What Do You Pay Your Babysitter? - The Colony,TX

i agree w/leah! i avg at about $7/hr, too. my nbr watched my little boy this a.m. from 9-12p and i gave her $20, but all she had to do was play w/him - easy!
anyway, for a 5 & 7 yo, who are being given pizza, probably well-behaved & know better by those ages, i'm sure her job wasn't hard at all.
i am CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP, but i probably would've given $40. that's only $10 over, so i guess not that big of a difference. at least you'll have a committed sitter since you're paying her good. :) that's important too! :)

I think you were right on. We have one child and pay $10/hr, plus an extra hour for travel (it takes our sitter at least 20 min to reach us, longer in heavy traffic).

I pay 10 per hour... Whether he's awake or asleep.. Normally he's asleep though~

wow, that's a well-paid babysitter.

Mid-MO receives a lot less!

We pay $12.50/hr for 2 kids so you paid exactly what we would have paid.

I pay $7 an hour and then round up. So 4 hours = $28, so I pay $30. I remember my 1st babysitting job, which was for twins. I planned on charging 60 cents an hour, and was thrilled when they paid me a whole $1 an hour! Times change!

OK i am a cheapo... our neighbor (if you remember my husband's bff) or another high school girl who lives next door as well will babysit for my 4 and 5 yr old when both of us are working the overnight shift.. so I give them $40 just to come sleep on my couch vs. their bed. The kids are in bed for the night already way before they arrive, babysitter gets to our house about 9:45pm and the hubby is home by 7:10am... 1 kid sleeps till you wake her up the other 1 gets up at 5 grabs breakfast and then plays pokemon or whatever till dad gets home... Do I pay too little?? It is tax free and they have no other obligations... well the babysitters have free range of the xbox, food, tv, computer....
and for the mom who posted info on her daughter, i would remove that info, it was nice of her to think of her daughter but not publicly, maybe in a private msg?
OH to answer your question, I think for awake children what you paid sounds reasonable :)

That's pretty normal for our area. $10-15 per hour plus tip for simple babysitting.

I would often get a "cheat" and trade dinner & $20 to classmates of mine that were in the dorms (or had noisy housemates) for babysitting. They'd come to my house after my son was in bed and get a quiet place to study and real food. I'd get babysitting for cutthroat pricing from people I trusted.

@ Shauna... Holy M! Addresses & private phone numbers for your teenage daughter out on an anonymous board??? Honey. I think you've lost your mind. Home numbers no less? Do you have ANY idea how fast I can reverse lookup either your house or gps ping your cell? Home number, cell, school, workplace... You're going to get your daughter attacked by some nutjob putting that info out here like that!!!

It depends on your area J.. I am in Plano/Allen area. My 16 yr old averages $12-$15 an hour which is very generous. Believe me, she foregoes her date nights on weekends for a specific 2 families if they ask her to babysit.

My daughter would have been ok with the $50. It is not like your 2 children were infants... they are somewhat self sufficient and just need proper supervision. It would be different if they were both in diapers, bottle fed and put to bed, etc.

When we had sitters for our daughter, we guaranteed $40 for the night, even if we cancelled for some reason and then added to that. Our weekly date nights were always $60-$80 cash. We were usually longer than 4 hours.

Don't fret about it either way. One mom showed up at my door to pay daughter an extra $20 because she felt like she underpaid for her 3 girls. my daughter said, don't worry about it, it all evens out... just call me the next time.

My daughter is CPR trained, she does interact with the children by teaching them Spanish. SHe is in AP Spanish 4, parents love for their children to learn it, my daughter gets practice, great both ways. She also does mani/pedis for girls if mom's approve. She takes books, puzzles or things the children might like to play with that is different.

Wow--can I babysit for you. That is a lot, and I tend to pay high. I usually pay about $7 an hour and then round up. I probably would have paid about $30-35, especially since you fed her and the kids were asleep for awhile.

I pay 10 per hour for 15 month old.
I think that it`s fair pay , anyway I always ask about "how much you charge".

Wow, it really makes a difference where you live! I'm in Chicago, and we pay $12/hr — that's truly average in this city. For two kids (share babysitter) we pay $15/hr. What you are paying would be a good deal here.

So as for your situation, since I'm not familiar with your area, perhaps it's better asked to locals to make sure you are giving a fair wage.

As far as what she's doing and whether or not the kids are sleeping, I don't think should be a factor. A sitter's time is the same either way— she is getting paid to be in your home with your kids. But that's just me:) For example, if I had a hyperactive kid and a quieter mellow one, I wouldn't want her to suggest I pay her more for the one that is hyperactive.

In any case, if she agreed to the terms up front you shouldn't worry about it. If she didn't think it was fair she should have renegotiated with you. Don't worry to much:)

Is this a teenaged sitter? I think you were more than generous. Most teens don't make over $10 an hour to babysit. We live 1 1/2 hours away from NYC and my teen makes about $8 per hour.

Wow thats alot of money. $10 an hour. I have never even made that at any job! I am lucky and don't have to pay a babysitter. I have a large family (alot of cousins!) and there is always someone who is willing (some even ask if we want to go out so they can babysit) to do it for free.

Our Adult Babysitter charges $10 per hour for 3 kids. Our teenage babysitters charges $8. You're good.

I'm in Frisco and we generally pay $8/hr for our 2 kids (now almost 6 and 3). That is above min wage. I would NEVER pay a teenager $12 an hour to sit on my couch and watch cartoons/read/text since usually the kids are only up for an hour or two before bedtime and most of the sitters time is "quite" and to themselves.

Wow, not too little at all. That breaks down to $12.50 an hour for two kids. I have three kids and only pay $10 an hour at most. I base it on their exoerience too. If it is some one that has only been sitting for a couple of years then I would pay about $7.50 an hour. If it is someone that has been sitting for five years or more then I pay them the $10 an hour. Needless to say we do not go out much unless we trade nights with friends for free babysitting.

Wow that's generous. We pay $7 hour.

That's what I charge in my home. I did charge a couple 40 dollars for 2.5 hours one night this week. I don't charge by the hour because they are filling a space for the evening regardless of how long they are here.

Part of it depends on the babysitter. How old is she? Does she drive? Is she GREAT! Meaning the kids aren't watching TV all night and the kitchen is picked up when you get home? I have 3 kids and the most I pay a sitter is $10.00/hour (that's for ones that drive, and are great). For the younger girls that watch the kids for me, I pay $6-$8/hour depending on how good they are and depending on what all they had to do. If the kids were in bed most of the night, I might round down, if they were awake and active the whole time they were there, I round up.