Attention babysitters and those who send to babysitters

amother

Navy

Mon, Dec 21 2015, 5:15 pm

1- How much do you/your babysitter charge?
2- How many kids do you/ your babysitter take at once?
3- Is there a demand for babysitters? (Brooklyn area) Also would people be looking for a babysitter now? or only at the beginning of the year?
4- Mothers - what's the most important thing you look for in a babysitter?
Babysitter - what's the hardest thing about being a babysitter?
5- I've heard somewhere that people don't always like it if the babysitter watches her own kid at the same time - is there any truth to that? and if so, why?
6- Anything else I should know if I'm thinking of babysitting? I really enjoy babies and am I'm thinking of staying home with my baby, and babysitting at the same time. I'm trying to figure out if this is a good idea hence the above questions.
My house is always clean, I have lots of toys, cribs, safety gates and ect...

amother

Magenta

Mon, Dec 21 2015, 5:26 pm

Not sure if I count b/c my baby is a toddler (1.5 YO) and I'm in Israel.

1. 500 shekel a month. Guess that's like $130.00 a month. S-Th: 8-1 and F: 8-12, minus regular school vacation, price stays the same regardless.

2. I think she said up to 7 or she'd get an assistant. But, I think she only has 5 including her son who is the same age as the group.

3. No idea about Brooklyn. People have new babies and are expecting, I would think they would need to find a place whenever their maternity leave is up.

4. Responsible, Loving and Organized. My DD has an allergy. I can't hire someone who is going to let there be a big mess of food that my DD could cv"s get her hands on.

5. I have no problem with this, but only if the babysitter's DC is the same age as the group. If the baby is significantly older or younger, I would mind b/c they would need more/different attention and I don't think that's fair to the group. However, if a baby is born towards the end of the year (looks like this is going to be the case with us), I wouldn't have a problem as long as I didn't see a change in the care my DC was getting.

6. One thing that my babysitter does that I love is that she gave a little notebook to each baby and every day writes what the baby ate and when they slept and sometimes a cute comment.

HonesttoGod

Mon, Dec 21 2015, 5:27 pm

See my answers below in red.

If you enjoy it and you believe you can then it is a great way to make money.
Somethings to consider - what hours will you offer., Remember working moms rely on you so you hve to be willing to stay home in those hours 99% of the time (obviously emergencies come up). If you have someone who could back you up if you need to rush out for an emergency that would be even better.
Don't take too many kids its not safe and you will not cope. If you need to hire help, hire help.

amother wrote:

1- How much do you/your babysitter charge? $5 per hour per kid
2- How many kids do you/ your babysitter take at once? Im not sure when I drop off there are about 2-3 other kids (and her own baby) when I pick up there are 2-3 and her baby and older daughter. I believe she has about 8-10 at some times of the day.
3- Is there a demand for babysitters? (Brooklyn area) Also would people be looking for a babysitter now? or only at the beginning of the year? In my experience there is always parts of Brooklyn that need a babysitter. I like babysitters near my work or my home and since I work in the city, I have one near my home but it was very hard to find someone. She is practically the only full time babysitter in my 15 block radius.
4- Mothers - what's the most important thing you look for in a babysitter? Someone clean, caring, kind and treats each kid the same as she would her own.
Babysitter - what's the hardest thing about being a babysitter?
5- I've heard somewhere that people don't always like it if the babysitter watches her own kid at the same time - is there any truth to that? and if so, why? It doesn't bother me since I have seen first hand that she doesn't favor her kid over the others and she doesn't leave any kid screaming, dirty or hungry. But it is a balance.
6- Anything else I should know if I'm thinking of babysitting? I really enjoy babies and am I'm thinking of staying home with my baby, and babysitting at the same time. I'm trying to figure out if this is a good idea hence the above questions.
My house is always clean, I have lots of toys, cribs, safety gates and ect...

chocolatecake

Mon, Dec 21 2015, 9:00 pm

I live in Brooklyn. I pay 6 an hr for one kid and ten for two. My babysitter runs a whole operation out of her house. She has two morahs upstairs with the toddlers and herself and one or two other morahs downstairs with the babies. I would not be surprised if there were a total of twenty kids there during busy time...but there are five morahs. In the past Ive used someone who took six kids. I also used someone who took around twelve but she had no assistant and that was prertty scary. It is very important to me that my kids come back clean and well fed. When I come to drop off and pick up I do not want to see kids in the room and no Morah. I work full time and rely a lot on my babysitter. I understand that once in a while things come up or you need a vacation but please keep those days to a minimum. I would have no problem with you watching your kid along with the group. I actually specifically like that because it means you are very much in the game yourself...If you are looking for 6 kids I dont know if you will fill up now. If you are fine with.2-3 kids and have no problem with newborns than I dont think you will have a problem. good luck

shalomgirl

Tue, Dec 22 2015, 3:15 pm

It depends where you live in Israel. Gan in different communities also has different prices. In any case, I send to babysitters and there are some things that really bother me. One is when the babysitter has a child around 2 years old home & s/he hits my baby. I don't like when the babysitter props up the bottle and doesn't feed the baby with her hands even though she is available. I also don't like when my baby is left to crawl around the very dirty floor and comes home filthy everyday. It doesn't sound like you would do any of those things though. Too bad you don't live in Israel. Good luck!

gibberish

Tue, Dec 22 2015, 4:08 pm

I'm in OOT US

I pay $5/hr for full-time hours. Babysitter has max of 4 kids at a time.

Do all of you really feel that you child will be taken care of in a group of 7? What happens if the babysitter needs the restroom? Is attending to one child and another child needs attention the same time? If there is an emergency and all the children need to be evacuated?

As a babysitter - how do you manage tending to so many young children at once?

Just curious - I'm not here to make other mothers feel guilty.

amother

Magenta

Tue, Dec 22 2015, 5:29 pm

[quote="slevy36"]

amother wrote:

I live in Northern Israel. Mitapelets charge more, I think more like 600-700, but I don't know for sure b/c I didn't send to one on a regular basis. My baby is in between mitapelet and gan age. It was a toss up what I should do. I then found a ganenet that was starting a "gan" for 1-1.5 YOs. She charges gan prices, but at the same time, gives a nice amount of individualized attention. (Like she will happily spoon feed the babies) and is adapting to the babies needs. (Beginning of the year, they're young toddlers, pretty babyish, at the end of the yr., the older ones (my DD included) will be almost 2.

My ganenet doesn't have 7. She has 5. I do feel bad for her that it's less money, but for me, I'm happy its a smaller group.

HonesttoGod

Wed, Dec 23 2015, 11:47 am

gibberish wrote:

My babysitter manages with 7 kids better than I manage with 2!
It is a personality type in my opinion. That said she often has help coming in during the day, she also schedules all the kids to nap around the same time so she can get some things done.

At the end of the day it is not the best thing in the world but her location is the best for me as is her kind and caring nature to my kids and ease to work with.
I had to send somewhere else for a couple months when she had a baby and I hated it. My kids missed her and so did I.

amother

Indigo

Wed, Dec 23 2015, 12:36 pm

amother wrote:

1- How much do you/your babysitter charge?

$6/hr. I was desperate for one near me so...most of my frieds pay $5/hr

2- How many kids do you/ your babysitter take at once?

Not sure. Probably around 5--7 peak time.
She has a helper though.

3- Is there a demand for babysitters? (Brooklyn area) Also would people be looking for a babysitter now? or only at the beginning of the year?

People are always having babies...
There's a big demand for babysitters who will babysit full time hours yet charge only $5 per hour.

4- Mothers - what's the most important thing you look for in a babysitter?

Caring. Enjoying babies. True compassion. Not just doing it because they need the money. I see these babystitters just doing the job without ever glancing or smiling at the baby. Its hard for us mothers to leave our babies as is - can u make it easier by being nice to our babies?

Babysitter - what's the hardest thing about being a babysitter?
5- I've heard somewhere that people don't always like it if the babysitter watches her own kid at the same time - is there any truth to that? and if so, why?

I wouldn't care.

6- Anything else I should know if I'm thinking of babysitting? I really enjoy babies and am I'm thinking of staying home with my baby, and babysitting at the same time. I'm trying to figure out if this is a good idea hence the above questions.
My house is always clean, I have lots of toys, cribs, safety gates and ect...

Keep mothers posted. Perhaps text pictures randomly in middle of the day. Write down nap and feeding times.
And most important - only do it if you truly like babies.

amother

Salmon

Wed, Dec 23 2015, 12:40 pm

amother wrote:

1- How much do you/your babysitter charge?
$4.25
2- How many kids do you/ your babysitter take at once?
officially 5, but if someone has a sibling she will allow them attend, maximum 6
3- Is there a demand for babysitters? (Brooklyn area) Also would people be looking for a babysitter now? or only at the beginning of the year?
I'm in Lakewood
4- Mothers - what's the most important thing you look for in a babysitter?
Babysitter - what's the hardest thing about being a babysitter?
She loves the kids and can manage. My babysitter was constantly kissing my babies, telling me all sort of cute stories about them, calling when they were home sick to check up on them
5- I've heard somewhere that people don't always like it if the babysitter watches her own kid at the same time - is there any truth to that? and if so, why?
I find babysitters tend to hold their own child more and focus on them more. Many times their own child is jeoulous of all the other children
6- Anything else I should know if I'm thinking of babysitting? I really enjoy babies and am I'm thinking of staying home with my baby, and babysitting at the same time. I'm trying to figure out if this is a good idea hence the above questions.
My house is always clean, I have lots of toys, cribs, safety gates and ect...

FineOrthodox

Wed, Dec 23 2015, 2:19 pm

The first thing I check on a babysitter is how much help she has and how many babies are assigned to each adult in case of an emergency. I'm probably way too paranoid but any time I leave a kid behind the first thing I think of is what if there's a fire? Or even an other emergency that requires the babysitter to leave premises, who and how many other adults will be there to replace her at the moment?

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Dec 23 2015, 4:52 pm

amother wrote:

Keep mothers posted. Perhaps text pictures randomly in middle of the day. Write down nap and feeding times.
And most important - only do it if you truly like babies.

I didnt appreciate random texts during the day. I felt the babysitter should be focused on the kids wellbeing as opposed to texting. She barely got to know my child, because she was never really tuned in to her or her needs.

amother

Magenta

Wed, Dec 23 2015, 5:04 pm

amother wrote:

I like that my babysitter writes stuff in a notebook. I like to know when baby woke up and how she ate (although, her leftovers also comes home) and sometimes there are notes like please bring more wipes!

Sudy

Wed, Dec 23 2015, 5:07 pm

My babysitter charges $6 per hour.

She babysits 3 kids plus one of her own and all are the same age.

I like her because she is very warm and keeps my baby on a schedule.

I would appreciate if she would occasionally text a picture.

I dislike that she takes vacation pretty often but my daughter likes her so I stick with her.

I did try leaving her for about 2 weeks and hired someone in my house but my baby screamed the entire 2 weeks so we went back to her.

Last edited by Sudy on Thu, Dec 24 2015, 10:36 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Cerise

Wed, Dec 23 2015, 6:12 pm

I did drop off babysitting in my home.
for children over 1 I charged 10 shekels
1-3 mos 20 shekels
3-6 15 shekels
6-12- 12 shekels
the reason why I had different amounts was because I would take less children if I had a baby to watch.
I would only have one newborn at a time. and 2 babies in the 6-12 mos range (depending on their nature)

it was very impt for me to be involved and interactive with the kids. I was on the floor playing with the kids- not just babysitting.

there were times when I had my own child with me- that's the whole reason why I started babysitting! I could have my baby home w/ me while bringing in an income.

for me, the hardest thing was maintaining all of the children's schedules. because I did drop off babysitting I felt it was important to keep the kids on their schedules instead of putting them on a schedule that would be convenient for me. I think it's different when most of the kids are around the same age, and when they're with you for a full morning instead of having kids in and out all morning.

amother

Magenta

Thu, Dec 24 2015, 4:56 am

mille wrote:

It's so interesting to hear the caregiver to baby ratios here as someone looking at childcare options for my current bun in the oven. It seems that 4:1 is pretty much the highest, but I am only looking at licensed places. I can't imagine being comfortable with 1 caregiver and 7+ babies!

It really depends on the age of the babies. 7 toddlers, in a very childproofed setting, is different than 7 babies.

I personally like smaller ratios and am happy that there is a 1:5 ratio, but would be fine w/ another toddler or two. They are much more independent and don't need as much hand's on care as young babies.

Iymnok

Thu, Dec 24 2015, 5:10 am

mille wrote:

When I worked at a daycare the legal limit, if I remember correctly from 9 years ago,was;
18 mo, 6:1
2-3 yrs, 8:1
3-4 yrs, 10:1 or 12:1

Smaller children are more hands-on.

I like to send my kids out at age two. I feel they need it socially then, and they start dropping their nap. That sometimes occurs mid year. Also, if I have a baby mid year, I may want to start sending my toddler out.