Babysitter question...

[buzzbait]

My wife has hired a young high school girl ( freshman next year) to babysit our 3 boys during the summer. Our kids are 11, 6, and almost 4. The oldest does his own thing ( he just isn't old enough to watch his little brothers)...so she is really only babysitting the 2 little boys. What is a fair wage for her? We will be providing her transportation to and from the house...about 20-25 hours a week... she is always off Friday. Just trying to decide what is fair rate....any input is greatly appreciated!

[innergel]

$10-12/hour is what we pay for a 4 and 2 year old in Dallas.

[BrandonH]

We pay $7/hr for a 3yr old and a 7yr old.

[JimN]

$8 an hour for 10 and 8 year old boys when we use them for nights out.

[kyle1974]

For a one night deal, we will pay about 10 bucks an hour... but your baby sitter seems like she has a bit more steady job working that many hours a week.

I don't have a problem paying 10 bucks an hour for our two boy (3 and 5) if we got out for a few hours... if I was paying 10 bucks an hour for a babysitter working 25 hours a week... man, that's 1,000 a month. I seriously doubt there is any job a high school freshman could get many 1000 a month (tax free), and hang out watching TV with some kids....

[Blood Trail]

120-150 a wk. 150 if she is cpr quailified.

[Dale Moser]

I don't know, but your 11 year old is gonna be in LOOOOOVE!

[wags]

A daycare is probably about $300/mo per child. Now, say that is about $75/wk per child. So for two kids it is about $150/wk. For $25 hours per week, that comes out to be about $6/hr. I think that is very fair.

[jaker_cc]

your 11 year old better work some game. This is a big opportunity for him haha

[Chuey]

just pay her minumum wage....i would for a kid herself....

[Jhunter]

Since it's pretty much a steady gig. I would do a $160 a week type price. Whether she works 20 or 25 hours. I know when I used to get a babysitter for going out at night, you have to pay a little better to get a good babysitter that will show up and be available. I used to have to out bid the next door neighbor. This is more like a summer job. Now if she babysit evenings while you go out. I would bump it up to the $10 hr type pay, because she is giving up "her" time. Kinda like overtime.

[Texastaxi]

What's minimum wage these days?
I'd pay her a few dollars more than that ... and hopefully she's grateful for haveing a job that pays more than what her friends are making. I'd also pay her for the max (25 hours in your estimate) hours each week, just so she has a steady pay check.

Sure is a lot better than the gigs that I had in high school!

[innergel]

A daycare is probably about $300/mo per child. Now, say that is about $75/wk per child. So for two kids it is about $150/wk. For $25 hours per week, that comes out to be about $6/hr. I think that is very fair.

Maybe that's the rate in El Campo. It's nowhere near that in Dallas.


And I know everyone is concerned about money these days, but trying to save $$ by cheaping out on someone to watch your kids is not the best place to save. A couple of extra bucks an hour goes a LONG way towards the kids saftey and your piece of mind.

[Phdan]

$10-12/hour is what we pay for a 4 and 2 year old in Dallas.

Dang, can I have this job this summer?

[Codie]

Daycare for us here in Graham is $300 month. That is the babysitter keeping our son from 7:45 - 3:45 M-F. So if she is working half that time as you say (@ 20-25 hrs) then I would think $150-160 month would be pretty fair. If it was me I would offer her $200/month that why you will have a happy babysitter.