How much is the going rate for a babysitter?

lady_jane

My daughter is 22 she works as pre school assistant and gets minimum wage but looks after children out of hours for £6ph during the day and £5 in evening as there is nothing required of her except to be there. She has college qualification in health and social care is crb checked and has good references

Katie1980_2

I charge £30 flat rate for the night but I do a put to bed/bath etc if needed I am a nursery nurse and most of my clients are parents of children that I look after on a daily basis.. I make a fortune during wedding season and festivals as parents know and trust me with their children..

I used to get £5 a night for babysitting when I was 15 and I used to look after a disabled girl as well which involved alot of lifting and hard work.. I would have bitten their hands off

RazWaz

I used to babysit for a single mother when I was 14, £10 per kid a night or £20 if I had to say overnight along with my taxi home. There was normally only one kid but sometimes if it was a night out with a few friends I took on their kids too.

For that I had to play with the kids, make sure they ate their dinner (it would be ready just as I arrived and she was leaving), then get them washed and into bed. I feel a little ripped off now.

nikkilou1984

I'm a nanny and charge £7.50 an hour for babysitting, but £5ph for babysitting "close friends" kids.

Threebabes

My DS is 15 and really sensible, I would leave him with his sisters 10 and 7 for maybe an hour/an hour & a half max.

I think £5 sounds like a good rate, Im surprised you are questioning it.

minerva_windsong

That's better than the going rate I used to get for minding my parents' friends' kids when they were about that age and I was the same age as your daughter - £20 flat rate for about six hours' work (that's about eight years ago now though). Admittedly that was very much a 'put them to bed and then just sit in' thing, so nothing particularly active on my part, but it was a good bit of extra cash. And £20 is a fortune at that age!

rachbc

I would let a sensible 15 yo babysit my little one but not older ones as I wonder what the dynamic would be about having a 15 yo telling a 14 yo when to go to bed etc...

I am lucky as have a free babysitting circle with freinds but £5 p/h for an unqualified person seems about right to me, I know a nany locally who charges £10 ph more after midnight

cat04

When I was 15 (1995) I baby sat for my lovely neighbour round the corner (kind of like a second mum to me), but only after I'd done a Red Cross Babysitting Certificate which included 1st Aid etc. She had 3 children and although at the time I didn't realise quite how hard up they were, I've been told since. I used to babysit for maybe an hour from 4-5pm to cover the time when she went to work and hubby came home. I also babysat for them a few times at night, including an overnighter.

I got paid £1 an hour because she really couldn't afford anymore, but I got more for after midnight (can't remember how much now) and she had a little notebook in which she wrote down my hours and I got paid when she did. I know it was really only a token payment, and I would have done it for free but she wouldn't let me She did give me £100 when I got married though bless her. She was my maid of honour, her daughter was my bridesmaid and her eldest son an usher. Can't believe her daughter is now 18! Still very close to my 2nd mum

GobbledyGook

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Whatever the law says (I don't know), would you really want a 15 year old being in sole charge of your child? However mature they may appear, would they deal appropriately if your child were to choke or the house caught fire?

The age of the person is irrelevant - it is how calm and mature they are.

My cousin's daughter is 15 in a few weeks and was the first person to react when her younger sibling began to choke. That was despite both her mother and Aunt being in the room at the time.

I wouldn't hesitate to leave her in charge of my children, but would never dream of leaving them with her Aunt, who at 30-something is an adult. Her Aunt's reaction to the choking was to scream and freeze to the spot. So whilst most people would think she was the better choice she wouldn't be.


OP I wouldn't worry about your daughter being paid too much. I pay the 17-year-old daughter of a friend more than average for babysitting, but it is worth it because she is very good. Paying that wee bit more always shows (imo) how much you value them and despite going to college and planning uni the girl I use still wants to babysit so it's also a good way of keeping a good babysitter for longer.

alison6692

I pay our nursery nurse from our nursery £7.50 an hour. Hence why we never go out.