Babysitting Charges - Akron,OH

I have a 6 month old and a 21yr old babysitter. I pay her $9.00/hr at her request. She also works at a day care.

I provide child care in my hoome and I charge 3.75 and hour for infants and 2.50 for school age children, I have various discounts for multiple children and if they are full time or what not so I would say that 5-6 dollars an hour would be fair but if she is only going to be there an hour make it worth her time and at least give her 10.00. It's nice to see that so many ppl care what they pair their sitters an that they try to treat them fairly, not everyone is so nice. good luck.

I am 22 and i use to babysit with a friend. We did this alot. We gotpaid many different rates, but now with 3 kids i think about would i want to pay someone that? Babysitters could get expensive. One job we babysat 2 children from 7am to 3 pm and we recieved 150 a week now during this job we took on another job for one of the couples friends and she took what we were making and divided by 2 because of the children then divided by the hours, it equaled 1.77 an hour. We agreed because we never really understood. Well needlesss to say that got old and we wernt making any money. So just a little help dont pay to much but i would now as a mother of 3 and still babysitting every once in a while ask 2.50 an hour or a flat rate of 15 to 20 a day. for a teenager anything is alot of money. I hope this has helped.

I give my teen sitters between $5 to $7.50 an hour for two about the sme age. If it's near a holiday or I have a special somrthing I need them to be there I go with the higher amount. If you have a dependable teen remember they are priceless in this world. Treat them good. Leave a little snack food for the sitter and kids and drinks in the frig. The little touches make a differnce in them commiting to you and your kids or to another family.

D.

We just moved here from Chicago, and we would pay our occasional sitter $10.00/hour for our 1 son. OUTRAGEOUS!! I see babysitting is way more affordable here!! I think $5 - $6 per hour is fair.

Hello. I have a 3 yr old and a 5yr old. I pay 4.00 hr when the kids are sleeping ( if I put them to bed and go out), 5.00 if they are awake. But like the other mother said, I buy additional things from time to time, I had a really good sitter for a few years (she graduated and got a full time position), during her birthday I bought her a cake, and me & the kids sang happy birthday and I gave her a gift of money, I have bought her dinner & taken her places with us ect. The little extras show you appreciate that she takes good care of your children. I did have a sitter that I paid alittle more when she was watching my children during the day, but she was also helping me with the childrens laundry, and for that I compensated accordingly. But it was worth it !!

L.,
I have grandparents who fight over babysitting, so I have not had to venture out past family yet. My sister is 25 and babysits in the evenings/weekends for several of my friends. they pay her $5/hour per child. I have no idea (like I said) what the going rate is and they might pay her more because she is not a teenager, but that was the scoop she gave me.

My sister and I both baby sat and we always got paid like a dollar an hour a kid, and that was only 5-10 years ago. (I started baby sitting at 13). Some people gave us more, others gave us less. Funny thing is, it always seemed that the "easy families" paid better and the families with difficult temperment children paid less. When my mom did home care, she only charged $2 an hour per child and she fed them, and she did that full time, up until a year ago.

I'm not sure what part of town you live, we are in the Mason area. I want to give you the point of view from the mother of teenagers...after about age 16 you really have to make it worth there time to give up a weekend night. I have two daughters (ages 16 and 18)who babysit quite a bit. They are paid anywhere from $7-$12 per hour. I'm afraid if they gave up a Friday or Saturday night and came home with just $25 they would not say yes again for that family. And please don't consider ever paying less if the children are asleep...does the responsibility change? The person that passed on the advice of taking care of the sitter you like is priceless. If you want this girl to continue to come back and say yes even when she could have gone out with her friends make sure she knows she is appreciated.

i myself actually babysit for 4 hours a week (between 2 days) to get a 7 year old off the bus and wait for her mom to get home. i get paid 30 dollars for this and the pay icludes gas money for approx 60 minutes of driving (15 minutes both ways for 2 days). so i make about 7.50 an hour. i have no complaints with the pay, but i actually earn every penny by cooking dinner for the mother and family before she gets home from work, doing activities with the 7 year old, like arts and crafts, card playing, reading, homework, etc... basically all of the things her mom is too tired to do after work. so, 7.50/hr is what i make to do all of these things.
be careful you do not over pay a babysitter who just gabs on the phone all night or who isnt actively involved with your children. there is really no way to tell what a babysitter is doing the whole time you are gone. but get feedback from your kids. ask your kids what they did while you were gone, etc... i personally think that the payment should have a lot to do with the amount of effort the babysitter is showing.

Hi L.!

I'm 24 with a child of my own, but I still do some babysitting. I've babysit for this family for 8 years now. It started at $6 an hour, and when they had their second child, it jumped to about $8-$10, especially on the weekend.

I would say the hourly rate depends on the care. If you have a child in diapers, I would for sure start at $6 since an infant requires more care. And since you have two children, I would say for sure $6, if not $7. And like someone said before, if they're giving up a weekend night, you want to want them to keep coming back. If someone gave me $5 an hour to watch two kids on a Saturday night, I would never come back. $6 is even pushing it.

The babysitting rate also depends on how much the sitter does. If she cleans up the dinner dishes, throws dirty clothes in the hamper or chute, and cleans up the toys that were played with, then the sitter deserves more than usual.

It's hard to find trust worthy individuals. If you find a trust worthy, dependable, and responsible sitter, you want to keep them coming back. Just a thought.

P.S. My families always make sure their fridge and cupboards are stocked for me too. Always an added bonus. :)

Well, I recently had a babysitter for a Sat night and she was about 20 years old. She came over at 8p and we got home around 1:30a. She watched our four y/o and 5 month old and when we got home my husband paid her $20, he tried to give her $25, but she only took the $20. When I was working I paid my regular sitter $2/hour per child. I think $8 is alot of money, especially for a teenager. However, it depends on how much money you make. Daycare workers generally receive min. wage in a facility and they would be taking care of at least six babies. If we had to pay $8/hour we would never be able to go out at night, at my lst job I only earned $6.65/hour. I think $20 or $25 for a night out is fair, especially (at least in my situation) the children are already fed and ready for bed. Best of luck!

We pay our sitter $7.00 an hour and we always round up, she if we are gone for 2.5 hours or so we will just give her $20 for the night. But she really takes care of the kids and we love her and always want her to be available when we need her to babysit.

I pay $5 an hour for my 2 and 5 year olds. My sitter actually said she only charged $3 an hour, but I didn't think that was quite fair. She typically plays with them and sometimes feeds them dinner.

i have a 6 yr. old and an 11 month old. whenever my sitter watches them i pay her 6 dollars an hour it's not quite minimum wage but that seams to be a fair amount but i never give her less then 15 dollars... i think it evens out to be about what the minimum wage is currently at. Also throughout the year i have given her little bonusus like movie passes, gift certificates to local fast food places , a couple 10 dollar gas cards. she feels appreciated and takes great care of my kids!! hope this helps!

L.,
I pay around $5/hour. I know, it is less than minimum wage, but most of the time the kids are in bed around an hour or two after the babysitter starts watching them, so then she only has to BE there, but she can do whatever she wants, like watch tv, check her email, etc. I think how much you pay your babysitter depends on several things- how much you can afford, what time of day she will be watching the kids (is it naptime or bedtime, and they will be sleeping?), and whether she will be doing anything else for you, such as any cleaning, or picking up your 5 year old from school. all in all, i don't think a specific price matter, just as long as both of you are happy! I hope this helps! P.

We've always had sweet girls sit for us that have always said they'll take whatever we wanted to pay so we've always paid $5 an hour and a friend of mine tought me to give a $5 tip at the end of the night too so just in case your kids are bad they'll want to come back. LOL!

S.

I think a fair rate would be $8 and hour. Pay for babysitters has gone up quite a bit, and because you have an infant who need constant attention, she will be working much harder.

i am in cuyahoga falls and have 2 children (ages 2 & 3) i pay $5.00 an hour ($2.50 per kid). however, if i could, i would probably pay $3-4 per kid because i made about the same amount ($5.00/hr) when i babysat and that was over 15 years ago.

i typically take them over to someone's house (who has kids) or they come here. i do not have many sitters and only need one for 3-4 hours on wednesday nights (i pay the people $20 per night because that is what i can afford - they know ahead of time and if i get out of class early, they still get the $20)

also, if the minimum wage increases (the republicans are still trying to fight it, so it really is not passed yet), we should really go up in pay because i believe babysitting at least deserves to be close to minimum wage amounts.

B. g.

Hi L.,

I do babysitting M-F. Have done it since I was a teen. The rates seem to go up a bit each year. But from experience, it usually depends on what time of day and how long. I pay my sitter $20 for the first hour and $5 every hour after - for late evening/weekend jobs. If I go out to lunch with a friend I usually only pay $20 of the 2hrs I am gone. It really is up to you. My cousin pay a flat rate of $8 an hour. and give her sitter a ride to and from home. Hope this helps. Good luck!

If it's just for a few hours,then give her like $20. Now say you need someone to watch them for a 8hr. period,then you can go by $3-$5 an hour.It's been awhile since I had to even hire one. Hope this helped,good luck!

Roses

I have not needed a sitter yet for my son but the girls at my church and told me what the going rate is. I have heard the new going rate for baby sitters is 4 dollars an hour per child. Hope this helps.

L.,
I have 3 kids..and pay 9$ an hour...but before the third one came we paid 6$ an hour. Needless to say..we don't go out much. We usually have a cap off of 60$-so if we leave at 6 and don't get home till 2am (which usually doesn't happen) but then we usually pay 60$ for the entire evening.
Hope that helps.

babysitting fees go up with minimum wage increases. Since it is now $6.85 you should be paying that much at least. You need to remember if this teenager drives she is using her own money for the gas it takes to get there and back so in all actuality she id making less than min. wage plus she might have a paet time job and is making sure she is not scheduled that night just so she could be available for you or she knows you need her then and is again making sure she is available and if that is the case she has to make at least min wage by law and if you are not compensating for that then she could stop. Rule of thunb= pay min wage amount it is your safest bet, NEVER pay by if the child is awake or not! When I was younger and babysat some one tried to pull that with me (after the fact, I had already sat for them and was getting ready to go home) I loved the kid but told the mother that I would no longer be available for her, it wasn't fair to me in any way shape or form! The responsibility doesn't end just cause the child is asleep!

I have a sitter that charges $5/hour. I thought that was cheap. So I jumped on it. That is what I used to charge 15 years ago when I used to babaysit. Good luck.

I have a 1.5 and 4 yr old. I pay $7/hour total (rounding up if it's just a couple hours afterschool, but if it's on a weekend evening I give $10/hr (regardless of what time they go to sleep - which in our case is usually late). My reasoning for the increase on a weekend, is that they are giving up their night out. I think it's all in what you can afford, and most teenagers realize this. If I was making less, I would be paying less and don't think that the right kind of sitter would hold that against anyone.

If she is open to a pay range, then I wouldn't worry, as she is probably doing it out of kindness vs. making money --which is super and speaks volumes of her character. Of course, pay what you feel is fair in relation to what you can afford, how many hours you are gone, and how well behaved your kids are (my little one is a screamer when mom leaves...not the entire time but initially). Good sitters are hard to find. Whatever you do...Enjoy your time out :)

Well you have several things to consider -- I think most start at about 5-6 and hr
More if she comes to your house
More if you have more than one child
More if it is occasional work.
More if they are experienced.

I have one baby who is now 19 months old and I have college students who watch him occasion ally in my home -- they are very flexible and keep open every Friday night (I work every friday night and sometiems my husband isn't back in town). THey get paid $7/hr -- if I have household workd to do -- I offer them 10/hr. When I have my second son (in a few months) the pay rate will go to 10/hr.