That sort of daycare is available because the center can plan and staff appropriately.
"Drop in" daycare for parents who want a quiet dinner on Friday night would be difficult to provide commercially.
Babysitter pay when kids are sleeping
- Thread starter BABiscuit
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That sort of daycare is available because the center can plan and staff appropriately.
"Drop in" daycare for parents who want a quiet dinner on Friday night would be difficult to provide commercially.
Well that's true, I hope to never become an expert on kids issues. But nearly every other interaction where you hire a service is professionalized. Can you think of another often used service that isn't regulated and where you don't have a viable, insured, trained and professional option. You would think parents of the nation would want processional care for their most precious little bundles, but apparently trusting random 8th graders is better. I find that thinking interesting.
Teens have been helping to watch after young children without a bunch regulatory horse-poop since the beginning of human history. Hell, until modern times, your random 8th grader WAS the parent.
I bet you played the role of Tevye in your high school production of Fiddler on the Roof didn't you?
Can't speak for others but we have used girls that came recommended by people we trust and in many cases children of people we know well. On a couple of occasions we used "professionals", and frankly they weren't worth it at all. They charged more, did less, and the kids didn't particularly like them. Give me the teenagers every time.
Let me help you on this one based on my experience.. First, if you want to stay sane, putting kids in routines is extremely critical. Not that they live in routines all the time, but having your kids eat at the dinner table, followed by an hour of whatever play time you let them do in their house, followed by a shower in their bathroom, followed by stories in their room, followed by going to sleep in their bed at the same time they always do means they're going to wake up the next day and be normal. Taking them to a night day care where they're getting sensory overload from other kids, probably eat crap, and fall to sleep on a cot only to be woken up mid-stream to take them home means there's a good chance you're in for a grumpy kid the next day so you end up paying (one way or the other) that night and the entire next day.
Second, in home is way better if you and the other half want to get your drink on. You can't do that if you have to get in a car and my guess is DHS is going to call if you roll up to the night day care in Marco's Taxi. This is why it's also key to have a baby sitter that is of driving age.
Finally, you pay people well and don't nickle and dime them because once you find a good one - you want them to answer the phone when you call. A good babysitter is hard to find and it's worth paying a premium if you find the holy grail - which I consider a college age girl, with a car, without a boyfriend, that doesn't like to go out on Friday and Saturday nights, and needs money. Doesn't hurt if she's hot either.
I'm thinking you'll never need this perspective, but there you go....
Had a couple of really nice looking ones. One was the daughter of our kids schoolmaster. The other did a couple of local modeling gigs, I'll see if I can find a pic on the web of her.
Sorry, I thought the subject of the thread was "babysitter pay when kids are sleeping" and I was responding to Natural's suggestion that their ought to be drop in/out care centers instead of in-home sitters.
I'd like to acknowledge your depravity with a like, but I fear that might cross a line.
That certainly sounds more reasonable, still jealous, we pay $20 an hour for two kids. If we want an overnight sitter its a flat $100 from 8:00pm - 8:00am.
$20/hr seems really high, but maybe that's the going rate for good help in your area. I haven't paid less than $10/hr and probably haven't paid more than $15/hr since we've had kids (mostly in Charlotte, but a few early years in OKC) over the past 12 years...but if we had someone great that the kids loved that maybe cleaned up a bit when the kids were sleeping or something, I'd pay more to stay at the top of that person's list.
Then I totally get it. A lot of the sitters around here are $8-10, but when we have a good one, we'll pay $12.
Here's part of the compensation that hasn't come up in the thread... is all-you-can-eat from the fridge included in the package?
I've always assumed that to be part of the deal. I haven't had anyone go crazy. If there's something specific we don't want them to touch, we'll say so. That's pretty rare, but there have been times we've had a sitter the night before needing some sort of treat or dish for a kid's activity the next day.
