Wow - that is a difficult spot for her. I pay my babysitters $12 per hour, but my guys are 7 and 10 and it is really just in case of emergencies that I have a sitter. They are both quite capable of amusing themselves while the sitter is here (ie they do not need to be entertained) and require minimal supervision.

ONe of the sitters I use has taken a job similar to the one you are considering - it is a 2 yo little girl that is in pre-school a couple 1/2 days a week, but my friend watches her on the other 3 days while the mom is at work. She is getting $20 per hour, but has diapers to contend with, has to make meals, run the kid to playdates, and do a few errands.

Good luck - trustworthy child care is so hard to find, she is lucky you are willing to consider this!

Alexa

oh WOW!
How can anyone afford to work at $20 an hour for childcare..That's amazing to me...
of course one of the reasons I chose to be at home..over half my paycheck would go to daycare had I stayed a working mom with little ones.

He's an amusing little fella..busy for sure..he's been entertaining my youngest for over an hour now..I figure once he's off to school..Jaden will slow down a bit....~Or maybe not~
I have already noticed things that I took for granted as "safe" are not with a busy 13 month old walker in the house!!! LOL
I don't have alot of "dangers" but have certainly laxed on things since my baby is 8. So I'm watching him closely.

She brought all kinds of "food", I say that loosely..did say he has no known allergies..so I'll feed him FOOD! LOL and give him a few of his "crackers" and such.

I just don't know what to charge..I was thinking only $5 an hour..today alone at that rate could be over $75. But seeing what a sitter goes for where you are...makes me rethink that. LOL, ALOT!

Call a local daycare and find out what the going rate is per day for a child of 12-18 months old.

I hope you gave her some idea of what you would be charging her per day so neither of you will be "surprised" when it is time to be paid!

Terri, I have no idea what the going rate is but I do know that $5.00 an hour is way to low. Heck I use to pay that to Matthew's sitters and that was 20 years ago.

I have to guess that the mother is expecting to pay something close to the going rate. It isn't like this person is a friend of yours and you want to do her a favour. There is a value to the service that you are offering and you should be paid accordingly. The minimum wage rate for your State is probably at least $8.00 an hour. I wouldn't go lower than that.

Ann

I agree Ann she is..I checked online and found the Median rates for in home and centers for a month for his age in 2007 in my county was over $600. She said she paid $350 before. He's never been full time.

Going rate for a babysitter by me is about 10-12/hr. I'm thinking that's more of a "few hours here or there" rate rather than regular full-day rate, and here's why: I pay $640/wk for two in daycare, and they can be there up to 12 hours a day. Do the math and that's $5.33/hr per child. A few people have said I'm crazy to pay that much, because it would be cheaper to have an in-home nanny, who would not only watch the kids but cook and clean as well. That tells me that a nanny would be less than $10.66/hr.

A LOT is going to depend on your area though. Ask around.

Terri, I babysat in my home before my son was born, and he's 26 now, so my rate of pay would be meaningless for comparison. But I do want to remind you of a couple points:

1) You'll probably need or want a high chair, crib (or port-a-crib) for naps, baby gates, a changing table, safety locks, etc, if you don't still have them.

2) You'll need to bring the baby along whenever you run carpool for your own kids, so you'll need a car seat.

3) You probably won't want to take the baby along when you go shopping, and you'll have precious little time for your own personal life (i.e., it's just like *real* motherhood). Make sure to discuss in advance what kinds of trips are OK (e.g., taking the baby to your sons' ballgames, running quick errands), and which are not.

4) Get contact info, not only for the mom but also for the pediatrician.

Good luck!

Sue

Thanks for everyone's insight..
I do agree that rates for in home daycare or even care centers is probably a "break" rate because they have multiple children..hence why foodona is paying just over $5hr/pr child..
Having a sitter in at night for 3-4 hours would seem to be a higher rate..
And this is only supposed to go max to March..I think she's on the waiting list for Navy Daycare.

So far he comes with a pack n play..napping in it now...a diaper bag full of snacks and poor food choices ~Gerber~ and some favorite toys..LOL Plenty of diapers and wipes and 3 bottles of milk..However he rather seems to enjoy drinking water from a cup, and I no longer have lidded sippys..so that is one thing I'd purchase for him to have here... and look for a booster highchair, like I had with my guys at the thrift stores.
I can't go anywhere today as I don't have a carseat for him..but if this becomes a bit more permanent I'll have his mom leave his..until I decide to pick one up.
I already got a call this am from #3 telling me he forgot his library books...I told him he was out of luck today and why...(my kids are so used to beck and call..LOL)
I don't need alot of the other stuff..I do have some elastic pony tail holders "closing" the undersink cupboard.
I think we'll stick with what she was paying..sounds pretty typical for our area. I'll make sure to get the medical stuff..since he's a military dependant..I'd need the proof that he's allowed to be in my care to get on base for him to go to emergency or doctor..
Thanks for that reminder.

Wow, Amanda is taking care of two children, one with Down's Syndrome, and getting paid $4 an hour for it! I think much depends on the going rate in your area, I paid $2.50 an hour for Ashley, and that was 20 years ago!

I'd call a local day care and see what they charge. Of course here, if they are licensed by the state you can take the amount paid as a tax deduction. If they aren't licensed, you can't, so that might make a difference too.

$20 an hour for child care? Heck, I've been doing this for 31 years, supervise five support staff and have a degree and I don't make $20 an hour!

Annie

Annie, Maybe you should hand out graham crackers at break and demand a raise for "child care." :)

I was about say that maybe I need to start keeping children. I didn't make $20 an hour at the best job I ever had (and I def didn't make that much teaching.) Then again, it would have to be $20 to get me to do it. I just don't like little ones that much.

Terri, my hat is off to you. It's a good thing you're doing.

He's a sweet bug...good baby...He was supposed to come today too..but his uncle is available to "hang" with him today..
I'll see him Monday..
Not $20 and hour..but maybe about half that...

When I babysit I charge $10 per hour. Another mom I know charges 10 but was planning on upping it to 12, she recommended 12. People balked at 12 and then they go elsewhere. 10 is what people expect.

-Robin

I am really surprised that so many people think $20 is a lot of someone to watch a kid, as well as step and fetch errands all day. I used to pay my cleaning lady $20 per hour and SHE sure didn't work that hard. Of course, that may be why she doesn't work for me anymore either. (At least that is how I figured the math - $60 per week to spend 3 hours cleaning, using all my cleaning stuff).

Alexa, I don't think they think it's not worthy of that price..but when you don't get paid that much to work yourself it doesn't quite equate..
She leaves on Deployment in January..now that's gotta be the tough part..

I don't mind helping her out.

Alexa - I will step out on a limb and say I think $20 is a lot. By my math, and I am assuming a two income household, I think I'm being generous in estimating that to pay $20/hr - primarily aftertax money - the wife would have to make around $70k just to break even. How much above that it would take to make it worth her while to work would of course depend on household expenses, husband's income, willingness (desire?) to be free from the kid most of his/her waking hours. I think your baby-sitter stepped in you-know-what when she found her gig. I suspect that the teachers at my daycare would be thrilled to make $20/hr, and each of them deals with a minimum average of 4 kids apiece depending on age. And yes, I said teachers, not babysitters, as at all but the infant stage they have to follow a curriculum, not to mention the constant scrutiny of management, board of health, and (worst of all!) a constant flow of parents in and out.

As for your babysitter, yeah diapers suck, for five minutes each a few times a day. Of those only one or two are a real drag. Errands and playdates - my guess is she looks forward to those.

My sister left a 50K job to be an at home mom after they really looked at what the cost was to have three kids in after-school care. The value of the reduction in stress far outweighed the loss of income. She was then able to devote herself to her real love, portrait photography, and does that seasonally around being a mom.

for the record, I changed 4 diapers yesterday from 6:30am-6pm. 3 had presents...LOL

Eileen, exactly..why, after the third kid came I didn't even think about going back to work until no one had to be in any kind of "paid" care. Now I have built in care..so when I do work..I don't have to worry about them.

I guess you've worked this out by now, but I don't think you should consider anything less than $10 per hour. I don't know exactly where you live, but you could call around as if you were trying to hire someone yourself and see what you would have to pay. Perhaps you could find some prices on Craigslist.

Lars