My 13 year old asks for $15 for two kids and they always end up giving her more.

My 13 yo sits and I don’t want her charging more than $10-12 at this age.

Babysitting is exhausting and I would never allow my kid to give up hours of her weekends or free evenings for anything less than $15 per hour. There are plenty other options like refereeing that pay twice that amount per hour, and are far less demanding then wiping kids bottoms, feeding ornery, toddlers, putting kids down for nap or bedtime, dealing with tantrums. All these parents saying that $15-$20 per hour is ridiculously too much need to realize the value of good childcare and pay appropriately! Otherwise stay home and take care of your own kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$15/hr is what we pay high school babysitters for 3 elementary age kids.

Too low. I paid this 12 years ago for 2 kids.

Disagree. I have a kid who babysits rather than one who needs babysitting and $15 is fine for a teen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$15/hr is what we pay high school babysitters for 3 elementary age kids.

Too low. I paid this 12 years ago for 2 kids.

We pay the same and have three sitters in rotation who jump at the jobs.

Same

People should include their locations. It’s totally meaningless to hear what Larla is making in the suburbs in Ohio.

I pay $17/hr for three kids in Akron .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I make $20-25/hour in a skilled creative position. Not a highly-skilled one-- actually I'm more skilled than the position calls for-- but still. I don't begrudge the babysitters, but I am a bit yikes at the wage stagnation for writers and related creatives.

Supply/demand

DC hospitals are paying $25/hour for new grad RNs with bachelor's degrees to work in ICUs. So these girls can grow up, get 4 year college degrees and take care of critically ill patients and make $5/hour more. Craziness.

Agree. Anyone giving a high school teenagers $20+ per hr to babysit isn’t being generous, you are being stupid and actually doing the teen a disservice.

You can’t compare per hour salaries like this with a full time position. If I pay an instructor $50 an hour for a flute lesson, that doesn’t mean I’d be willing to pay the same rate for a full time instructor, Monday through Friday. I don’t think it’s a problem for a teen to learn these differences. Evening work earns more. People who come to your house earn more. Etc.

An occasional date night babysittee is not comparable to a tutor with a skill coming to your house to give private lessons. A teen babysitter is popping popcorn, ordering a pizza, putting on a movie, maybe assisting with a bath an reading a couple books. This is very basic minimum effort work. This is not a $20/hr job.

Minimum effort unless the kids fight, have special needs, including unmedicated ADHD (and younger kids are typically undiagnosed/unmedicated), there’s an accident and first aid is needed, or heaven forbid, there’s a gas leak or fire. Babysitters are expected to save kids’ lives if required. It may be low effort at times, but it’s high responsibility at all times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I make $20-25/hour in a skilled creative position. Not a highly-skilled one-- actually I'm more skilled than the position calls for-- but still. I don't begrudge the babysitters, but I am a bit yikes at the wage stagnation for writers and related creatives.

Supply/demand

DC hospitals are paying $25/hour for new grad RNs with bachelor's degrees to work in ICUs. So these girls can grow up, get 4 year college degrees and take care of critically ill patients and make $5/hour more. Craziness.

Agree. Anyone giving a high school teenagers $20+ per hr to babysit isn’t being generous, you are being stupid and actually doing the teen a disservice.

You can’t compare per hour salaries like this with a full time position. If I pay an instructor $50 an hour for a flute lesson, that doesn’t mean I’d be willing to pay the same rate for a full time instructor, Monday through Friday. I don’t think it’s a problem for a teen to learn these differences. Evening work earns more. People who come to your house earn more. Etc.

An occasional date night babysittee is not comparable to a tutor with a skill coming to your house to give private lessons. A teen babysitter is popping popcorn, ordering a pizza, putting on a movie, maybe assisting with a bath an reading a couple books. This is very basic minimum effort work. This is not a $20/hr job.

Skill set is one factor but competition and availability are another. I agree it’s not a high skill job. But in a lot of suburban areas, evening babysitters are simply hard to come by. Just like with any labor market, a shortage of workers leads to increased pay. And if you want a sitter to choose your house rather than your neighbor’s on a Saturday night, you’ll be more inclined to pay more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I make $20-25/hour in a skilled creative position. Not a highly-skilled one-- actually I'm more skilled than the position calls for-- but still. I don't begrudge the babysitters, but I am a bit yikes at the wage stagnation for writers and related creatives.

Supply/demand

DC hospitals are paying $25/hour for new grad RNs with bachelor's degrees to work in ICUs. So these girls can grow up, get 4 year college degrees and take care of critically ill patients and make $5/hour more. Craziness.

Agree. Anyone giving a high school teenagers $20+ per hr to babysit isn’t being generous, you are being stupid and actually doing the teen a disservice.

You can’t compare per hour salaries like this with a full time position. If I pay an instructor $50 an hour for a flute lesson, that doesn’t mean I’d be willing to pay the same rate for a full time instructor, Monday through Friday. I don’t think it’s a problem for a teen to learn these differences. Evening work earns more. People who come to your house earn more. Etc.

An occasional date night babysittee is not comparable to a tutor with a skill coming to your house to give private lessons. A teen babysitter is popping popcorn, ordering a pizza, putting on a movie, maybe assisting with a bath an reading a couple books. This is very basic minimum effort work. This is not a $20/hr job.

My daughter's clients all vary. The least she makes is $15 per hour for three kids.

The most she makes is $20 an hour for one kid.

I would argue the $20/hour is too much, but the family loves her and wants her to keep coming back.

She has a few other clients who are somewhere in the middle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I make $20-25/hour in a skilled creative position. Not a highly-skilled one-- actually I'm more skilled than the position calls for-- but still. I don't begrudge the babysitters, but I am a bit yikes at the wage stagnation for writers and related creatives.

Supply/demand

DC hospitals are paying $25/hour for new grad RNs with bachelor's degrees to work in ICUs. So these girls can grow up, get 4 year college degrees and take care of critically ill patients and make $5/hour more. Craziness.

Agree. Anyone giving a high school teenagers $20+ per hr to babysit isn’t being generous, you are being stupid and actually doing the teen a disservice.

You can’t compare per hour salaries like this with a full time position. If I pay an instructor $50 an hour for a flute lesson, that doesn’t mean I’d be willing to pay the same rate for a full time instructor, Monday through Friday. I don’t think it’s a problem for a teen to learn these differences. Evening work earns more. People who come to your house earn more. Etc.

Agreed. Saturday night should pay more. And I bet the hospital is paying full benefits. Are you contributing to the teen’s 401K? Sick leave? Paid vacation? This is like “billable hours,” not “hourly rate for exempt employee.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I make $20-25/hour in a skilled creative position. Not a highly-skilled one-- actually I'm more skilled than the position calls for-- but still. I don't begrudge the babysitters, but I am a bit yikes at the wage stagnation for writers and related creatives.

Supply/demand

DC hospitals are paying $25/hour for new grad RNs with bachelor's degrees to work in ICUs. So these girls can grow up, get 4 year college degrees and take care of critically ill patients and make $5/hour more. Craziness.

Agree. Anyone giving a high school teenagers $20+ per hr to babysit isn’t being generous, you are being stupid and actually doing the teen a disservice.

You can’t compare per hour salaries like this with a full time position. If I pay an instructor $50 an hour for a flute lesson, that doesn’t mean I’d be willing to pay the same rate for a full time instructor, Monday through Friday. I don’t think it’s a problem for a teen to learn these differences. Evening work earns more. People who come to your house earn more. Etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I make $20-25/hour in a skilled creative position. Not a highly-skilled one-- actually I'm more skilled than the position calls for-- but still. I don't begrudge the babysitters, but I am a bit yikes at the wage stagnation for writers and related creatives.

Supply/demand

DC hospitals are paying $25/hour for new grad RNs with bachelor's degrees to work in ICUs. So these girls can grow up, get 4 year college degrees and take care of critically ill patients and make $5/hour more. Craziness.

Agree. Anyone giving a high school teenagers $20+ per hr to babysit isn’t being generous, you are being stupid and actually doing the teen a disservice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I make $20-25/hour in a skilled creative position. Not a highly-skilled one-- actually I'm more skilled than the position calls for-- but still. I don't begrudge the babysitters, but I am a bit yikes at the wage stagnation for writers and related creatives.

Supply/demand

DC hospitals are paying $25/hour for new grad RNs with bachelor's degrees to work in ICUs. So these girls can grow up, get 4 year college degrees and take care of critically ill patients and make $5/hour more. Craziness.

It’s always more per hour when paying for part time, nonstandard time of day, work. I had an after school nanny for years - she made more per hour than a full time nanny, but I couldn’t justify paying for those hours I didn’t need.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I make $20-25/hour in a skilled creative position. Not a highly-skilled one-- actually I'm more skilled than the position calls for-- but still. I don't begrudge the babysitters, but I am a bit yikes at the wage stagnation for writers and related creatives.

Supply/demand

DC hospitals are paying $25/hour for new grad RNs with bachelor's degrees to work in ICUs. So these girls can grow up, get 4 year college degrees and take care of critically ill patients and make $5/hour more. Craziness.

I usually pay $15-20/hour. (I never have anything other than $20s from the ATM, so I’m always rounding up).