How Much Do You Pay A Babysitter?

 How much do you pay a babysitter?  It is something that many of us have agonized over…sometimes with check book in hand! There are so many things to think about – age of the child, how many kids?, time of day, age of the babysitter, can he/she drive?, how many hours after bedtime?, where are you living?, how is the babysitter supply?  The list goes on and on…

How Much to Pay the Babysitter?

Through the years, this is a question that we have asked over and over!  I want to be fair and make it worth someone’s time, but have the family’s budget in mind. The first thing I did was to ask other moms I knew what they paid.  In my area, it starts around $8 an hour with additional pay for additional kids, babies, long periods of time and issues.  Because of our location a bit out of town, we have had to recruit older sitters that can drive themselves.  When that happens, I feel like they should be paid more because I am competing for their time against other jobs in town that also pay a bit more. It is such a funny thing because I realized that I would have to pay someone closer to $25/hr in my area to clean my house, but the average babysitter wage was closer to $10/hr.  When I think of the importance of having the right person in place, my concern is for my kids and the responsibility that is included in that endeavor, yet the pay is so much lower! When it was someone regular and I had smaller kids {3 boys}, I paid $10-15/hr.  Anyone surviving 3 boys may need combat pay.  As the boys have gotten older and need less assistance, it has been easier to find people in the $10/hr range.  And now that the boys are even older, they would be horrified at the thought of a sitter and can watch themselves for reasonable amounts of time.

Pay a Babysitter Overnight?

The one that I have difficulty with is on the rare occasion that we need a sitter to spend the night or watch them over a day or two while both my husband and I are out of town.  It seems to me to have that large responsibility through day and night deserves more money…but how much?  I have ended up with a formula of paying like I do hourly for the waking hours and then adding a nighttime wage of $20.  I always try and negotiate it up front with the sitter so it is their choice whether taking on three boys over a day or two is worth the money!   We asked our FB community for their thoughts on how much to pay a babysitter and here are some of our favorite answers: –My daughter is 14 and has taken CPR and first aid classes as well as babysitting class. She charges $10 an hour for two kids. –Have her spend some time as a “mother’s helper”, just an extra set of hands while you are at home. This way she can see how you expect things to be handled both problems and routines and you can gradually give her more responsibility until you’re comfortable leaving her home with them alone. –We pay $8-10/hr for a HS sitter and you do get what you pay for.   They are fun, but do not clean up or make meals.   Our college aged sitters get $12-17/hr and are amazing.   They take our kids to the pool, do activities, etc –For a high school student, I’d only pay minimum wage which is what they’d make at any other job, so maybe around $8. Want to add some extra fun while you’re away? Leave some games for your kids to play together with the babysitter!  The links below are affiliate and support Kids Activities Blog.

Games for the Babysitter:

• Hedbanz Game is great for babysitters watching different aged kids <—it’s just silly enough to get everyone laughing, including the babysitter!
• Get these picture dominoes ahead of time to practice before the babysitter comes – even the youngest of kids can play along with this game.
• Clue Jr. is the perfect game to save for when  you leave the house.  Kids will love this game for years (and many date nights) to come!
• Sneak in some learning while you’re  out with our awesome list of reading games.

When the  games are ready for the babysitter, be  sure to teach kids what to do in case of an emergency.  Even with a CPR certified babysitter, it’s important that your kids start to learn what to do in an emergency, too!

Here’s even more great information about how much to pay a babysitter:

Babysitting Rates Calculator from Care.com Babysitting Fee Infographic From Urban Sitter If you have resources or opinions on what to pay the babysitter, please stop by our FB page and let us know!