Is this rate reasonable/unreasonable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The suggestion to nanny share Is a good one. Or drop one set if lessons to let you afford it. If the after care really is not good for your kid (each kid is different) then you need to find the money to pay a rate that can actually find you someone.

I'm a pp here from earlier in the thread (the one who mentioned that a 13 year old sitter wouldn't be able to drive OP's kid to karate and music classes.)

I guess this (what I bolded) is what bothers me about OP. Obviously it's not a situation where she "can't afford" more because every penny she earns is going to put food on the table--she just chooses to spend money on other things and wants to cheap on childcare. My guess is there are many areas in her budget that she could cut back on in order to pay a decent childcare wage, but instead she wants her childcare provider to just accept meager wages.

What I don't understand are posters like you who get so up in arms about this. If the rate is so cheap, then OP just simply won't be able to find anybody for that rate. She will either need to make more room in her budget or find an alternative? Hello - simple Economics 101.

Except with domestic labor, there is always someone willing to work for nothing. Doesn't make the wage right. You can (and people do) post a job offering $150/week for 50 hours, and unfortunately will probably find someone. So yes, OP could post this job for $9/hour and she would find someone. Will they be a quality caregiver? Maybe, but most likely not. It doesn't change the fact that its insulting to me and what I do that someone values it at $9/hour. Its insulting when anyone undervalues your work. And like I said, you brush it off the first, second, and fiftieth time, but at some point you get fed up. I made $9/hour scooping ice cream at 14, ten years ago. If you don't think the care of your child is worth more than that, you're damn right I take offense to that.

PP, you need to stop taking this personally. The fact is, you work in a field with no barriers to entry. Anyone can provide childcare. Some do it well enough for long enough to command high rates and some do it less well, or for whatever other reason are not an optimal fit for many families. Most of you are somewhere in the middle.

Happily, the market is broad enough to provide opportunities across the spectrum. Most parents in the DC market have found little difference in quality between the $15 per hour nanny and the $22 per hour nanny, but very few of us would argue that there is no difference between the $9 nanny and the $15 nanny. Some people may provide good quality care at $9 per hour, but they are almost certainly lacking in some regard, be it experience, language, reliability, maturity, ability to work legally and thus pass a background check, or long term commitment to the job. Parents who pay $9 per hour are taking a bit of a gamble.

No one is valuing YOUR work at $9 per hour, because you clearly would not even entertain such an offer. If someone else is willing to provide childcare at $9 per hour, then presumably that person lacks the skills and credentials and personal traits to command the same rate that you can command. If a family needs care and has decided that's what they want to spend, why should your ego cause a willing employee to be deprived of the opportunity to work and either prove herself worthy of a raise or improve her skills enough to find a better job elsewhere?

In other words, this is not about you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The suggestion to nanny share Is a good one. Or drop one set if lessons to let you afford it. If the after care really is not good for your kid (each kid is different) then you need to find the money to pay a rate that can actually find you someone.

I'm a pp here from earlier in the thread (the one who mentioned that a 13 year old sitter wouldn't be able to drive OP's kid to karate and music classes.)

I guess this (what I bolded) is what bothers me about OP. Obviously it's not a situation where she "can't afford" more because every penny she earns is going to put food on the table--she just chooses to spend money on other things and wants to cheap on childcare. My guess is there are many areas in her budget that she could cut back on in order to pay a decent childcare wage, but instead she wants her childcare provider to just accept meager wages.

What I don't understand are posters like you who get so up in arms about this. If the rate is so cheap, then OP just simply won't be able to find anybody for that rate. She will either need to make more room in her budget or find an alternative? Hello - simple Economics 101.

Except with domestic labor, there is always someone willing to work for nothing. Doesn't make the wage right. You can (and people do) post a job offering $150/week for 50 hours, and unfortunately will probably find someone. So yes, OP could post this job for $9/hour and she would find someone. Will they be a quality caregiver? Maybe, but most likely not. It doesn't change the fact that its insulting to me and what I do that someone values it at $9/hour. Its insulting when anyone undervalues your work. And like I said, you brush it off the first, second, and fiftieth time, but at some point you get fed up. I made $9/hour scooping ice cream at 14, ten years ago. If you don't think the care of your child is worth more than that, you're damn right I take offense to that.

PP, you need to stop taking this personally. The fact is, you work in a field with no barriers to entry. Anyone can provide childcare. Some do it well enough for long enough to command high rates and some do it less well, or for whatever other reason are not an optimal fit for many families. Most of you are somewhere in the middle.

Happily, the market is broad enough to provide opportunities across the spectrum. Most parents in the DC market have found little difference in quality between the $15 per hour nanny and the $22 per hour nanny, but very few of us would argue that there is no difference between the $9 nanny and the $15 nanny. Some people may provide good quality care at $9 per hour, but they are almost certainly lacking in some regard, be it experience, language, reliability, maturity, ability to work legally and thus pass a background check, or long term commitment to the job. Parents who pay $9 per hour are taking a bit of a gamble.

No one is valuing YOUR work at $9 per hour, because you clearly would not even entertain such an offer. If someone else is willing to provide childcare at $9 per hour, then presumably that person lacks the skills and credentials and personal traits to command the same rate that you can command. If a family needs care and has decided that's what they want to spend, why should your ego cause a willing employee to be deprived of the opportunity to work and either prove herself worthy of a raise or improve her skills enough to find a better job elsewhere?

In other words, this is not about you.

Are you always so sanctimonious? I never said it was about me. Nor am I all that personally offended by the OP. I was attempting to explain the defensiveness and frustration you see from nannies on this subject.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the poster 2 above. To poster just above - if you are speaking for all then take this in the same light. The basic point being that it makes no sense to be offended by these postings of MBs who are clearly looking for a nanny way less qualifies than you or most other professional nannies.

[Anonymous]

Most parents simply don't know what quality childcare is, so why would they pay a dime more than they have to?

[Anonymous]

OP, can you find another nearby child who goes to the same school? I think you could find a college student at about 18/19 hour for 2 kids.