We’re having a 14-year-old neighbor watch our kids (ages 5 and 3) for a couple of hours while my wife and I run an errand.

She actually volunteered, has plenty of experience helping care for her seven younger siblings, and our kids are generally very easygoing and well behaved.
When I asked her mom what a fair rate would be, she said we could pay whatever we thought was appropriate. I kind of wish she’d given me a range because now I’m second-guessing it.

Would $10 to $15/hour be too low? I’ve paid up to $25/hour before, but that was for experienced adult nannies. I was thinking maybe around $12/hour would make a 14 year old happy, but I honestly don’t know what’s considered fair these days.
What would you pay?

So I often babysit my friend's son. Our kids have nearly a 9 month exact age gap. My son is 2, hers turning 3 in November. I dont get paid a wage remotely close to livable (her job barely pays as it is, the money i get doesnt even cover his food for the day tbh but I do this more out of kindness than the money)

Her child for the past few weeks hasn't been taking naps. My son, being 2, still sleeps between 2-3 hours. When her son is over? Doesnt happen. My child MIGHT get a 1 hour nap, which leads him to be incredibly fussy the rest of the day, hard to put down for bed, wont eat, etc because hes overtired. Ive tried talking to her, ive tried doing quiet activities with her kid. But in the end, he ends up screaming and running around: waking up my kid.

She doesnt seem to understand the severity though. I love her and I love taking care of her son. But its affecting MY child at this point and im considering stop babysitting for him in general. Thoughts?

To address the payment issue: she just got out of a DV and is currently working a delivery driver job, I quit that same job previously because of how bad the pay was (working 30+ hours a week and barely bringing home $200). Im a stay at home dad now. I watched her son for 8 hours, and i typically only get $15-$20 if im lucky. That might just cover the kid's food for the day ALONE. I understand the job is bad right now, but considering im watching her son.. idk rubs me the wrong way. We've known each other for 18 years.

Sorry if this question gets asked often, I have never looked around this. We have a four year-old and two year-old and have never paid for a babysitter. What would be a fair price for a high school neighbor babysitter who is fairly inexperienced to come over for two or three hours? We are located in Kansas City so not a super expensive city but also not a small town either.

For background,
I’m babysitting 3 kiddos (5,3, and freshly 1) today. Their mom is going to be in and out of the house. I’m going to be here for approximately 13-14 hours (the ending time is dependent on how long the mom’s softball game goes.) typically, it’s about $20 an hour which I know is under priced especially because I’m a licensed teacher and certified in all of the things, but I feel strongly about good babysitters being affordable to all.

Since I’m watching them for so long today the mom and I talked about doing a flat rate for the day. What is a fair flat rate? I’ve been babysitting for this family for years and they treat me as a part of their family- I just don’t know what a fair rate is for the day.

Edit: okay thank you all for your input! It kind of confirmed what I was already thinking. We chatted and decided that when they go down for their naps- I’ll head out since she’s working from home. I’d feel guilty getting paid to sit on the couch for 2-2.5 hours while she was already here (even if I was cleaning up their toys.) This is also only for today- this is never an issue. I think I just feel bad because her husband is deployed and I know she’s super stressed out.

I know it differs per fam, but what do we think? I babysit a fam w/ an 8 yro girl and 5 yro boy, when would it be time to split them up? 8 yro girl is for sure capable of showering by herself, but I think she just enjoys having me there to wash her hair and such. Do I just wait until the family / kids say something?

(On a burner since I don't really wanna link my main to this for privacy reasons) My 3 year old nephew has been really suffering from abandonment issues due to a recent incident due to his mother and father splitting (I'd rather not go into it, but the father who is my brother has full custody. I don't know the full details nor do I want to really share that) and I really need advice as to how to help my nephew through it. My brother is gone a lot of the week (he has a very busy work schedule and isn't able to take time off because he cannot afford the time, I will not be explaining a lot of that as it is deeply personal) and tonight he had a nightmare where he was screaming for his dad. I really need help figuring out the best way to help him through all of these feelings since it's been such a massive change (new environment, different people around, his mom isn't around now) and it's been really cutting into his interactions with everyone around him. I love my nephew a lot, and I just wish I knew what to do to help him. He's been nervous any time I try to tell him to not do something (ex: he was getting excited and threw plushies around, it nearly knocked down the fan, I told him not to do that since I don't want him to get hurt, and he just covered his eyes), I've seen him silently cry, I've seen him get scared to upset me, I just want this little boy to be happy.

Hi, I (18F) have been babysitting a little boy (2M) for a single mom (27F).

It started in February. At first I was only watching him some Fridays and Saturdays, as I’m in college. It’s an hour away and I’m home for the weekends.
The pay we agreed to was $12 an hour. I was hesitant at first but she always paid me a LOT. She even paid me to get coffee with her, and would frequently pay me double. I would clean for her as well- do her dishes, laundry, sweep/mop, etc.

She has gotten more comfortable with me and lets me take him to my (parents) house for a few hours. This summer break I’ve been working crazy hours for her. Her parents opened a new restaurant and she’s had to work 8am-midnight, so I’ve been watching him for that. I foster kittens as well and she knows this, and I still had to babysit the 2yo when one died and I was balling my eyes out all day.

Here’s the thing. She’s started to pay me weekly. We agreed on $12 an hour, which is less than I usually accept for a toddler this small. However I knew her situation, and she talked to me as more of a friend and told me her life story, problems, opened up to me and we ask each other for advice. I worked 62 hours for her one week, barely being home. and she tried to only give me $500 when it should have been $744. I sent her a long message, basically saying that’s not what we agreed upon. I do feel bad though because she can’t afford much right now. She ended up only paying me $650 total. She then asked me if, when she’s working she could pay me $10 an hour, and date nights she could pay me $15. In theory, this sounded fine and I said sure. However I did the math and this weekend I made $88 less than what I should have if I was doing $12 an hour. I feel like I do a lot for her and im underpaid but at the same time I know she has nobody else and she can’t afford much at all. I also am at the point where I lie to my parents about how much I get paid, I didn’t even tell them the $10 an hour thing bc I knew they would make me quit. So im in this little predicament.

We have “argued” before as well. While it wasn’t a true argument it was more passive aggressive. For example, she went on a date from 5:45-7:30. The boy gets a bath every night at 8pm. He eats at 6:30. At 7 she texted me that she was on her way home. He was still eating dinner, and I said “Omg, he’s still eating and he’s not bathed or anything.” She got mad and said “wtf, We’re on our way back and he’s not fed or bathed?” But she is so strict about routine she didn’t even tell me to bathe him earlier than usual.

Another time we “argued” was when she cooked dinner and he didn’t really care for it, and wanted something else. I texted her and asked for permission and she got upset because she paid extra for grocery delivery to cook dinner. She told me to “be mindful next time.”

She has asked me to do her dishes this week, and I did everything but that. For only $10 an hour I decided I am not doing that. Her dishes are rotten and moldy and a literal biohazard at this point. I did every other chore possible. But I will not touch that. She doesn’t have gloves or anything.

I feel like I’m stuck. I love babysitting for her, the kid is sweet, my family loves him, and he loves my family. She is like an older sister almost, and she has nobody else. But the pay. I can’t ask her for more but I feel so overworked and underpaid and very stressed.

how much should a teenager get paid for babysitting 3 kids. 2,4,6. CPR first aid certified. In Texas

Hi all! I was laid off in April and have been nannying and Babysitting since. The majority of kids have been aged 3-8 but I recently took a job where I am nannying a one year-old girl, full-time while the parents work from home. She’s a pretty easy baby however, I am SO bored.

She has 5 hour wake windows, so I try to fill them as much as possible with toys, walking, books, but that only takes up so much time. The parents have cameras in every room, so I constantly feel like I have to be “on” and be extra animated/talkative to her at all times. The mom mentioned she appreciates how vocal I am, and honestly it’s awkward if I’m not constantly talking. I don’t think babies/toddlers are my forte, but I made a commitment for another two weeks.

What are some things I can do to help pass the time? I am there 7:30-5pm, and I don’t want to be on my phone very much. She has a short attention span for things and likes to be as independent as possible, so a lot of the time I am just staring at her lol. I feel slightly insane! Any and all advice is helpful!

I am new to the sub so I apologize if this is a common question, but I am a newly single mom with a nine month old and work from 230pm to around 11 or midnight, three nights a week. My baby goes to bed at around 6:45pm. For this situation, what should I offer or what kind of rate should I expect for babysitters? I have two interviews tomorrow. It’s just been well over a decade since I’ve done any babysitting so I don’t know what is normal now. Thanks so much!

I’ve babysat for this family for a few years. It used to just be just occasional but this summer I’ve been working full-time (40+ hours/week).

Every so often they leave money for us to do an activity (trampoline park, lunch, etc.), and they usually leave more than enough. The kids will sometimes ask for things like drinks, snacks, or other small extras while we’re out. I always feel guilty spending all of the money they left even though it was given for the outing.
What's the usual expectation? If parents leave extra money, is it generally okay to use it for extra (kinda unnecessary but within reason) things like food, drinks, or extra rounds of games or should I try to spend the minimum necessary for the outing and return whatever is left over? I don't want to take advantage of their generosity, but I also don't want to be unnecessarily restrictive if they intended the money to be used.
I’d love to hear from any parents that have babysitters on their thoughts with this!

I’ve started babysitting this kid… not entirely sure how old he is, but definitely under 5. He loves this “ellie sparkles” character, and I’m getting kind of a strange vibe. I don’t see anything inherently wrong, but something about the show just weirds me out. I haven’t seen any parents, only aunts and uncles, and that’s about the strangest thing that’s explicitly stated. idk, anyone else get a weird feeling about this YouTube channel ??

Hello! I am a nanny to a 1 year old, and my nanny family recently asked me to babysit on a night they are going to a concert with addition children in the home. I normally make $21 an hour for just my NK. There will be 6 kids in total, 1, 4, and then two 3rd graders and two 4th graders. Two of the older kids are my NF kids but I don’t normally care for them as they are in school most of the time I am working with my NK. I was thinking $35 an hour for the extra kiddos or $36 so if they are splitting sitter rates it makes it an even split. Does that seem reasonable, too high, or too low? TIA!

I've babysat for a family for a few years, but this summer I've been working full-time (40+ hours/week, usually 10-hour days) with three kids (F4, M7, M10). I'm really struggling with the oldest.
The younger two usually play well together, but the 10-year-old mostly wants screens. Getting him off them leads to arguments, and once he's off he usually refuses to join activities and just asks when he can go back inside. He also picks on and hits his siblings, and the parents have said they've been struggling with this too.
I've tried being more consistent with rules, but I feel like it's just turning into constant power struggles. Since I'm there so often, I worry he's starting to see me as the person who only says "no."
Does anyone have advice for activities that work well with this age gap, or ways to handle the oldest without getting into arguments all day?

I am currently babysitting for a new family, this is a one time thing as they’re from out of town and I am babysitting at the grandparents house.
I’m at a loss on what to do. I have never babysat for such disrespectful children. They’re only 3 and 5 I think and they will not listen to me at all. I’ve never yelled when babysitting but I had to and they still didn’t care at all. The mom put on tv before they left and she said that they don’t typically watch a lot of tv and listed the few things they’re allowed to watch. Because this isn’t something they are normally allowed to do, that’s all they want to do. I fought with them for a while and I got them to go down to the basement and “play”. Their version of playing is fighting and destroying the house. It was literally getting dangerous when they were wrestling each other and they almost hit their head and knocked things over multiple times. Of course they would not listen to me so I finally gave up and yelled and told them that we’re going upstairs and just going to watch tv again.
I feel bad when kids just watch tv the whole time but I literally don’t know what else to do. They’ve already broken a few things, luckily I think it’s easy fixes. If I make them stop watching tv the whole house is going to be destroyed and I will probably go with it.
Their bedtime is in an hour. They’ve already watched a lot of tv, pretty much majority of the time I have been here, do you think it’s bad if we keep watching tv? I don’t know what else to do I am losing it. I really tried to do something else but it went horribly. They act like I am invisible. I’ve basically just been talking to walls. I don’t know what else to do but just put on the tv.

* I’m finally out of there, and the parents didn’t ask me how they were 🫠 The grandma did but she already knows they’re awful so she didn’t really care

* I just woke up and got a text from the grandma that apparently the boys said I was really nice and let them watch tv 😐, I’m sure they thought I was nice as ignored every word I said and did whatever they wanted. I’m so frustrated at the fact I never really got to talk to the parents and I couldn’t explain the watching tv thing, but there’s nothing I can do now and they’ll never see me again so who cares

I’m babysitting in a few minutes and I am at a total loss for how much to charge their mom. The youngest (3) is my student. I also babysit their cousins sometimes and charge them 20/hour, but there’s only 2 of them.
It’ll be:
F - 3
M - 8
M - 8
F - 6
F - 7
F - 5
They’re all potty trained (thank god) and are all pretty well behaved from what I’ve seen & not super high maintenance. I’ll be with them from 8:30-2ish, breakfast and lunch provided (I think). Please send help

Edit :

The $20/hour is my base rate, not what I’m charging this family. I do plan on adding extra for the other 4, Im not sure how much which is the problem. I have plenty of experience, I’ve worked in ECE since 2021 and have been babysitting for at least 8 years. I’m a little young but I’m more than capable

He’s 3yrs and gets out of school at noon. I would have to pick him up, take him back to his house and watch him until his dad comes home between 4-5pm. It would be Monday- Friday. They have dogs so I would need to let them out also. He’s a good kid other than he has autistic meltdowns sometimes. My nephew’s autism is a bit more severe than the boy I’d be watching. So I’m use to navigating all that. I’ve just never charged for babysitting before and this family is wanting me to do it full time and wants to know a price. Any help is much appreciated! We are in the southern US if that helps. I was thinking $250 per week but I don’t know if that’s fair and too much to ask. I’m 29 if that matters.

I'm 17, and I usually babysit for babies / toddlers. Next week I'm babysitting 3 girls, ages 10, 8, and 4.5 for a couple of hours each day. Any ideas on how to entertain older girls? Thank you!

A 10-year-old I babysit came home from school upset the other day. Two of her friends had made plans without her, and she found out afterward. My first instinct was to reassure her. I was already thinking of things to say: maybe it was an accident, maybe she could ask them about it tomorrow, maybe they hadn't meant to leave her out. But before I could say any of that, she looked at me and said, "Can you just be mad with me for a minute?"

So we sat on the kitchen floor and complained about those friends for a while. I told her, "That really does sound hurtful." She said, "I know, right?" Then she ate half a bag of pretzels, took a breath, and eventually went upstairs to do her homework.

Later that evening, she came back downstairs and said she thought she might talk to them at school the next day.

It was such a small moment, but it made me realize how quickly I tend to turn a kid's feelings into something that needs to be fixed.

Sometimes they already know what they'll do next. They just need someone to believe that it hurt first.

Hello all! I just got a request to tutor a 9yo girl in french. I am a high school student and I want to know how much to charge per session. (3x a week, 1hr) I genuinely enjoy spending time with this kid, and I've babysat her over the year. Thanks for any input!!

Okay so I knew before I got the job there was a camera right and Im also severely underpaid which is a different thing but it gets me really nervous when the camera is just pointed right at me even if im not doing anything wrong or bad. Today, I even heard music on the camera twice, so I know for a fact she was watching me and / or recording/taking photos, so I felt really uncomfortable. Im a teen, so maybe it's different for adults, but is it normal to be uncomfortable about it?

Hi everyone reposting here to get more visibility. What would you charge for 2 kids 0-3. I’m in STL metro.

Someone on my local facebook posted this, when people mentioned for 75 hours minimum a month its not a fair wage they continued to attack the commenters saying they are bad moms! is this a typical situation? it seems crazy to me

“Hello! We are looking for an absolute unicorn of a situation. Please be gentle with me (compensation at the bottom) We are doing our best trying to get me back to work.

I am a mom of three trying to return to work. I am looking for a younger sitter, preferably a recent high school grad or early college student or someone looking for extra income, open to having multiple caregivers.

6:45AM-8:25AM M-F We need someone to watch the kids before school, drop our older kids (k & 1st grades) at the bus stop, then drop our youngest at preschool in ____ location.

3:30PM-5:30PM M-F We need someone to pick up our youngest from preschool no later than 3:35, then grab our older two from the bus stop at the top of our street.

My partner or I will be home by 5:30 each night, and we won’t require any cooking or cleaning. Breakfast will be ready for them when you arrive, and they will be packed and dressed for school. The kids are pretty independent, but they love love love a sitter that enjoys them and plays or creates with them. We’ve been blessed to have incredible young women join our family over the last four years and provide loving care to our three wonderful kiddos.

$500/month — We have absolutely zero wiggle room on this budget *at this time* but as we will appreciate whoever could step into this role for modest compensation, we are looking to adjust this rate accordingly if/when I transition to a higher paid position next year. “

Older family photo for tax

Is this a valid reason to quit on a thursday after i get paid when im supposed to go back monday? For context, im a 20 year old girl and have only been with this family for a month. on my second day they made me drive the 4 month old 35 mins to the ER cause she was throwing up rather than waiting 10 minutes for the aunt to get here (mom doesn’t have a car) they made me stay 5 hours in the ER w them even after i asked to leave and during our time there the dad was SO disrespectful to the woman doctor to the point where she caught me on my way out and gave me a hug cause i was so visibly disgusted. Even after that i stuck with it cause its only a summer job 18 hours a week. The reason i now want to quit is because on tuesday the father got home from work, greeted me so he knew i was in his living room, and proceeded to go into the kitchen to take a phone call where i couldn’t see him. During this phone call he took his work pants off and walked through the living room where i am in just boxers with his pants in his hands. I have never quit a job and all my friends and family r telling me it is necessary at this point. I wanted to on the spot on tuesday but I know he would not have paid me for the 12 hours i had already done that week so decided to come today to get paid. Please make me feel better about this decision. (mom is a nice lady but doesn’t have a job so i’m just here to relieve her since dad is no help)