I have a friend who has a 7 year old son and for the summer he asked if he could come to our house while he worked. He works at home, but he said he didn't want his son to just sit around playing video games so he would rather he come to our house and at least have someone to play with.

We didn't talk about how much he would pay, but he asked what I thought? I have NO idea what to expect. We are sort of winging it, if I have nothing to do he brings him over and then everyday after VBS he's been over for about 3 hours. I have provided lunch every day for him too. Next week is pretty busy for me so maybe he'd only be over for 2 days or so.

How much is fair? It does help me by keeping my kids entertained, although there was some argueing today now that they are more comfortable with each other.

What do you think? And it is just a few days for the summer.

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

Wow...I have no idea. For regular sitter I would pay about $6-$7 an hour for 2 kids so maybe $5 an hour and that includes the meal? I know my friends 13 year old watches a 3 year old during the summer for $4 an hour but personally, I would pay more to an adult just knowing their experience and the fact that if there were an accident, you could drive to the hospital, etc.

Good luck figuring it out. I take a girl home from school every day during the school year. I'm there anyway and she just lives around the corner. I didn't ask for anything (still don't) but her mom gives me $150 at Christmas and another $150 at the end of the year (which I much appreciate especially with gas costs)

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My daughter gets $7.00 an hour for two kids under age 4. I think it's great money. I remember earning $1 an hour when I babysat years ago. Of course, she thinks that is quite funny!

With your situation, I'm kind of out of the loop, but I would think around $3 an hour.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

I think there's a big difference in watching a kid who is under 4 and needs you to play with them and a child who is old enough to play with your own kid. I think $7 an hour for your DD Critttles seems fair

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Wow, I don't understand how people can afford to pay $7.00 an hour for a babysitter when minimum wage here is only $7.15 an hour. After taxes, the babysitter would make more than the parent

I agree it's a lot more now than it used to be when I babysat!

My dds are 14 and almost 12 (will be 12 in Sept). They've both taken the local babysitting class. Different people pay different amounts, but they usually get about $5/hr for 1 and $10/hr for 2. However, my older daughter has one that pays her $10/hr for 1 4th grade girl.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
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Minimum wage around here is $5-something/hour. My girls definately make more than minimum wage, but, unfortunately, the hours aren't guaranteed!

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

We pay $8.00 per hour for 3 kids if it's during the day (summer) - $10 per hour on a weekend or evening.

I think if I paid less I'd be getting the answer "no" from the better babysitters around here. That's what they make. And I'd rather pay someone I trust higher than minimum wage than get a bargain - but possibly lose out on the good babysitters.

Even if the same people would babysit (regardless of what I paid), I do like to send the message that I realize it's a big job, and I appreciate them. FWIW, we don't really use a babysitter more than once or twice a month.

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

I actually tried to get him to bring his son to a friend of mine, instead of me but he doesn't trust anyone he doesn't know. I really wasn't interested, but thought I'd try it out and help him at the same time. It's not like he's depending on me, he can still have his son with him if I don't want to do it, but I will try to help him out for as long as I can. I just thought that maybe the extra money would give me a little encouragement.



And he is self sufficient, it's hard because he is an only child and he's not used to playing with younger kids and at the same time my kids aren't used to getting bossed around by older kids either. So I do find myself missing the time with just my kids home alone and I don't want to do this all summer every day, but maybe a couple times a week wouldn't be so bad.

I do appreciate the replies!

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

I think you all have to remember the going rate is different depending on where you live. I have lived in 8 states. I am in Kansas now, and we pay our sitter $9 an hour, although she only asked for $8. In Arizona, the going rate (and this was 3 years ago) was $10 per hour, per child!!! Good luck finding someone for less than that within a half hour of where you live!! In Idaho, my kids stayed home alone, and we paid no one, althought the neighbors actually watched my kids. (long story, we lived in employee housing across from where dh worked, my kids are 11 and 8) In NJ my cousin said they also are subject to the $10 per hour per child. I moved from the Orlando, FL area 3 years ago, and we paid a sitter $6 an hour there for 2 children. Where does the OP live?

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Wow...I am amazed at some of the rates. I watched children after school last year. I got $4 an hour for one, when I had both the children, I got $8. I thought that was great pay considering what most people make in this area. $8 is more than minimum wage! I also sub at the local High School and I was making almost as much babysitting as I was working at the school!

I am amazed as well... I live in Arizona and I asked to be paid just under the 'daycare' rate. I figured out my rate by calling the daycare centers around here and charging 25 cents less than they would for a baby under 1 year of age. Once the baby reached the age where she was eating solids, I charged $2 more per day.

So... drumroll please. I made $2.00 an hour. This was two years ago. The mom knew she had a good thing. When she reached 2, I asked the mom to find someone else. For one thing, the baby was needing socializing (other than me and the mother did eventually admit that I was right; after the initial shock wore off!) and for another thing, I was getting very stressed out about the responsibility and became virtually homebound with anxieties over taking her anywhere in the car, etc. This following a car accident that our family was in -- baby not on board! Sorry to go off topic!!!

In all honesty, flipper, your particular situation does sound like a *daycare* type of situation and so I'd call 2 or 3 daycare centers around you and find out their rates and base it on that (rather than on an hourly *babysitting* type of thing -- when parents go out for the evening, or for a couple of hours a day once in awhile, etc.).

That's my two cents...

For your situation, I would ask $5/hour. I watched a 9 yo during the school year before and after school including transportation to and from school and got $5/hour plus a $50 bonus at Christmas and a $200 bonus at the end of the year -- I wasn't expecting the huge bonus but I've been doing this for them for three years and this was the end of the job. DD babysits and gets anywhere from $6-$8/hour depending on age and number of kids.

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Blast from the Past: In Jr High (about 74-77) I babysat two kids one a little boy who was not old enough to go to school and I was paid 75 cents an hour!

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I need a baby-sitter for the weekends so I just asked one of my friends and she said $25 a day...no matter how long my daughters there. I thought that was pretty fair considering that a regular day care is around $200 for 3 or 4 days

I'm in northern New Jersey, so we are an expensive area. I think I would be happy with $4 an hour, $5 would be awesome, but $4's good. I told him I was available 2 days next week, the other 3 will be our time. I think 2 full days instead of 4 or 5 days of a couple of hours would be easier too, I can have a plan for the day and a schedule so it doesn't drag.

He asked me again what I though was fair and I just said what ever he thought was fine. I don't want him to think it isn't worth it either.

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

My daughter is 14 yrs old and babysits just the one family in our neighborhood, so I don't have comparisons. When she first started, I told her to take what ever they offered, and not to give an amount if they ask. How many young girls demand a certain rate? The poster above who said that $10 an hr was the going rate in Arizona, and she really couldn't find anyone for under that amount. You gotta be kidding! How can young, somewhat inexperienced girls make that much? And who is setting the standard on what the hourly rate should be? I could see a large family with 5 plus kids paying $8-10 an hour, but not that much for just a couple of kids.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

$8-$10 for 5 + kids an hour?? YOU have got to be kidding!NO WAY would I (or anyone I know for that matter) watch more than 2 kids for that price

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

When I did this for my neighbors I had the mother bring her own food for the kids , I loved the idea
because certanily 100.00 a week for these 2 kids was not enough in my eyes, I watched them from 730
am to 330 pm and I cant begin to tell you what a long day this was with 4 kids ( 2 of my own).
Now of course they are teens and we still talk about how I wouldnt watch them ever again after that
year.

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That's interesting - around here the daycare centers charge much more for a baby than a toddler. At age 2 the price drops considerably.

Crazy, huh?! It just wasn't worth my time and anxiety. Of course, I have since started volunteering my life away for $0.00 an hour so maybe I'm not much better off!

My post got long above that my point got lost in all of the *words* ... so sorry!

My point was, there is a difference between how much would be paid/charged for 'daycare' vs. 'babysitting'.

I guess it really does vary a lot by area. I was getting 7/hr in the '80's. I talked to a young person on the 4th and she gets 25/hr.

Wow......$25 an hour, for babysitting??? Thats $200 a day. That sounds crazy to me. I can understand $25 a day, but not an HOUR! In my area I would say the average is about $25-$30 a day. Depending on the age. I get $4 an hour for after school care. It wasn't that long ago when I got $2 an hour for babysitting.

For New Years Eve or something I would guess $25 an hour isn't that far off...

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Well we settled it today, I asked for $20 for the whole day, 9 - 3 (or somewhere thereabout). He was actually prepared to give me more, but I told him what he gave was enough for the rest of the week. I don't want to be greedy he doesn't have any more money than I do!

I figured $20 will cover going to lunch for him too, like today we all went to McDonalds and met some friends and Friday we are going to a park and have a picnic. He is an easy kid, he keeps my kids entertained too which is just fine!

Thanks for the input, money is such a touchy subject sometimes.

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

My DSD earns $5.00 per hour plus $1 for each kid. So three kids = $8.00 per hour. The parents seem to like having a set rate. When I have a babysitter (rare) I pay the same way. Our sitter is great and cleans the house while she is here to...hum...maybe I need a sitter...preparing for the baby has left my house in disorder which is driving me batty!

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saraedawson@yahoo.com

Mommy to Jake, Alexis, Abigail and Joshua, Wife to Matt

Flipper, if you're uncomfortable doing money, maybe you guys could trade for things. Or maybe he could provide $ for lunch and snacks for all the kids, or watch yours every Friday night or pay for things to do during the day like the zoo or museums or the pool...

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That's crazy -- we have engineers here who don't make $25/hour

$25 hour sounds crazy yeah lol, I think a lot of us would sign up to babysit for that amount! I could put up with a difficult kid once in awhile for $25/hour
My teenage dd and her friends get about 10/hour for a couple families they sit for regularly, for 3 or 4 kids.

When I was babysitting (evenings and weekends only, about twelve years ago), I made $10 an hour for a couple hours, for one child.

I had a friend who nannied full time for a family with three kids and she made approximately $500 a week.

I think it depends a lot on where you are and the people you know.

His sister has a nanny who gets about $400 a week. I would say that $20 a day is fair for both of us, I;m not really doing it for the money, but it is nice to have the extra and he can't afford to really pay more than that. For $25 an hour I would take LOTS of kids, that would be awesome!

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

I would say 5 an hour

I pay our regular sitter 7- dh pays her 6 an hour ( go figure she is thrilled when I come home first)

I pay her what I do, not that its much, but she doesnt work for me full time so I dont feel the pinch I do if she were a full time employee,.

I used to babysit full time ten years ago and I would get $350 a week for 7 am-6:30 pm for two kids under 7.

I know my sister pays 5 an hour for her two kids ages 10 and 6.
She is in PA and I am in OH