Last night, I was talking to a friend of mine who has a 15-year old daughter. This daughter is wonderful, responsible and smart… and she babysits. Since summer is fast approaching and Audrey could use some babysitting help here and there, I asked what the going rate is for an-hour-or-so-here-and-there babysitting.
The answer. I almost fainted. $10.00/hour. And more if it involves things like meals.
OK. No wonder Audrey brings her little guys with her to the supermarket, post office, and other around town chores.
But then I got to thinking. Thinking. Way back to when I was 15 years old and I babysat for spending money. I babysat a lot. I was one of the only teenagers in a cluster of homes with little kids. I was the golden ticket to a lunch, dinner, hairdressing appointment or supermarket run for many, many young moms in my neighborhood. Most of these moms were very appreciative that I read to their kids, took them on walks, changed diapers, fed them anything from snacks to dinner… and I even cleaned their kitchens. The moms were always amazed that I cleaned the kitchens, and they gushed about me to my own mom. (Mom was very proud!)
The pay? 25 cents/hour. Yes, you read that correctly. It was the mid-60’s and that was the going rate. Most of the moms and dads tipped me very generously… like in the range of a dollar or two extra for each sitting. I thought I was rich.
But on this one day, with this one mom…
I had plans to head to the beach with my boyfriend. He was 16 and had his mom’s car for the day. Well, not just a car. A convertible. I had my beach bag packed and ready when the phone rang. My mom answered. It was a mom just around the corner who needed me for an hour or so. I frantically waved my arms NO NO NO NO… but I heard my mom saying YES.
“It’s only for an hour,” my mom said in her most authoritative voice. (I guess this is how I learned responsibility. NOT.)
Anyway, this mom had 4 little girls. I don’t remember their ages, but the oldest one was heading to kindergarten and the youngest one was in diapers. I had only babysat for them a couple of times at night when the kids were in bed, so I didn’t really know the girls. I asked my mom if my boyfriend could help me. (You probably already know the answer to that.)
So off I trudged around the corner. I remember the mom telling me a zillion things. What to do. When to do it. How to do it. And these things involved lunch. Specific books to read. No outside play.
OK. The beach with my boyfriend in a convertible. Or this.
Well, I did do lunch. The books. Indoor play. And as promised, the mom was back in a little over an hour. But that hour+ was the most demanding hour I had ever spent babysitting. The girls were here, there and everywhere. No-one wanted the same book. No-one wanted the specified lunch. They all wanted to play outside. But I kept thinking, “At least I’ll be able to buy french fries and soda for 2 at the beach.”
That would not happen.
The mom entered her home, hugged her kids, asked a million questions… and handed me a quarter.
A quarter.
Yes, I charged 25 cents an hour… but 4 kids? Lunch time? And everyone gave me more.
I don’t know how long I stared at that quarter in my hand, but it was enough time to think, “This is how much I’m worth in the charge and responsibility of your 4 children?” And it was long enough to think, “I will never do this to a babysitter when I am a mom.”
And I didn’t. I was the biggest tipper on earth.
So this brings me full circle back to my friend’s daughter who charges $10.00/hour and extra for extra things. She is worth every penny. To place your children in the hands and heart of someone is a huge thing, if just for one hour. It’s worth a million dollars to feel that your children are safe.
(Oh… when I returned home and told my mom of my experience with the kids, and showed her the quarter, she was fuming. And even with repeated requests, I never babysat for that mom again. My mom wouldn’t let me! And I did get to the beach that afternoon in that awesome convertible, and my boyfriend bought the french fries and soda!)
Good for your mom for being angry about that! Talk about taking advantage of someone’s good graces. The last time I babysat, I made $5/hr, which seemed like enough to me, but I know people pay a lot more for teenage babysitters now!
We get an amazing deal with Luke’s sitter while we are at work, who charges us $100 for four days (8 hour days). We provide some of the food, but she provides a lot of love and play time!
Love this Sharon! This brings back memories of me making a quarter too! I need to quit my job and start babysitting again. I can remember being the #1 babysitter on the block and had to keep an appointment book. I earned quite a bit of money babysitting. I can picture you being a great babysitter with books and getting down to their level.
Oh, my God, what memories this brought back. But I was so much more generously paid than your were, 100% as much, actually. In Central Falls (the ultimate inner-city) the going rate was 50 cents per hour.
I had a couple of steady jobs. One was for my wonderful single mother cousin, who has four children under the age of ten for whom I babysat every day after school for that fifty cents per. Here’s the catch: they were hellions.
Another involved a (really cheap) family, also with four kids. A whole Saturday night (during high school years mind you) would net, at best, five bucks. As you say, including supper, clean-up, dishes, getting them to bed, hanging around till all hours when you couldn’t even keep your eyelids open while they partied on. All of the above. But that was the way it was. A few bucks to have to help pay for parochial school high school tuition, never mind the fancy stuff which didn’t even exist in our world.
And that second Mom was demanding and unappreciative (not like my wonderful cousin for whom I would lay in the street and get run over by a car)….though her husband was a sweetie.
Ten bucks an hour. Wow! That’s more than people make trying to raise families. But as you say, well worth it for the right baby-sitter who will care for your children as the treasures they truly are.
Good for your mom not letting you babysit again. Four kids and all that work.
I appreciated my babysitters all the time. Some were a true blessing and some wouldn’t take any money from me. They felt like it was their ministry to do that. I was truly blessed by those young people and used them only during the evening when the kids were already in bed.
Oooh, that would have burned me up, too! Back when I babysat often (very often!) I think I charged $3 per hour and I almost always got generous tips, too. I loved it and for me it was so much fun hanging out with the kids that I didn’t consider it much of a “job”…well, except that one little girl. We have all had those, right?
I’d say $10 per hour is worth it, also if this girl is really good! We had a sitter last year that we just loved and we gave her $9 per hour plus we always tipped. She moved away and I don’t know that I’ve ever missed anyone more 🙂
When we hire a babysitter for our 8-year-old and 4-year-old, I pay $13/hour (or more if there’s a meal involved), always come home early or at least on time, and–get this–I still pay them if we cancel with less than 24 hours notice. I don’t tip (in fact, I didn’t actually realize that people DO tip babysitters, that wasn’t the custom where I grew up), but I always round up when calculating the hours. I give Christmas gifts and bonuses for reliability when it’s a regular commitment.
I want babysitters to be happy to see my name pop up on their caller ID. I want them to know that I respect their time and effort, and that I expect them to have some appreciation for the fact that entrusting my children to them is a BIG deal. I have relied on babysitters many times over the past few years in the process of earning a master’s degree, and I will recognize them, by name, on the acknowledgment page of my thesis.
At the end of the day, this isn’t at all about the sitters, although we have been blessed with some wonderful young women. It’s about my kids, how much value I assign to their care. And it’s worth every penny.
I was lucky, I guess. I made fifty cents an hour and seventy five cents after midnight. We must have been crazy.
I remember those “old school” days of babysitting and I am all for the increase in babysitting charges. Babysitters are entrusted with caring for our most precious little beings and if you get a good one, she is priceless!
Back when I was in my babysitting days, I think the going rate was $5/hr. I remember getting paid $20/day by this one mom to babysit her three boys! I thought that $20 was a big thing…then only when I got older, realized that I got paid $20 for a day that was 6 hrs long! I wonder why it took me so long to realize that I was getting ripped off! LOL!
What an experience! When I started babysitting (somewhere around the age of 9 or 10, which shocks me today), I was probably getting about $7 per hour. Like you, I did everything, including cleaning the kitchens. You certainly deserved much more appreciation! Although I’m happy to hear you made it to the beach that day. 🙂