Are you paying your babysitter too much?
Babysitters can cost a pretty penny. Should parents be looking for a discount?
Photo by hidesy, istock.com
Want a night off from the kiddies? It’ll cost you. Babysitters are making a decent income from watching your little ones.
As if having kids isn’t expensive enough, taking a little time for yourself racks up a hefty price tag. Add up the cost of a nice dinner with movie tickets plus munchies, and you’re looking at spending a pretty penny. Now tack on the cost of a sitter!
The Huffington Post recently ran an article about babysitting rates in the States. According to urbansitters.com, the cheapest rate for a babysitter is in St. Louis, Missouri, at an average of $9.50 an hour. The swanky New York suburb of Manhattan has starting babysitting rates of $15.50 an hour. Meet me in St. Louis for a cheap sitter, anyone?
Going rates differ from place to place. In many Canadian cities, expect to pay between $10-$15 an hour. The price varies based on how many kids, their ages and what credentials your babysitter possesses.
St. John Ambulance offers a one-day course for young babysitters, teaching them the ropes of CPR, what to do in an emergency and how to care for infants. The course costs $60. Our young sitters need to make back their course costs somehow, right?
The price of a sitter today (and the laundry list of credentials they use to pad their resume) are a far cry from my days as a babysitter when I would fawn over the rarity of a $20 bill. As an enterprising tween, I even started my own babysitting company.
In the mid-'90s, on a warm summer afternoon, my best friend and I lay on my bed, our legs kicking the air as we intently drew bubble letters on the homemade posters we intended to plaster all over the neighbourhood. “The Best Friends Club! Babysitters 4 Hire! Pick your price! 12-year-old and 11-and-a-half-year-old who love kids. One has experience with babies, call 457-xxxx!”
Though we had no formal training, no protocol know-how in CPR, no certificate from the Babysitters Training Course to brag about, I had a baby brother, 10 years my junior, who I’d burped and put down for naps. This was our major selling point. We were young entrepreneurs with no credentials and a penchant for boy bands and nail polish. Yet, parents eagerly called us up to care for their most precious commodities. Eventually, our services branched out to include cleaning while babysitting the sleeping kiddos. We would unload the dishwasher, sweep and dust for basically any fee parents suggested.
Moms and dads might wonder if the sitter should be paid less when the kids are sleeping—especially when they aren’t organizing Tupperware or alphabetizing your spice rack? But the general rule seems to be no. Whether the bambinos are sleeping or not, your babysitter is spending time to oversee your precious miracle’s wellbeing. It can be a tough nut to swallow; shelling out $15 an hour when the kids are sleeping and the sitter is eating your ice cream and watching reality TV. But, time is money.
The most important part of babysitting is knowing that you’ve left your children in responsible hands—even when the cost seems steep. But parents, it can’t hurt to schmooze the in-laws from time-to-time so you can enjoy a more cost-effective date night.
What’s the going rate in your town for a babysitter? What type of credentials do you expect them to have?
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Anne (not verified) says ....
$15 an hour? I'm a sessional university instructor, and I'm hiring a babysitter to be in my house to play with my son while I'm here. I need a sitter for a few hours at a time so that I can finish my dissertation. I teach a course that pays me about $13/hr before taxes, union dues etc.. (It's supposed to pay a bit more, but it takes far more hours than I'm contracted for.) When I graduate, I will likely still be a sessional, if I am lucky. If I can't gross more than $15/hr with a doctorate, why on earth would I pay a babysitter that? And no, I cannot deduct it off my income.
suebtn says ....
I agree about priorities, and just because someone is young, doesn't mean they should earn less, if they have more responsibility than someone serving up ice cream at DQ. And... many do not earn it 'under the table'. One my kids has been hired to 'babysit' three kids during the summer, for $12.00 an hour, which is a whole lot cheaper than these parents have been paying for child care during the school year. PLUS, the parents WILL deduct it off their income, therefore it costs them a whole lot less, and my child will declare it - she won't earn enough to pay income tax, and it will open up her rrsp room, and get her ready for her first $100 rebate from the government for filing a tax return! She has a whole lot of responsibility and will take all three kids to the parks and play grounds every day, and will cook them healthy food, put one down for a nap daily, etc. etc. Huge responsibility and I'm glad she's working for a family who values that. I always paid by the job too, and couldn't understand people paying more for someone to clean their house or shovel their snow than look after their children. Age has nothing to do with it to me; I interviewed lots of older people who would have made lousy babysitters; I hired the best, whether they were 60 or 13, and paid for the value I put on that responsibility.
Anonymous says ....
Maybe I should get back into the babysitting business! When I was a teen, I charged $0.35 an hour which shot up to $0.50 after midnight. New Year's Eve would cost you $1 an hour. Of course, that was a while ago and we lived in a small community where there wasn't much choice for the parents. I also did dishes and tidied up after the kids were in bed. If a bed was wet, I washed the sheets and pj's and put them away. If you didn't have cash, you could pay me next time and several families had a running tab. Can't imagine any kid doing that now.
JoanMommy (not verified) says ....
Wow - $15.00/hour? I'm in the wrong industry! We pay $6.00/hour and then round up to the nearest $10. My husband's a teacher and he overheard two students saying we pay well, so I'm pretty happy with that. We provide dinner (usually pizza) so the sitter doesn't have to cook, plus something for a late night snack. Yes, they are looking after our children, so pay well. According to this article we aren't but according to the kids we have sit for us, we do.
Tim (not verified) says ....
@ simbaspod
A few years back (almost 10 now) a friend's daughter was already making $10/hr babysitting in Mississauga.
My daughter just last year got $10/hr and I think that was fair, given that there were 2 young kids to take care of.
Crazy thing I find is when people will pay more to have someone walk their dog, than watch their kids. That to me shows where their priorities are.
simbaspod (not verified) says ....
Where in Canada are people paying $10-15 an hour for babysitting? I live in the GTA and the going rate in my community is $5-7 depending on the age of the sitter, and number of kids and age of kids. People comment that it is for someone looking after your children (and would pay their cleaning staff more) but you are hiring someone who isn't far out of childhood themselves! Most sitters in my community are between 12 and 15 because once they turn 16, they can drive, get regular employment and date. I spent many years babysitting myself and let's face it, they *might* tidy up after the kids and themselves but in reality, they have an evening sitting on your couch, texting their friends while your children sleep and get paid for it! My children's favourite sitter is a 12 year old boy who thinks babysitting gigs are the best racket going as he gets paid to play video games with my 8 and 5 year olds, send them to bed and then continue on with the gaming. We love him dearly but he is not getting more than $7 an hour and he's very content with the arrangement.
Ainsleey (not verified) says ....
I think between $7-maybe $9 should be the going rate for teens. Think about it this way.....it's all under the table so no tax is taken off. Most of the time we provide transportation and food + there isn't a cost of work clothing. Minimum wage if you work at a store or fast food resturant is $10. Plus these are kids!!!! I know I am cheap....but we can only afford a sitter when we have too. I can't imagine paying a child $15 an hour when all their training is a Babysitting course....and I know people who went to college for a year or two and have real work and life experience barely make that. Kids these days expect an aweful lot for not much work. So far unless I have specifically asked the babysitters they don't clean up or wash the dirty bottles. Yuppers that's what I would pay more money for!
Jen B (not verified) says ....
TGFG...thank god for grandparents. We haven't had to hire a babysitter, and after reading this article it looks like we couldn't afford dinner after the babysitter is paid for. While I value the skills and experience of a good sitter, it's just not in the budget after 3 kids and a mortgage.
Sasikasi says ....
I used to babysit my neighbour's kids during the summer. $30 a day for two kids, two or three days per week. I also babysat throughout the school year at night and would get about $20 a night. Special occasions, like New Years, I would get $50.
With $70 per day for two kids five days per week, unless either the MIL or my mother are watching the kids, we go can't afford to pay someone else to watch the kids, so we don't go out any more.
hveott says ....
I think parents often undervalue a babysitter. Most people will pay more to a cleaning lady than to a babysitter. Sure, the kids 'might' be asleep, but often they are not. My teens work very hard when they babysit, they play and organize games, feed supper, often cooking the meal, clean up, and the parents can be assured their kids are in good hands, even asleep. Isn't that worth minimum wage? I'm shocked when I hear of parents wanting to under-pay someone who is responsible for their children.....
astemml says ....
Sigh, I remember being excited when I'd babysit for "rich" families who would give me $5 an hour! The 20 dollar bill *was* usually a rarity!
I think I barely made $100 a week babysitting during the summer (where I would be with the kids from like 7am to 4pm 5 days a week - yikes!).