Babysitting

crawley_girl

My sister has been asked how much she would charge to babysit 4 children - aged 12, 9, 5 and 1. Two of the children have autism and other associated support needs. The youngest 3 children are generally in bed by 7 or 8pm and the eldest does her 'own thing'. She suspects that she will be needed from around bedtime til no later than midnight so unlikely that she will experience any problems as the children will be asleep but you never know!

Any suggestions? Should she have a 'day rate' for when the kids are awake and wanting to play/ interact etc and an 'evening rate' for when they are in bed?

To give a guide, she charges about £7.50 an hour when babysits 2 children.

She is based in Surrey in a fairly affluent area

She is a qualified teacher and has childcare qualifications/ training courses coming out of her ears!

So... as a parent of a child with additional needs, what would you be prepared to pay for a reliable, calm and experienced babysitter given the ages and needs of the children?

Many thanks

:heartpuls CG :heartpuls

whitewing

I would do a 'family rate' for that particular family, so an hourly rate irrespective of how many children she actually has. Then there's no faffing if one goes to friends but comes back etc.

Will she be driving herself to and from the house? (If so, I'd factor that in to the hourly rate).

How often is it likely to be? If evenings once a month you would maybe charge slightly less than regular daytimes.

crawley_girl

Hiya

Thanks for replying... I notice that you haven't suggested an amount - I couldn't do that either when my sister asked me, hence asking on here!

I understand that it would mostly be evenings on an infrequent basis - maybe once or twice a month.

They live a short drive away - nothing to write home about!

I get the impression that all of the kids will be there at all times - except perhaps the 12 yr old who is apparently 'no trouble at all'!!!

whitewing

I think keep it the same as her other babysitting rate, or maybe 50p an hour more.

If she drives there and back herself and it's a short distance then she is not going to have great travel costs.

I'd keep the rate the same for infrequent daytime.

If they wanted more daytime eg in school holidays where you'd need to put more structure into the day, then perhaps charge up to time and a half, if she's in sole charge. If mum is around too, keep the rate at £7.50 an hour.

fogartyblue.

I'm a male so I can't offer any ideas as such.
However with the sound of this family it is a bit more than 'babysitting'.

There are children with needs involved.

Plus a normal teenage girl would be charging the rate you quote for a bog standard service.

Personally I would question if this is babysitting or something a little bit more.

£12 an hour would not be too unreasonable. I would certainly be prepared to pay that for such an experienced person to look after children that have more needs than the normal average child of that age.

Having said that maybe I am too generous and saw my children as needing to be wrapped up in cotton wool.

When they were between 8 and 12, in 1989 -1993, they were 'normal' healthy twin girls and we paid £10 an hour to babysit them + double time after midnight. On top of that either my wife took her home to the other side of the village or arranged a taxi which we paid for. Having said that we demanded the best sitters that were available - sensible and used to handling children. Cost really never came into it. Our children were worth whatever it cost.

Amusingly, we also paid her £10 an hour if we needed to have someone to dogsit!!! Yes OK we were a bit over the top!!

crawley_girl

Guys

Thanks for the responses. I am still no further forward but will pass these messages on to my sister.

I too considered the 'extra element' of having 2 children with additional needs, but then thought about the fairness of uping her fees because of this and then my brain stopped working and I reached for the chocolate!

Thanks again for your input!

Savvy_Sue

I think there are several factors here, and the answer would partly depend on whether or not she needs the money, and whether or not she wants to babysit for this family ...

If it helps, we used to live in Surrey and although I can't remember what we were paying, when the girl we used regularly for a weekly 8-10.30 pm 'slot' upped her prices "because I could get twice this the other side of Guildford" we let her go and earn it the other side of Guildford. Ours were in bed before she arrived, and I thought for a regular payment and 'easy' work she was asking too much.

You could get a minimum figure in your head, then ask what they were thinking of paying. That might be more than your minimum!

easy

Well I pay my mother's help 9.50 per hour, when she looks after my son (less frequent now, he is 12 and we don't go out much anyway, but she does come if we are going to be out after 8:30 pm). I don't discriminate between daytime and night-time, she is happy with that.

If these children are in bed and settled when your sister arrives, and likely to stay that way, I don't see that their 'special needs' are an issue. Altho I would have thought it was useful for the children to know her and for her to know them well too. I wouldn't babysit children with autism without spending a deal of time with them along with a parent first (My stepson has autism, and I had known him for nearly a year before I looked after him without DH being here too - I know it depends on each child specifically).

I don't see that this family should specifically pay more because their children are disabled - but your sister is selling herself short at £7.50 an hour to care for 4 children.

A final point - how wonderful that your sister has so many qualifications, but personally apart from a first aid certificate and a good measure of common sense, I looked for a carer who was kind, had an empathy with my son, and just 'felt right' for us. It worked, my Mother's help gets on with my son like a big sister, takes him to the pictures sometimes, and sent me a lovely mother's day card to boot !!

whitewing

Years ago, my son was in nursery, and due to work, I needed to occasionally let one of the nursery assistants take him home for half an hour before I could pick him up.

I agreed a charge that I would pay her up until 6.30pm, regardless of whether I picked him up at 6.05pm or 6.29pm. I also agreed if she finished work at 5pm then I still paid the one-off charge. All nicely agreed until my then boyfriend pokes his oar in. Without understanding the fact that it was a set fee that was generous, he then started telling me (in front of the girl) that I was being tight. It then became unaffordable for me to continue with the arrangement. So OP's sister can charge what she likes, but will need to bear in mind that if they need babysitters they may well be doing something that incurs a cost anyway (albeit luxury), and the combined cost of the evening may make it a no - go.

And I did split up my boyfriend as a result. One of those situations where he wanted out but didn't have the decency to tell me so behaved obnoxiously.

crawley_girl

fogartyblue. wrote: »

I'm a male so I can't offer any ideas as such.

I beg to differ. I value the opinions of everybody that has replied on here - male and female. Thank you!

Have fed this back to my sister and it is now in her hands

rev229

We have an a special needs DD 13 and pay a babysitter £10 per hour. Our childminder before and afterschool charged £7.50 per hour her rate for normal kids is 4.50 but she specialises in special needs kids and has involvement with social servises etc.