I started babysitting at a young age. By the time I was 10 years old I was in charge of 4-5 kids and made $2 an hour! One family had me babysit regularly because I watched all 5 of their (very young) kids and cleaned their house. My how times have changed! I’ve had lots of conversations with friends about all aspects of babysitting – what is expected of babysitters, what they charge, etc.
Recently our (just turned) 14 year old was asked to babysit. While she’s spent A LOT of time around younger kids, she doesn’t get to babysit very often. Right before she left both Josh and I went over a few things to make sure our expectations of her as a babysitter were clear. The things that I learned as a babysitter and things that I appreciate from having a babysitter for my kids as well.
You can download this Guidelines for Babysitting Chart.
There are lots of things to discuss with your kids before they babysit as well as with babysitters that come into your home. Having an open line of communication and setting expectations is key. We talked to Julia about the importance of being respectful, kind, and fun. She knew that it wasn’t okay to have her phone out, playing on it the whole time (something that makes me cringe about babysitters today), only for an emergency.
What to charge for babysitting?
There is a lot of debate about this one. I posted about it on Facebook and got a huge range of prices. There are a few factors to consider:
where you live, how many kids will you be babysitting, what the expectations are.
The Huffington Post created this infographic as a part of their post – How Much to Pay the Babysitter:
We have a little bit of a different situation in our family so we have always paid more than normal for our baybsitters. Having someone take care of all 3 of our kids, including our oldest who has special needs required extra. I am definitely willing to pay more to know that my kids are getting what they need. But just because you pay more doesn’t necessarily mean that you get more. Again, having an open conversation is vital.
What babysitting tips do you have? And what do you pay?
Check out my other parenting guidelines:
