My 14-year-old goddaughter is babysitting for us tonight. How much should we pay her? Don't suppose I can pay what I used to get - a fiver for six hours and all the Corona I could drink!
depends what she may be expected to do. My 2 year old son can run rings around our babysitter and she often has to get him to bed, sit him on potty (not a nice job for anyone whos not mum or dad) and then generally try and get him to stay in bed.
She gets �5 per hour (rounded up to nearest hour).
Mind you, we buy chocolate, drinks, crisps for her and tell her to help herself to anything she wants and yet she never touches a thing!
I used to earn quite a bit when I babysat ~ about a tenner for the whole evening 25 years ago, which was a lot! mind you it was usually from about 7.30pm until 2.00am ;o)
I don't want to alarm you but I agree with zacsmaster about leaving a young child with a 14 year old. How old is your little girl? What if there was an emergency like a fire or something or she fell very ill? I know it is unlikely but would a 14 year old really be mature enough to know what to do and administer first aid? Anyway not really meaning to lecture you but I wouldn't leave my 3 year old with someone so young and to answer your question, I think �5 an hour is more than generous especially for a 14 year old
Zacsmaster: Assessment for what? Does she need to sit an exam before she can do it?
I don't think we can be accused of being neglectful of our daughter.
a) My goddaughter is a very close family member
b) She lives down the road and her mum is at the end of the phone
c) my husband's parents live next door and will be in
just to add, my babysitter actually lives next door so her mother is on hand if there are any emergencies. Her mother is a firefighter, as is my partner and 2 doors down is a paramedic so i have no more worries about leaving my son as i would if my mum was babysitting really.
From the sounds of things there will be an army of people on hand if needed! Go out, enjoy yourself, and trust your own judgement. I used to babysit from around the age of 13, and was more than capable of knowing what to do in an emergency (which thankfully never arose!) And given the maturity of kids these days, your god-daughter is probably more clued up than most adults!
don't feel bad Sausagegirl, there's obviously plenty of back-up for your god daughter.
I had a brilliant babysitter who was 14 when she first came...her parents lived a few doors down too. She was great with my boys & when she left school she went to be a nanny in London for a few years....I told her it was my glowing reference that got her the job.
tigwig..I daresay there are 24 yr olds who don't know any first aid.
I pay my babysitter �20 for the night. Sometimes we're only out for a couple of hours, sometimes for 4-5 hours so it all balances out in the end. She also gets free run of the fridge.
Have a great night out!
My daughter is 16 now but would have been more than capable @ 14. The Red Cross set up a Basics of Babysitting course which i run as an after school club for our year 9's @ school who are 14. Many of them like your god-daughter are starting to do some babysitting. I don't carry out a formal assessment on hte course - just a couple of multiple choice question sheets.
Go out and enjoy yourself - I would pay about �20.