the kids is NOT ALLOWED to have or that she's scheduled for a doctor's visit the next day or where the diapers for the baby are, etc.)

Quote:

if you want to be able to call from you cell phone to announce that you're running late . . . no problem, but you'll have to pay.

There are plenty of girls who won't come back if that happens, especially on a school night.

Quote:

* Pay in cash. Most young girls don't have their own checking accounts, so you are effectively using their parents as your bank or ATM. Having the cash ready and rounding up to the next $5 mark is a nice way to show that you value your sitter's time and convenience.

Rounding up is nice. Having the money ready is non-negotiable, as far as I am concerned. Unless there was a really good reason, I would strongly advise my daughter not to go back to a family that made her wait for her money.

Quote:

* Reward and recommend. If you find a really fabulous sitter, pay her rate b'leiv simcha and recommend her to your friends. Try to remember her on her birthday or Chanukah or Purim or the beginning of school: something from the dollar store is fine. I can't tell you how proud my girls are when their clients show up on various occasions, sometimes with handmade crafts, to present to them.

Absolutely.

Kayza

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 9:28 pm

ElTam wrote:

So, I am not asking them to clean my house; I am asking them to sit in my house while my kids sleep and I go to a chasunah or whatever. If the kids are awake, of course I pay more. I have a college degree and I would take $8 to sit on someone's sofa, talk on the phone and read a book.

You are asking them to be somewhere specific for a certain amount of time - and to make sure that they are truly available should the need arise. Smart baby sitters, for instance, do not take a babysitting job expecting to study, because they know that even with the best kids, things can happen. Some examples: An 18 month old who woke up 8screaming* about 15 minutes after her parents left. I was finally able to calm her down, but I wound up holding her for over two hours. Her parents were floored when they walked in. A toddler who woke up with a nightmare and started screaming for her mother. She wouldn't let me near her, tried calling on the phone (besides the fact that it was pre-cell phone days, the kid was too young to understand how the phone worked.) I finally got her calmed down, but that was some circus. Or the kid was supposedly ready for bed, but totally refused to go to bed, instead throwing a total fit that his parents had left without him. I made the mistake of believing what the mother had said about her little angel, which caused me to be a bit less vigilant than I would otherwise have been, allowing him to get enough of a head start to literally run out the door. (I did catch him before he got all the way down the stairs. And never trusted a parent's description of a kid until I got a chance to observe for myself.) Then there was the kid who woke up with a stomach ache, but didn't tell me what was the matter (he was too busy crying) till he had an accident all over me. (There are more, but I don't want to bore everyone silly. And the experienced sitters here surely could add to the list.)

My point is that what you are paying someone for is to make a commitment to NOT do anything that requires any real level of engagement or that is important to them for a certain period of time, in case their services are needed.

Monsey Mama

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 12:07 am

Ora_43, the tutoring included me transporting my daughter door to door. There was no prep time and no grading. It was for everyday. This would be considered a side job. The BY girls are very fine girls but they are not worth that kind of money. I pay my son's tutor the same and he is a very learned man. He gets up 4:30 every morning to learn and he teaches throughout the day. He also taught professionally. In education, experience and skills he is heads and shoulders above a girl saving money for seminar. My son's regular tutor charges $60.00 an hour normally; but because we use him daily, he charges us less. He is worth every penny. I do agree with the other poster who said there should be a premium for the fact is is not a full time job. BTW, the way I solved the tutoring issue was my daughter's own teacher worked with her for $20.00 an hour for one hour daily and was thrilled with the money.

Raisin

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 4:46 am

Kayza wrote:

ElTam wrote:

Kayza, I babysat a LOT as a teen and very very rarely experienced this sort of behaviour. Once or twice kids woke up, but really not often.

babysitting when the kids are awake is a whole different ball game and should probably be paid more then nighttime.

Just curious - does anyone use as sitters the children of people who paid YOU very little as a teen? I can imagine shelling out $10 to the kid of the parents who paid you $3 an hour must be painful. (or worse, the parents who thought you were babysitting for a chessed)

Marion

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 5:28 am

When I started babysitting 22 years ago I was taking $3/hour. About 18 or 19 years ago I put it up to $4/hour. At some point all my families (I had a couple I would sit for on a weekly basis) just started rounding it up to $20/night (between 4 and 5 hours). When I stopped babysitting 15 years ago it was firmly $5/hour.

I had few out-of-pocket expenses. I wasn't spoiled, but I was taught the value of money. My parents provided food, shelter, clothes, and extra-curricular activities. I provided hobby equipment (film, photo processing, craft supplies, specialty baking supplies, sports equipment), books, games (if I wanted something to be mine and not everyone's) and any junk/snack foods. The house rule was that the car was not to be returned with an empty tank, so occasionally I had to pay for gas if I was using the car a lot. (Not like a rental, it didn't have to be returned with a full tank every time it was used, but it couldn't be left on empty.) I babysat enough, and then worked enough as well, that paying for these things was never an issue. (And photography & baking are NOT cheap hobbies!)

I don't think $10 is unreasonable. It might be prohibitive for you, but that doesn't make it unreasonable.

Marion

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 5:38 am

yoshi wrote:

I think that's outstanding of you and your daughter! Thumbs Up

My mom used to teach "family studies" (home economics/life skills) to grade 6, 7, 8. One of the sections of the course that she did with every single 7th grade class (public school, so it was girls AND boys) was the St. John Ambulance babysitting course.

Monsey Mama

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 7:53 am

My recent experience here in Monsey is I am asked to pay $8.00 an hour. I usually give $10.00 because I like the idea of the girl preferring to work here first.

I have been told by two families the girls will only babysit for chessed. Yes, they still exist. Also, I needed someone to watch my kid in August for two days. The women told me to pay what I want. She is pregnant and told me what she is going to pay for another lady to watch her todler. It comes out to $2.68 an hour. We paid her $10.00. Most ladies refuse anything if they watch my kids. Even if I try to insist. They tell me it takes away from the mitzvah. Also, I even get thanked for allowing them to do a mitzvah. There are, additionally, eleven ladies who have and will watch my kids for free.

I don't like the cost; but I also don't like to impose.

What about trading babysitting services with other moms? This could cut the costs down.

Chayalle

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 9:35 am

Laughing Bag! wrote:

Lady Bug wrote:

this is being taken advantage of and I would either give an excuse not to go or ask for payment. However as a teenager who babysat A LOT it usually was evening when ppl went out to parties or simchos kids usualy slept and the onse who didnt I usualy just let be with light instructions to go to bed, if I ever had a real hard time I did find the ppl give extra as compensation. the whole thing abt going to babysit was to have a night to myself with a phone to myself s/t a friend wud come along, s/t I did homework or read a book and of course it was nice to make some extra petty cash. I still think that 10$/hr is alot for a teenager to ask its not like she did anything besides for being in my house with 2 sleeping kids, she got to do her homework with peace and quiet. and she carges 10$.

I myself cant see myself charge this much yes I do babysitting and it is by day but still I dont think its appropiate unless the kids didnt give her the peice and quiet or s/t crazy happned or I gave her housework to do... but that isnt/wast the case!
I'm sti a mad :{ but I guess there is nothing I can do besides staying home and not looking for babysitters.

That might have been the case for you. It definitely isn't the case for all teens. I know that my DD would much rather spend a cozy evening at home, with options for an early night, then go out to babysit.

There aren't so many teens in my neighborhood and my neighbors really appreciate not having to pick someone up and drive them back to another area. They're happy to pay the going rate (and if they aren't they don't have to call her.)

Believe me, it's annoying for her to stay up till 10:00 when she's tired because someone has called her to babysit from 9:30 to 10:00, and then they pay her about 4 bucks.

Chayalle

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 10:44 am

Depressed wrote:

When you and I were teens we used the money for clothes, 17 magazine, hobbies, etc...

Now its serious business, they need to save every dime for Seminary and eventually a husband who will be 'learning' . There are even books in the store , Collel takes planning. 10$/hr is a bargain..

What does how they use the money have to do with the price of tea in China? I thought this was a free country.

But I don't know any babysitters with such a serious enterprise, that they are actually earning enough as teens that it will make a significant difference in their family support later on. A dent in seminary tuition, maybe.

FTR I encourage my DD to save money - whether from babysitting, Chanuka gelt, summer jobs, etc....She opened a bank account, and she takes a bit off for pocket money and puts the rest away. No specific goal in mind - just the likelihood that it will benefit her later in life, and develops good habits now.