r/Babysitting

I just stumbled upon this sub and I’m mortified that I may be unknowingly underpaying our sitter.

Small town in the northeast states. Sitter is late teens. She is a 10/10 sitter. Kids love her. We love her. (2) Kids are older elementary. Very well behaved for our sitter (no, seriously, not just bc I’m their mom). We always order her delivery dinner of her choosing and she’s free to enjoy anything in the pantry/fridge. Average shift is 5p-midnight with kids in bed around 8pm. No expectations - keep them safe and somewhat happy, that’s all.

We’ve been paying about $22/hour. Am I out of touch and underpaying? 🤦‍♀️

I’ve never had a babysitter before, but I recently changed jobs and the time no longer works for us. I can’t adjust the schedule and it’s also not something I can afford to decline.

I was thinking 4 hours, 5 am start time and drop off at daycare. What would be appropriate for this in terms of pay + including gas for one toddler. Any advice about this at all would be helpful!

Hi everyone! I am completely new to this subreddit but it seemed like a good place to get some advice for my situation.

I have been babysitting on and off for a family with a little boy, who is now about 2 years old. He is a very sweet boy and overall pretty easy to take care of. I recently watched him at their house for 12 hours, from 6 am to 6 pm. I was paid $140 total for the day, which I thought was reasonable given it is the same hourly rate they have paid me before. But the issue is that when I told my mom, she seemed very shocked and said that was a lot of money. I do understand that times are tough for people and that I am young and more of an amateur babysitter, but it isn’t like I have no experience, aside from this family I used to watch an infant (that family has since moved), and I have kept family members children from time to time. But is $140 for the day too much? I’m not even concerned about the possibility that it isn’t enough because the parents are very nice people and I would probably do it for free for them if they needed it. I just want to make sure they aren’t giving me more than I deserve.

Thanks in advance for the advice, I really appreciate anything anyone has to add!

I babysit for a family with two little girls, ages 8 months and 6 years. I've been with their oldest since she was 3, and I absolutely love working for them. When the baby sister was a few months old and started crawling, the older one would sometimes "copy" her by scooting around next to her. I thought it was adorable and completely harmless. Since then, though, she's started copying her sister in ways that are a lot more difficult to manage. For example, after bath time I lay out her pajamas for her to put on (she's been dressing herself since she was 3!), and while I get her baby sister dressed, she'll lie down waiting for me to dress her too. I tell her, "I'm here if you need help, but you're a big girl and I know you know how to get dressed." She'll refuse and say, "I'm a baby. I don't know how." At first, I would just wait it out. I'd stay in the room with both girls until she decided to get dressed, and that seemed to work. But the last time I babysat, she simply wouldn't get dressed. I talked to her parents, and they said not to give it too much attention and to just continue the evening as normal because she'll eventually get dressed. But honestly, a lot of the things we do together are piggybacks / handstands / dances and I would just prefer her be dressed in general, at least with underwear.

I give her a lot of one on one attention, so I don't think it's an attention issue. Her baby sister is super chill and is usually happy sitting next to us or in her bouncer (if anything, I sometimes worry I'm not interacting with the baby enough!). The oldest has always been perfectly behaved, she's pretty smart too, she reads the bedtime stories instead of me haha so this is just really out of character for her. I'm 17 and have been babysitting regularly for the past 6 years for multiple families with young kids, and I've never run into anything like this before. Has anyone experienced something similar? Any tips on how to handle it?

This was my first experience babysitting and it was very much of a hassle to deal with, especially how it was in the pool. One out of two girls had a bossy attitude towards me. She asked me to go into the hot tub because it felt nice, however I said later because I didn’t feel like going in it since I was watching 4 of them. She then gave me this attitude of "get in now!" "I don’t care what you say, get in now." I was concerned why she acted that way since I have never seen a child disrespecting a simple decision.

The two boys were mature and I didn’t need to give them much instructions. I only watched them for 4 hours, but I felt so overwhelmed just by doing this on my own. I wanted to tear up. I know that every kid is different regarding their environments, but I think parents should discipline their children when it comes to respecting the babysitter.

I feel like I exaggerated this experience a bit but my whole day felt like I was on high alert.

I recently became a pediatric RN. I babysat all throughout college charging $20-25/hr. Is $35/hr too high of a boost? I’m moving so new clientele in a mcol city midwest us. I just don’t find it worth it with how much hourly I get at the hospital. Of course I understand most parents don’t need a nurse to babysit, but for medically complex kids or nervous parents? TIA

edit: this is just as a side gig!

I’ve been babysitting for about 9/10 years, I think I have a solid rate but wanted to get others opinions. I am currently about to start my final year of college and babysit for date nights usually and during the day now for summer. I currently charge $20/hour + $2/hour per additional child, this appears to be the going rate in my area. However I do have one family that insists on paying me $25/hour for two kids and I’m not sure if they’re trying to tell me that I should raise my rate or if they just want to pay more. I am CPR/First Aid certified and also work per diem in a daycare so have training on SIDS, Safe Sleep, Anaphylaxis, and all the other required trainings. I am located near Rochester, NY.

Babysitting a friends 3 month old. From 6am to 7pm Should I charge 50 a day? She has agreed to this but I can ask her if 60 or 70 a day is okay. What would you guys do? How much do you guys charge ?

The 3yo I babysit for loves TV. Which shouldn't be too much of a problem, but once she starts watching, it's hard to get her to do anything else. She also loves repeating episodes of the same show. I don't know how to pull her away from TV, especially when we don't have access to coloring books right now.

I feel bad because I wanna keep her entertained with other things, I don't just wanna watch TV all day. But it's way too hot to go outside with the heat wave.

I'm just not sure what to do, she's the first small kid I've babysat for, so I'm learning every time I come babysit.

So if anybody has any advice for right now or the future, please share! I need it

I'm a SAHM looking to add extra income to the household. My daughter is almost 16 months. I can't leave her with literally anyone or she has a full on meltdown and thinks I'm abandoning her. With her dad, she'll be okay for maybe 10 minutes and then she starts freaking out if I'm not back asap.

This brings me to my question: would it be weird to bring her with me to an interview? The mom i'm interviewing with said she is perfectly fine with me bringing the baby during the day to day care, so in my mind it wasn't an issue bringing her to the interview but my friend (also a SAHM who babysits) said it was weird to bring her to interviews. With her baby though, she can leave her with dad, grandma, etc and the baby is perfectly content so I don't think she's seeing my perspective.

She offered to watch my baby during the interview and said that she would do her best to keep her distracted but when we're at their house if i even go get something from my car my baby immediately has a full on meltdown and is inconsolable for 15 minutes. I'm worried I won't be my best self for the interview because I'll be worried the entire time about my baby screaming and crying. Its a 20 minute drive there and back, and the interview could take 20+ minutes so I would be gone for an hour or more.

During the interview I would probably have toys or something for her to stay busy so she wouldnt be an issue during the interview. My friend also pointed out that its a potential safety issue to bring my baby because "what if she snatches your baby and runs off?" but we're doing a public meet up so I'm not worried about that.

Give me your thoughts, what would you do if you were in my shoes? If any clarifying details are needed please let me know. The interview is in 24 hours so I just need to know what to do for tomorrow. Thank you in advance:)

I am a preschool teacher and I’m looking to do baby sitting on the side to earn extra money. I am CPR and first aid certified and I am educated on child development, so I know I can charge more since I am technically a professional, but I am scared my rates are too high. This is the exact message I just sent a parent:

“Hello! These are my rates:
1–2 hours: $25/hour
3+ hours: $22/hour
Infants: +$5/hour
More than 1 child: +$3–5/hour

If you’re looking for recurring or regular childcare, I’d be happy to discuss a discounted rate that works well for both of us.

My pricing reflects my professional experience working with children, education in child development, and CPR/First Aid certification. I strive to provide dependable, developmentally appropriate, and safety-focused care that gives families peace of mind.”

Please let me know if this is too high! I’m worried I won’t get any business with these prices 😅

Edit to add: I am located in Houston Texas

My brother and my SIL are having a baby next month, and every time we get together she tells me to hold or play with babies so I can “practice,” because she knows I don’t like kids. She turns every conversation we have towards me babysitting kids.

I have nephews from my other brother, and their parents have never tried to force me to play with them. But for some reason, this SIL—who isn’t even their mom—keeps pushing me to babysit them whenever we’re together.

She’s honestly starting to get on my nerves, and I’m worried they’ll expect me to babysit once their baby is born. I have a lot of free time right now because I couldn’t get into college yet, although I’m still trying. I’m afraid they’ll see that free time as me being available to watch their baby since they both work and plan to bring her over often.

The thing is, I’m afraid I’ll come across as rude and that everyone will think I’m being difficult or too much. Almost everyone at our family gatherings holds the babies and spends time with their nieces and nephews, so I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
At the same time, I can’t help feeling frustrated with my SIL because she keeps pushing it. It feels like she’s not respecting that I’m just not comfortable with it.

I’m familiar with the going rate for college and adult babysitters (25-35$/hr) but unsure about fair rates for young teens.

We have a couple of mommy’s helpers that come and play with my toddler or baby, run the vacuum, or go on outings with us. I pay them $8 an hour, make sure they get paid breaks, and make a point of not asking too much of them. They’re thrilled with the rates at they are only 13, and are learning through the experience. This summer we will increase their rate to $9 an hour.

We also have a 15 year old babysitter that we only recently decided to leave alone with the baby and toddler, with our 10 year old as a heavy (paid) assist. She charged $10 an hour last time she babysat for us, but I was going to increase her rate now that she was the primary responsible person. Hours before she babysat she let me know she now charges $20 an hour. I said that was fine, and we paid her accordingly.

Here is my conundrum- we love her. Our kids love her. She is truly wonderful. BUT $20 an hour feels like a lot for a 15 year old. I was planning to increase it to $15ish, and in my mind that feels like a more fair rate, but I also realize I may be wrong. I do think that she is capable, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving her without my oldest as support due to how young my infant and toddler are, but maybe that is also a “me” problem?

I greatly value our childcare providers and want feedback on all of it- is the mommy helper rate fair? What is a fair babysitter rate for a 15 year old? And if her rate is truly too high, is it acceptable to approach her before our next date to ask if she would accept less?

Edited to add that I live in Charlotte NC, which I believe is upper middle range COL.

Hi all, I’ve had 2 separate babysitting jobs in the past year when I’ve had to play amateur plumber and fix a toilet.

Both instances, the toilet would back up and dirty toilet water spilled out. I had to declog the toilet and clean the dirty water mess. Frankly, I think I should’ve been compensated extra for this. First time this happened the family did not pay me any extra. Second time the mom rounded up my pay to the nearest 10 (came out to $6 extra).

How much should I charge to fix the toilet and clean up the toilet mess? I feel like it should be at least $20 minimum.

I WFH and have a sitter watch my baby while I work. I used to shower on my lunch before I had him. Would it be weird to shower now that the sitter is here watching him? The bathroom is in my bedroom and they’re in the living room. My office is across the hall from my bedroom.

I'm going to babysit someone who's going to give me a 1099 form. Since I'm going to be the one working by her own schedule, what does this mean for me as a 1099 employee? I know that's no such thing but that's how she wants it. I've read online that I'll have to be responsible for baying both out payroll taxes (social security and such) is that true??

hey everyone! quick question, I have a 17 yr old babysitter with about 3-4 years of experience with children of all ages. They are also a nationally registered Emergency Medical Technician, and a fully certified Firefighter, with an operations-level HazMat certification. How much should I charge them per hour for babysitting one child? 2? 3? 4? Thank you!

So, on Friday a man messages me and says he wants me to babysit his 2 boys.

This is Care.com where the only thing I'm able to see is his name and profile picture. I ask if he'd be available for a phone call or video call so that we can go over expectations, questions, and rate. He declines and tell me that he'd rather "go over the details the day off (today). Now, I'm aware I should have immediately said that this was outside of my comfort zone right then and there, but for some stupid reason, I agree.

On the drive this morning, I thought about it more and was like, "I wouldn't even go inside someone's house to grab something off of Facebook marketplace...why would I go inside this man's house when he couldn't even chat beforehand for everyone's safety?"

I pulled up to the house and on the outside, it was sketch. The side of the windows were boarded up and there was not a single sign of any kiddos (not that there has to be), but the whole thing just seemed odd to me and I backed out the last minute. Did I overreact? Is that normal? I dont understand why he refused to talk to me before I was physically in his house?????

Our 19 month old still gets bounced to sleep on a large yoga ball. It takes us 4-5 minutes of bouncing and then he typically transfers to his floor bed with no issues.

I get worried that asking a babysitter to bounce him to sleep is too much. Any sitters who can weigh in? Any out there who are asked to this and don’t mind? Any who hate it and maybe wouldn’t babysit that kiddo again?

We’ve had 2 babysitters ever (other than my mom) and they weren’t able to get him to stay asleep on the transfer. They let us know and we just came home early, no problem. But since then the same two sitters are always unavailable when we ask, which could be totally valid since we don’t inquire often. But my paranoid brain worries it’s the bouncing. I’ll add: they both said he’s not difficult or crying/upset when he doesn’t stay asleep- he’s just stoked wants to hang, read stories, etc.

ETA: thanks so much for all the input. Sounds like it really depends on the person, which makes sense. Based on some great advice from a few folks, we’ll make sure to let them know ahead of time in case it is a deal breaker and also encourage them to try whatever method they’d like. :)

Hi! I’m 17 and have been babysitting for 4 years now. I was CPR/first aid/AED certified (my certification just expired and I haven’t gotten the chance to renew yet). I also have my license. When I started and was like 13 I charged $10, the family I babysat for ended up paying me $13 sometimes it would equal out to more. My initial rate is now $15 an hour. I always felt like that was fine but now seeing these posts I feel like it’s really low. I just started babysitting this family and so far the rate feels fine because I have been doing a lot of dropping the kids off and picking them up from camps and I have had free time in between and they pay me for those in between hours + a little extra for gas. The parents are also home and typically make the kids lunch and stuff and that’s when I leave. I really don’t do much so for this family I feel as though it’s fine.

Rn they’re the only family I sit for regularly as there just isn’t a ton of need for babysitters near me. I’m hoping to get more families and wondering what I should be charging? Families typically have ended up paying me more than I charge and I end up getting $20-25 and hour in the past. The family now pays me pretty exact to the rate I set which is perfectly fine as I set that rate, but I want to set my initial rate fairly in the future. I also live in the columbus OH area for reference, there’s def a mix of income in my area but the families that reach out to me have tended to be on the higher side.