What's a Reasonable Pay for 24/7 Daycare...?

Where I live, in NY, this would be VERY pricey. Like $1000. But the cost of living is higher here.That is a HUGE responsibility! She needs to be prepared to take one or both to the hospital in case of emergency, etc. I'd say min $100/day. $700 for the week.

wow I would think 500-600 dollars, since she will be having to take them places. And I would ask for extra $ too, for activities, they can't be cooped up all week long. That is a lot of babysitting time and responsibility.

Hi D., I am a single mom and I travel with my job. My son is 2 1/2 and he goes to a little school M, W, F- 9am-1pm. I also have a full time nanny that lives with me, although she goes to her boyfriend's house almost every night (and weekends) when she is not working. If I am out of town overnight, she makes $50 extra for that overnight. So for example, if I am gone 2 nights in a week, she will get $100 extra on top of her regular pay.

In the case of your daughter, I dont think its reasonable to charge by the hour for the time that she (and the kids) are sleeping- unless they are up alot during the night. In that case, the week could be quite exhausting. In my opinion (just my opinion), I think its reasonable to ask for 50-100 extra for each night that she is gone (on top of her regular weekly pay)

You don't say what her current schedule / payment is. I would think her payment for the week in question should be at least double that.

If everyone is adhering to the law and your daughter is currently making more than $1,800/year for watching the kids then she is considered a household employee. A household employee is a "non-exempt" position which means if she works overtime (i.e., more than 40 hours a week) then she should receive overtime pay (1.5 times her normal rate). Regarding sleeping time, federal wage and hour law states that household employees do not have to be paid for up to 8 hours of sleeping time when they work 24 consecutive hours or more.

Assuming $15/hour, if your daughter is working 7 days (168 hours) less sleeping time (56 hours), she would be on the clock for 112 hours. 40 hours at the regular rate (40 x $15 = $600) and 64 hours (the remaining 72 hours less the 8 hours the kids are at school) at overtime rates (64 x $22.50 = $1,440). This would be a max total of $2,040 for the week if everything is being done legally.

650.00 in addition to what she typically makes in a week. The 650 includes gas money, and food for the week for the boys. Before she takes the job she really needs to consider if she is able to go from "part time" work to 24 hr parental care. Minor health issues may turn into major health issues especially if mom is away and they start to miss her.

I am a teacher with a masters degree and only take home $780/week. I think I am in the wrong profession :)

We have a nanny that watches our two sons from 7:30-3:30 5 days a week for $375 (the older one is in preschool half of that time), but she is a family friend and knows that we don't make a lot.

For 24/7, I would double her salary of $75/day to $150/day plus expenses.

about double her normal pay, maybe slightly less since half the time they will be sleeping

When I watch kids for this length of time, I've charged 60 per day for 2 children, not each, for both. So if I've had them 7 days, I've been paid 350. It's NOT much. But it works for me.

Jeez...some of you are vultures!

We paid our niece her normal rate while she is awake and half her hourly rate while she and the kids were sleeping. We have 3 kids- at that point they were 4, 2 and 4 mos. No health problems and sleep 11 hrs through the night except baby got up for a bmilk bottle 2 times and so we paid her the extra hourly rate for that total hr in the middle of the night she was up with him. We figure she is essentially getting paid to sleep and to be there for an emergency- she isn't feeding them except the baby bottle, playing w them or otherwise during the night. Not as much like work and just sleeping over. If one of the kids had been up sick or something, we would have paid her normal rate. She agreed in advance. Hope that makes sense!

Bare minimum of $1,100 plus expenses. This is coming from a working divorced mom. I would never dream of taking advantage or not value someone who works for me taking care of my daughter.

Come on LiveBold...you are more valuable than that!!

For demands like that and it being 24/7, it is typically at a HIGHER rate.
A flat rate, is best.
Paid ahead of time.
And in case of emergency, then what?

And I assume, she has to do housework as well?

And no matter what... she MUST get this in WRITING.
AND signed by the mother. Not just a paper with writing on it.
A SIGNED contract/agreement. And dated.

The boys will be awake from approximately 7am - 8pm, that's 13 hours a day. Then there's sleeping time where she needs to be in the house but isn't actively engaged with them. I would think a reasonable fee would be her regular salary (the higher end of it) for the awake hours plus $50 for the overnight. Wow - I just calculated that out and it's $1715.

Hmmm, now I guess I have to rethink. Perhaps she needs to figure out what other money she's foregoing if she works 24/7 for this family for a week. Her salary should at least cover that.

I almost deleted my post since I obviously have no idea what she should charge - but I wanted to say that she needs to make sure that the mom leaves her with medical authority. Just a note stating that she can make medical decisions in the event of an emergency.

Most places don't pay you for time when you are allowed to sleep. I have worked in 2 states in care giving situations like child care and when they went to bed I went off the clock.

I called the labor board in one state to find out if that was legal, I feel like that if I am off the clock I am able to leave, go out and do stuff, etc...that I am "off the clock" but the state told me that laws are different for caregivers, they are there but not on the clock if the charges are not awake and therefore, even if they can't leave the premises, they are in fact not working and can be considered to be off the clock.

I think being fair and asking the mom what her idea is before even thinking about it, she may have a very low figure in her head and then you'd say a huge number. Or she might have this huge number and then you'd say one a lot less...

When I was a nanny and the parents had to go to an out of state funeral, one of their mom's died, I had all 7 kids for a long weekend. They left over $100 just for food and everything else was fully stocked. I had access to an account for an emergency if I needed it but I was under strict instructions that emergency room visits that required medications or some other emergency was the ONLY way it was to be touched. I had the mechanics number, the repairman, and in reality would need nothing else.

I would say between $1100 and $1700. To be there 24 hours a day, even when they are sleeping, you never know if they will wake up with a bad dream, or sick etc, it's not like when it's night time she can just ignore them because some states consider her "off the clock". and with them having minor health issues this would make me think it would be more money. You also have to consider while she is there she would be doing all of the cooking, laundry for the boys, cleaning up messes etc. driving them back and forth to preschool, probably taking them out or doing special activities etc. It is not unreasonable for your daughter to ask that much.

as for the woman calling people "vultures", that is just blatantly un-called for! just because you enjoy being taken advantage off and used does not mean others should lay down in the dirt like you.

It is funny how people like to count potential money that they expect to come out of someone else's pocket.
I have a live-in nanny now (so she is expected to take care of kids overnight if we travel), but I used to have stay out nannies in the past and I second Kristy R (who actually has a nanny and not hypothetically calculating some completely unreasonable and unheard of amounts of money) -$50 is good enough reimbursement. Your daughter will not be staying up the whole night would she? The employees who stay up at night (and they do! and then sleep during the day) and get paid hourly for that are the police, hospital employees, paramedics, pilots, etc. - you get my point. Your daughter may wake up at night (to give a kid some water or take them to the bathroom) or may not depending on the kids.
I'd say, if your daughter's employer offered her some compensation in the range of $50 - take it and be happy.