Babysitting Rates
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Anonymous
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We are in Fairfax and have different rates for different babysitters based on their age, experience, ability to get to our house on their own, and what we're asking them to do (bedtime vs. just playing with our kids). We have two girls, ages 4 and 6.
The sitter we use most often is 15 years old. We pick her up from her house and drop her back off at the end of the night. She feeds our kids dinner (which we make for them ahead of time), plays with them, and puts them to bed. We pay her $15 an hour. Honestly, I know she charges a friend of ours more to watch her rambunctious 4-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter, so partially, she's giving us a discount for having easy kids. Still, we would probably pay her more if she raised her rates. Our sitters who are older (17-22 years old), have more experience babysitting, and can drive themselves to and from our house tend to charge $20-25 an hour. I figure part of that is gas money, in addition to paying for age/experience. We used one sitter recently for a date night who is 17, has his own car, and is very responsible, but doesn't babysit regularly. My kids loved him, but they were not asleep (they were at least in bed) when we got home 45 minutes after their bedtime. If he had more babysitting experience, they would have been asleep. We paid him $18 an hour. We tack on a nice tip if we're out particularly late. |
Anonymous
My 16 year old absolutely makes this food running at her restaurant job. And she prefers it to babysitting because babysitting is irregular and parents are so flaky! They think nothing of asking you to hold a date a month in advance and then canceling the day before. It’s shocking how often it happens. My teen would not babysit for less than $20, and also won’t babysit for someone who has canceled twice without paying. |
Anonymous
| Daycare teachers that have your kids routines and needs down to a science get a premium. For two kids, $30 seems completely reasonable. Regular babysitters are $20-25/kid. Teenagers are $17-20, depending on whether they ask for a certain rate and how badly you want them to be available next time. |
Anonymous
This is DCum and minimum wage in DC is $17, so no. |
Anonymous
| ^^ that was supposed to be in response to PP before PP saying a teen would be lucky to make $15 |
Anonymous
You should pay her what she’s worth to you. Why would you cheap out for the care of your children? Do the bargain hunting elsewhere, not on your children. |
Anonymous
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babysitters take full advantage of parents. full stop. They get their food paid for while they are babysitting plus their hourly wage plus usually every parent rounds up the time. And for at least some of the time (if it’s in the evening) all or some of the kids will be asleep.
It’s a great deal for the babysitter and a terrible one for the parents. Oh and if you tell them 3 hours and come back in 2 you still pay them for 3. and if you cancel last minute and also still expected to pay. Literally better conditions and pay that a teenager would get at any other job at that age. we rarely went out unless we had family who could watch one night. Then our oldest turned 13 and is happy for whatever we give him to watch his brother for a couple of hours 😁. |
Anonymous
Good for her. And I bet she is working her tail off too. But most teens don’t want to commit to consistent part time hours and they don’t really want to work hard. Which is why they default to babysitting. Let’s face it, babysitting is a pretty easy, cushy job. Especially comparable to real part time jobs that are available to teens. Hearing that these teens think they are entitled to $20+ and hr for babysitting is hysterical. |
Anonymous
| I pay $25/hour for 1 8 year old for college-age babysitters in close-in DC suburb. |
Anonymous
Agree, in the DC area, minimum wage is 16-17 in MD and DC. Also, why are people so angry at pay a few extra dollars to care for their kids? Like don't go out if you're so angry. |
Anonymous
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I am in an average COLA (but UMC neighborhood - where we find our babysitters) and would pay $15 for one child in this situation. If more than one child + you take advantage of sitter's language skills + sitter is able to drive the kids around - I would definitely bump up to $20, and then more than that by the time she is a freshman. Obviously I would expect all of those numbers to be higher in a higher COLA.
I usually ask the teen sitters what they charge - usually they just say "whatever you want" - but I encourage them to practice having that conversation. |
Anonymous
Call it hysterical if you want but teens are 100% being paid this. By very grateful parents. If you can find someone who will do it for less, good for you but this is what everyone pays my teen. She doesn’t even say that is what she charges - that is just what they pay. |
Anonymous
Nah you don’t get to gaslight parents into thinking they have to pay close to the starting wage for many bachelor degrees in order to enjoy an evening out. You probably don’t even have kids that need babysitting anymore, you old hag. |
Anonymous
| 13:18 sounds like a nasty individual. |
Anonymous
The families that pay my daughter sound nothing like you. They could not be more grateful to have her. If you can find a teen willing to take less, by all means hire them! Or vote with your wallet and stay home - that’s what I do when I don’t like the price of something. |