Since this is a topic that comes up regularly around these parts, and most of you think I'm crazy stingy for paying a teenager $5/hr for one infant, I leave you with this, a wondrous tale of a woman paying a sitter $5/hr for 3 kids, and her assertion that we are paying teenagers entirely too much money for what amounts to a tiny bit of work: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4145546/
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I totally agree but I cant find one that would babysit for $5 - so its pay up or don't go out! Which is why we rarely go out!
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She makes a good case. When I babysat as a teen (12-16) I was more involved with the kids more so than what the author describes. We didn't watch movies; we played games, worked on school project and I did bedtime routine to the T! Thank goodness I didn't have to prep dinner or clean up all by myself or clean the house. I was only paid $6-7/ hour and was pretty happy about it.
$50 for a mow is outrageous. If I were break down my per service cost for lawn care that's how much I pay my pro. He's bonded and insured and he trims my shrubs too!
Last thing, I didn't know horses were so cheap. I thought they cost at least a few thousand dollars. Every kid that askes for a pny or horse should surely get one then. Lol
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IDK, 20 years ago as a 15 year old I was making $4 an hour babysitting and I wasn't exactly rolling in it. Of course as a new parent I don't want to have to pay a sitter a giant amount of money, but $5 for a kid I'd think was qualities to watch my baby seems a little like a rip off.
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While I agree with some of her points I think five dollars an hour is too little if you actually want someone to take care of your child let alone multiple children and do a good job.
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I think this is about right especially for someone to essentially just sit at your house with your kids.
I think it also depends on the kids. If you have wild maniacs that don't understand rules, that makes it really hard for a babysitter. If you have a strong routine and clear rules that everyone knows needs to be followed then its an easier job.
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No. I absolutely do not agree with her. I'm paying someone to watch my most precious gifts. I'm going to pay them accordingly. I do not agree with her premise that we should be using our children to teach teens a lesson about hard work. Do that when a kid is mowing the lawn, not when watching your kids.
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@Weagle: I agree our kids are most important but I think she articulates that if they are doing extra work or bettering themselves to be a better baby sitter (like CPR certification, planning crafts, etc) then you should pay them more.
If you are literally expecting someone to just hang out at the house with your kids there is less work and the pay should be less.
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@T.H.O.U.: Sure, but it shouldn't be ridiculously low. Yes, they're hanging out, but they're still responsible for my kids. I'm going to pay them enough that they put some effort into it. I'm not going to let my low pay be a signal that this is not a big deal to me.
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@Weagle: I get that, but I think that paying our 12 almost 13 year old neighbor $5 an hour to come sit at our house while the baby is sleeping doesn't indicate that we don't want her to care. There isn't much effort required. I know she is a sweet girl and loves our daughter.
Now if I expect someone to be responsible for driving my daughter or preparing and feeding her meals and entertaining her and cleaning the house, then yes, more effort is required and $5 an hour would not make sense.
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She makes a lot of good points about teens shying away from "lesser" work and the like. I'm not inclined to disagree and I have friends who pay teens low amounts of money to basically watch movies with their kids..because, really, it isn't hard if your kids aren't hellions. And $15-20 is a lot when you have no regular job!
I don't think teens necessarily link money to caring. They just think "sweet more money"
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@T.H.O.U.: Agree to disagree.
Also, if any sitter rolled her eyes at me she would be out of a job. Friend or not.
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@Weagle: I'm with you. I wouldn't want someone watching my kid who was willing to do it for $5/hr. We use a teacher from our LO's school who we know is CPR certified, and knows our daughter's schedule and her likes and dislikes. We pay her accordingly.
Also... $5 is less than minimum wage. If it's illeagal for the grocery store to pay someone $5/hr it should be illeagal for me to do it too.
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@MamaMoose: The minimum wage is put in place so that adults can make a living. We aren't talking about adults here. The article is talking about teenagers younger then 16 who are just trying to earn some side money. If I was asking an adult (someone 16 or above) then yes I would be paying them more but thats also because they would bring more maturity and experience to the job. Also I don't think its legal at all for kids younger then 16 to really be working at all so the minimum wage is kinda a lost point.
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I was paid $6-$8 per hour when I babysat in high school 15 years ago and I thought that was fair. I would turn down jobs that offered me that rate but had more than 2-3 kids or if the kids were very rowdy. Once a woman tried to hire me to babysit her 6 kids, do her mountains of laundry and clean her house simultaneously for only $6/hr. After the first day I felt really cheated since the situation wasn't explained to me fully before I started. And another time I sat for 3 incredably misbehaved boys who had no problem hurting me and breakign things in front of me, I never came back to that job either. I was worth the $ though since I was really reliable and always did the right thing. I remember the woman I babysat for all through high school cried when I went to college and now that I have a LO I totally understand why
Interviewing nanny's was such an eye-opener for me about what people expect for pay. We interviewed nanny's in all age ranges with all experience levels and every single one of them expected at least $15/hr for our one child since it "was the going rate in NYC". Forget experience, certifications or references - they all expected it. Some even said they wouldn't work for less than $20/hr! We did exactly what this author did though, when we found our favorites we told them what the pay would be in a take it or leave it presentation. They both took it!
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@Weagle: agree.
One of the best lessons I ever got was from a family friend who hired me as her nanny for the summer when I was a teen. Her kids were so much fun to take care of, and so easy and we never discussed an hourly wage, so I suggested a very low wage when she asked how much I owed her. She told me to *never* undervalue my time or myself – I’ve always remembered her really pressing me on that point, and have since advocated for myself for raises/higher salaries with employers with her words in mind. Sure, babysitting good kids isn’t backbreaking labor and most teens don’t need the money, but I think it’s also a good lesson to remember that everyone’s time is worth something and that we shouldn’t accept crap pay just because.
I also agree with @MamaMoose re: the minimum wage. I don’t think it’s right to pay someone less than the minimum wage, that just feels personally slimy to me. At the end of the day, childcare just isn’t where I look to save $10 on a night out.
@T.H.O.U.: At least in our state you can start working at 15 with a permit - like working a "normal" job at a restaurant/grocery store/etc, not just babysitting. I started working at 15 and could work up to 20 hours a week, but not past 8pm at night, until I turned 16.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Ha ha. I live a few hours north of you in the "horse capital of the world," and people are consistently giving away horses around here. The pound always has a few up for adoption. Acquiring the horse is the cheap part. Unfortunately, they are insanely expensive to care for and are extremely high maintenance. That's why no one wants to buy their kid a horse, and this coming from someone who always had horses growing up. I will never own one as an adult.
And I kind of agree with the article. At 13 years old, I would have snatched that up in a minute, just to have a few extra dollars. I can't imagine paying a random teen $50 to watch my kid for a couple of hours.
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@T.H.O.U.: Like @Weagle: said, we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm not comfortable paying anyone less than minimum wage. And I'm not comfortable having someone watch my child who values their time and effort so low.
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I do think she's right that the expectations and rate should be agreed on ahead of time. I disagree with the figures that she mentions and on the approach of paying more for dishes etc. I'd rather just pay a decent rate and say what's expected (put the kids to bed, clean up their dishes etc).
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Now, I haven't actually paid a babysitter yet, and I live in a city and don't know any high school kids personally so no way would I trust a random high schooler I didn't know with my baby, so I probably don't have the best perspective. But I just can't see paying five dollars an hour. When we finally do hire a babysitter I anticipate at least ten dollars an hour even if she is asleep, but the babysitters I have heard of are qualified nannies looking for extra cash/ hours in the evening. I could see if you live in the suburbs and it's the neighbor kid coming over after the baby is asleep offering less, I guess.
It's an interesting article but I do disagree with some of her points.
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