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Babysitter pay when kids are sleeping

BABiscuit

BABiscuit

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Jul 4, 2001
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So we typically pay our babysitters $5, $8, or $10 per hour depending if they are watching 1, 2, or 3 kids. We will be getting a sitter for some weeknight basketball games pretty soon. On some of the nights, the sitter will only have the kids up for maybe 30 minutes before they go to bed. So what is common practice for paying the babysitter to sit there and watch tv or do homework? Do I need to pay the full rate for 3 kids for the entire time?

Also, our sitters are in 8th or 9th grade if that makes a difference.
 
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You're still coming home right? Seems like regular hourly pay would apply. Our nanny doesn't have an overnight rate but we considered it one time and agreed on $70 for the hours from 8pm-6am. She is $14 per hour though so basically half pay. We ended up with grandparents overnight which was free. Holy cow if we could pay even 10 per hour we would be loving it.
 
I'm surprised this hasn't been corporatized. You would think some place would have 24 hour kid sitting programs you could drop a kid off.
 
BelemNole said:
You're paying the babysitter for what MIGHT happen, not for the hour or so of entertainment they provide.
Same rate the whole time.
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This is the correct answer.

Especially since you're assuming the kids stay asleep. If they wake up does your babysitter get pro rated pay?
 
If the babysitter is good/reliable, you want to keep her, and you'd like to be at the top of her list when she has multiple job offers, pay her the regular rate.
 
Wendy79 said:
They're worth what the market will bear. If another family is willing to pay the babysitter $12, then great.
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I am pretty sure I could tell each of my babysitters we will pay $5 per hour at night and they will be happy. I dont know if they even babysit for anybody else. We never even discuss rates, we just pay them at the end of the night. I dont think the demand is super high in my small town. So should I lower the pay since the market will bear it?

FYI, we will end up paying the full amount. I just think it is dumb.
 
BABiscuit said:
So we typically pay our babysitters $5, $8, or $10 per hour depending if they are watching 1, 2, or 3 kids. We will be getting a sitter for some weeknight basketball games pretty soon. On some of the nights, the sitter will only have the kids up for maybe 30 minutes before they go to bed. So what is common practice for paying the babysitter to sit there and watch tv or do homework? Do I need to pay the full rate for 3 kids for the entire time?

Also, our sitters are in 8th or 9th grade if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...

huge difference, as i will not request a pic due to age.
 
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BABiscuit said:
I am pretty sure I could tell each of my babysitters we will pay $5 per hour at night and they will be happy. I dont know if they even babysit for anybody else. We never even discuss rates, we just pay them at the end of the night. I dont think the demand is super high in my small town. So should I lower the pay since the market will bear it?

FYI, we will end up paying the full amount. I just think it is dumb.
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Why wouldn't you discuss rates with the babysitter before babysitting? If they're happy with $5/hr, then great.
 
We always pay our sitters $10/hr for two kids.
No matter what time of the day.

Also at that rate we expect they to play with them not just sit their on their phone.
 
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naturalmwa said:
I'm surprised this hasn't been corporatized. You would think some place would have 24 hour kid sitting programs you could drop a kid off.
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Nope. We're all just waiting for Bernie to get elected. Then there will be free, socialized daycare centers in every school district in the country.

;)
 
The Tradition said:
It's not a moneymaker at $15 an hour, I guarantee that!
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I don't know, you all are paying 8th graders that now. In a corporate setting that one employee could baby sit a couple dozen kids. Put them in malls, get the stores to validate for free hours.
 
naturalmwa said:
I don't know, you all are paying 8th graders that now. In a corporate setting that one employee could baby sit a couple dozen kids. Put them in malls, get the stores to validate for free hours.
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You have no idea of the scope of regulation that would come from that. The states would be climbing up the backside of any such "corporate business" and digging deep for goobers. The first time some teen babysitter has "sexy time" with a kid in a corporate-owned facility, all hell will break loose and the legislature will demand everything from background checks to drug tests to quarterly inspections by DCS.
 
The Tradition said:
You have no idea of the scope of regulation that would come from that. The states would be climbing up the backside of any such "corporate business" and digging deep for goobers. The first time some teen babysitter has "sexy time" with a kid in a corporate-owned facility, all hell will break loose and the legislature will demand everything from background checks to drug tests to quarterly inspections by DCS.
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So your kids aren't worth back ground checked sitters? I would suspect your concerns would be a selling point with most. How many at home teen sitters horror stories do you think there are? The commercials write themselves.
 
The Tradition said:
I'm simply telling you why there isn't a McDonald's for babysitting.
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But there are I think. There are lots of daycares all over. National franchises even. They just aren't open at night to my knowledge. It's not like taking care of kids when their parents are busy is a new business. Hence why I'm surprised that some daycare doesn't offer nightcare too.
 
naturalmwa said:
I don't know, you all are paying 8th graders that now. In a corporate setting that one employee could baby sit a couple dozen kids. Put them in malls, get the stores to validate for free hours.
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I remember about ten years ago a place was going to open up out by Jordan Creek Mall that did drop-in babysitting. I think you paid monthly and paid for a set amount of hours. I think they also were going to have a day care. I remember they wanted to hire licensed teachers and pay them a comparable salary. I don't think it lasted long, if it ever even opened. Jack' Bear was the name.
 
naturalmwa said:
I'm surprised this hasn't been corporatized. You would think some place would have 24 hour kid sitting programs you could drop a kid off.
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Too much cost and too many regulations.

What you are suggesting would be legally determined to be a daycare. There are strict regulations on how many kids you can have per person and what their ages are. And you have no idea how many kids you are going to get in a given night nor what their ages will be.

Regular daycares work by having you pay up front and then bringing the kid in so they know how many staff people they need to have on hand. What you are suggesting simply wouldn't work.

On top of that they would have too much price competition from teenagers who are looking to make a few bucks.

Also from a room management prospective you have a problem of having a bunch of kids at night who all likely go to bed at different times of the night. So the kids who's parents have them going to bed early are going to be kept awake by the kids who stay up later. You can't make toddlers who are used to going to bed later go to bed earlier, nor can you make them be quiet for the other children.

For the record don't in any way take this as me being against daycare regulations, I'm all for daycare regulations. But the regulations are what prevent them from doing the 24 hour thing you suggest. We did have my kid in daycare once for a short time and they have 1 weekend night a month that they provided care but you had to sign up in advance. The 24 hour daycare thing just couldn't make enough money or be feasible.
 
dgordo said:
I really miss Iowa pay rates.
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This is a terribly LOW rate in my opinion. No clue where the OP lives, but it is a very cheap rate. I wouldn't even hire somebody at $5 per hour. We pay ours at least $12, usually closer to $15.
 
naturalmwa said:
But there are I think. There are lots of daycares all over. National franchises even. They just aren't open at night to my knowledge. It's not like taking care of kids when their parents are busy is a new business. Hence why I'm surprised that some daycare doesn't offer nightcare too.
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The ignorance is really strong in this post. You know, some of us like to come home and have our kids already asleep in bed. Imagine that? Additionally, I can guarantee you my house is much cleaner than the average "daycare" dump.
 
naturalmwa said:
Why is anyone paying over $7.25 per hour? I keep hearing that's all unskilled workers are worth.
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No, that's not true. Unskilled workers can be worth a lot more than that, or less than that. The "worth" is determined by the supply and demand for such workers.

The OP suggested that there isn't much demand for babysitters in the small town, so $5 might be the right price. If there's a bunch of babysitters competing for the job, it might get bid down even lower.

Conversely, if there are few babysitters and a lot of demand, then the babysitter can name her own price.

Letting two parties negotiate for the right price. What a concept.
 
To the OP's question, we've always done full rate when the kids are in bed, except the 2 times we've negotiated a flat-rate overnight rate. We're usually $10-12/hr, depending on the sitter. As others have said, when you find a sitter you like, you want to make sure they want to come back.

My oldest is going to be 12 in a month, so we're pretty much at the point where he can supervise his brothers and get them through bedtime. We haven't gone that way for a late night out yet, but we probably will one of these days.
 
Pepperman said:
The ignorance is really strong in this post. You know, some of us like to come home and have our kids already asleep in bed. Imagine that? Additionally, I can guarantee you my house is much cleaner than the average "daycare" dump.
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The point of overnight daycare isn't for parents who go out for dinner/drinks. It's for parents who work the overnight shift.
 
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