Just fyi, I pay my high school babysitters $15 an hour. I pay middle schoolers (13/8th grade) more like $10-$12 an hour. They're barely old enough to work as a babysitter and still make a lot of dumb mistakes.
I say this as a mom to a 13 year old.

I will say my 8 year old's favorite teenage babysitter (who is NOT her older sibling) basically can almost never babysit because she's so over scheduled.

When I'm booking sitters, convenience is key. I am not going to spend my time texting or trying to book someone who is never available, especially when they have some potential red flags from the outset (cost, experience, etc).

You hire babysitters to work around the parents' schedule, not vice versa. Maybe drop the price and offer to be a mother's helper and watch young children after school while a parent is home to let them get stuff done around the house?

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to the world of the upper middle class kid, who realizes that beginner jobs don't pay much and aren't actually worth their time!

My oldest had a dog-walking and boarding business during the pandemic, made possible by virtual learning and canceled activities. It was a way to get out of his own head. He was happy to earn whatever the neighbors wanted to pay him, which was below market rate for a professional dog walker - the reason they hired him instead. My youngest is asked to cat-sit - she does it because she likes cats, not for the money. Sometimes she's not actually paid, they just write a nice thank you card. That's fine. The neighbor kid does yard work for a pittance, because he wants to build a client base.

There's no way my teens are interested in an actual job for money. They're going to go to college, get internships, and go up the ladder, just like all the other upper middle class kids. They ARE interested in volunteering and hobbies. My oldest is in college now. No kid in our circle has meaningful work experience before going to college.

In this area, families will be leery of a 13 year old babysitter, but she can build trust by doing the first months of work for a low fee and showing how responsible she is. Up to her to determine whether that's actually worth it.

That’s kinda sad no kids have meaningful work experience.

Anonymous wrote:My 13-year-old has a successful babysitting business and is paid $10 an hour for one kid, $15 an hour for two kids. She is in high demand because she promotes herself, is a wonderful communicator, is always on time, and rarely says “no I’m too busy.” She will skip time with friends or any other social activity in order to babysit because it’s the only way she has money to spend at Sephora (I refuse to pay for any makeup or outlandish skincare products.)
There are plenty of families who want a reliable sitter, so I do not believe most of the responses here are accurate. Lots of families think they hit the jackpot if they can lock in a 13-year-old because then they have that teen for the next six years until they graduate high school. That’s what we are being told by all my daughter’s clients anyway! She is CPR certified for children and infants, which impresses the pants off of most of the clients she works for. Tell your daughter to find creative ways to spread the word about her services because it also teaches her about advertising.

So much truth in this!

We also first hired a 13 yr but we’d known their family for years, the Dad is a police officer able to handle any situation, they lived nearby, were certified and beloved by ours. We continued to hire her all through college when she was home, even creating opportunities that might not have existed. The real key - she was available (or made herself so), was ALWAYS on time, and never let a dirty dish sit out (either washed or in the dishwasher).

We underpaid to start and overpaid in the end. No regrets either way.

She set the bar for ours and they have modeled her practices and sometimes have more work than they can do. And when they have to say “no”, they offer another trusted friend who is usually happy to get the business. Win-win for all.

If she is not free on Friday and Saturday nights, then she won’t be anyone’s regular babysitter.

Where I live, middle school gets out around 2:30om and elementary gets out of school at 3:45pm. If she had a few days a week with time between school and evening sports, I could see someone paying her to pick kids up at elementary and take them to the park until 5pm. But realistically to babysit she will need to give up some activity time or give up time with friends.

At 13 with no experience, $10/hr is more appropriate. I pay HS babysitters $15/hr and college / adults $20-25/hr.

My teens work in the summer when theY have more time.

My DD has been watering people's plants since she was 13 when they go out of town. Always within walking distance, and if at night, I go with her. Last summer (at 14) she started cutting the lawn for a neighbor. Quickly she was asked by lots of people to cut their lawns, but she didn't have time so said no.

Your daughter has zero experience babysitting. Watching her siblings doesn’t count. You can’t scream at kids you babysit, or torture them in other ways you’d treat a sibling.

I realize you didn't ask for this, but if it were my kid I would actually spend the time helping her with her fear of dogs and cats, because that sounds unusual ... especially the cats one? ... and because working as a babysitter would often mean encountering a family pet. Therapy can help with this a lot.

My 13 year old is amazing with little kids and has babysat her sibling and close friends kids but hadn’t been able to make a job out of it. A lot of people don’t want middle school sitters and they certainly don’t want to pay $15 an hour for one.

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to the world of the upper middle class kid, who realizes that beginner jobs don't pay much and aren't actually worth their time!

My oldest had a dog-walking and boarding business during the pandemic, made possible by virtual learning and canceled activities. It was a way to get out of his own head. He was happy to earn whatever the neighbors wanted to pay him, which was below market rate for a professional dog walker - the reason they hired him instead. My youngest is asked to cat-sit - she does it because she likes cats, not for the money. Sometimes she's not actually paid, they just write a nice thank you card. That's fine. The neighbor kid does yard work for a pittance, because he wants to build a client base.

There's no way my teens are interested in an actual job for money. They're going to go to college, get internships, and go up the ladder, just like all the other upper middle class kids. They ARE interested in volunteering and hobbies. My oldest is in college now. No kid in our circle has meaningful work experience before going to college.

In this area, families will be leery of a 13 year old babysitter, but she can build trust by doing the first months of work for a low fee and showing how responsible she is. Up to her to determine whether that's actually worth it.

Most kids aren't interested in volunteer work...they do it because they think colleges like it. Don't kid yourself.

Putting aside babysitting, there are actually quite a few teens getting actual summer internships in HS, including with NASA, Mitre, NIH, NIST, NSA, etc. Many are also working during the Summer as camp counselors and what not. Honestly, most of the real internships are going to UMC kids because they are able to buy all the cool technology and indulge STEM interests and whatnot at a young age.

In terms of OP, there is no reason your kid needs to be so consumed with cheerleading and dance at 13. That is a choice...and you and your teen can choose to open up time to babysit some times on weekends. We live in CC, MD and had no problem letting a neighbor 13-year-old watch our kid for several hours knowing their own parents were two doors away if there was a real emergency, and we were only going to FH or Bethesda.

I agree that $15/hr with no experience is too much. 12 years ago a neighborhood girl asked for that amount of money at 13 with no experience and I passed.

Good babysitters are worth their weight in gold and I will pay handsomely, but you have to be good with the kids and pick up after yourself. I don't want to walk in the house and find all my kitchen cabinets open and 4 hour old pizza sitting out on the island while they're sitting on the couch - true tale of an 18 year old sitter who charged $20/hr.

We have a 13 y/o babysitter who is one of our neighbors and we pay her $15-17/hr. But when she started 1.5 yrs ago we paid her closer to $8-10/hr. I used her more as a mother's helper. She would put fliers in our mailbox to remind us of her availability, she wrote us a thank you card at the end of the year, she always made a point to say hello and greet my kids at any neighborhood party. The kids love her and she's proven herself reliable and quick to respond. She even brings crafts and games sometimes
She plays sports and is involved with other activities so she's not always available but she's great when I just need someone for 2 hrs on a weeknight. I also use her as a helper as my kids birthday parties.

Maturity in 13 year olds can range greatly so she has to prove that she's the kind of kid that enjoys being around kids, engaging with them, responding to texts quickly and politely, etc. Just because she took a course and has younger siblings doesn't guarantee that she's a great babysitter and worth $15/hr.

Other ways I see kids making money are offering services like picking up mail and packages when you're on vacation, shoveling snow, taking down Christmas trees, "coaching" kids in a sport, yardwork, etc.

A few weeks before a school break have her send out fliers that's she's available to watch kids during the day so parents can work. Or she could offer to stuff and hide eggs before Easter or hand out candy so parents can take their own kids trick or treating. She has to be creative and willing to hustle if she wants to make money.

DD 15 started babysitting and dog sitting for a family in the neighborhood when she was 13. She is first aid and cpr certified for infants and kids. It started with one 2 year old and now there is a second kid. They initially paid her $15-16 an hour (she asked for $10 and they said that was too low). Now they pay her about $20/hour. There have been 1-2 times she wasn't available when they asked, but I'd say she babysits 4-5 times a year. She also goes out of her way to say hello when she sees them in the neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:What sports does she do? 13 year olds can start refereeing soccer.

Yep my 14 year old gets $25 a game to be line ref for 50 minute games. Then gets $45 for the same game if he center refs and I do the line for him. So an average Saturday can look like...first game 8am (be there by 7:40 leave house at 7:15), 2nd 9:15, 3rd 10:30. Done at 11:30. Home by noon and he'll make anywhere from $75 to $135 for that but I usually center referee one so he usually makes $115 for 3.5 hours of "work" plus commute time. He may start doing 11 year old games and then the pay goes up to $50 for center and $30 for line. My older son does up to U15 and gets $70 for center (70 minute games) and $35 for line. Some leagues pay more.