should I bring it up to the babysitter?

amother

Wed, Aug 31 2011, 10:50 pm

A h.s. girl will be babysitting for my daughter for a couple of hours tomorrow. She has not babysat for us before. When I asked her how much she charges, she said "I don't know, whatever the going rate is." I usually don't like this type of answer, because, I read someplace before, that it is important for even a teenager to set a price for their services, as it doesn't look good (business wise) and doesn't do much for their esteem if they don't. They're providing a service, they should figure out how much they feel is proper to charge.

So, I responded to her by asking her how much the average amount she received in the past for babysitting. She told me almost $4-$5 higher than the going rate I have found amongst others her age per hour. I didn't retort to it at the time, as I was involved in something else, but I am wondering if I should say anything to her or not. I mean, I am fine to pay her that price for this time, as I don't have an alternative, but I wouldn't use her again, nor recommend her to others due to the high price, and I may be wrong, but I would think that if I am bringing my daughter to her house, it would be another possible reason to go a bit cheaper.

Any advice over here?

MimiMommy

Wed, Aug 31 2011, 10:57 pm

Since I got tired of hearing the answer of "whatever you can pay", I just tell babysitters in advance how much I can pay, and they can accept it or not. I haven't had a problem so far. I'd just take her for now, and if you want to use her again in the future, just say, "I can pay you $xx per hour", not mentioning the previous time you paid. She may take you up on it, if she doesn't have anything else to do that evening anyway.

sugarplum

Wed, Aug 31 2011, 11:02 pm

Tell her you are used to paying xyz and would she do it for that much. You are the one who got her to give a price . Not fair not to take her again because of what she told you she got from others.

skymile

Thu, Sep 01 2011, 12:09 am

she may honestly be clueless. generally I asked for the amount per hour be my age when I started ($12) with .50 cent increments each year. my "clients" were regulars and were very satisfied with the arrangement. when I was 13-14 I would sometimes sleep over if it was a close friend of my parents/family say if they had an oot wedding. then I would charge half my fee from 12am till 8am.
everyone was satisfied.

amother

Thu, Sep 01 2011, 12:33 am

MimiMommy, that's a good option.

sugarplum, I don't think it's not fair not to use her again if she's too expensive for my budget. A lot of employers also won't hire someone whose requested rates are well above what they would pay for someone applying for a position when they have less qualifications/experience. Unless of course, she has tons and tons of experience, and is so really good with my daughter that she would warrant the cost, but I do usually have other options.

I find it hard for her to be clueless, luv2cook4eva, since she was referred to me by someone else. But I do know what others her age have charged me in the past, and the two don't really add up, IYKWIM.

sugarplum

Thu, Sep 01 2011, 12:41 am

Of course don't take her again she charges more than you want to pay . But it seems she was ready to take whatever you decited from her first responce. You asked her to give a price so she did but she doesn't know you don't want to pay that much. unless I'm not understanding what happened.
I think you should either call her back up and tell her you thaught about it and it's way above what you would like to pay. Would she want to do it for x an hour. Maybe not because you already booked her but tell her in the future you pay this amount is that good for her . Would she be interested in babysitting for that price.