Babysitting Rates; Question for parents of young kids - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Babysitting Rates; Question for parents of young kids
DD Lauren is 14 and took babysitting courses and CPR courses through the local hospital. They told her to charge $5 an hour per kid. She's really only babysat for friends and family before, and they've always paid her well. She's done what I did when I was her age - I never gave a price, just told the parents to pay me what they thought it was worth to know their child/ren were being cared for and loved. I was always paid more than I would have asked for.
Yesterday, one of the neighbors asked Lauren to babysit for them for 3 nights a week. 5 pm to 10 pm, Thurs. Fri, and Sat. nights. They have a 5 year old and a 2 month old.
What would you pay for that? We really don't know what she should ask and am not sure if she should use my old trick.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I wouldn't use your old trick. It's better to know what's coming into your wallet. The minimum I'd charge would be $150 for the week and that's a bargain. A local daycare would charge much more, especially with an infant.
I would say that for 5 hours a night for 2 kids, she should be getting AT LEAST $100. Since it's the weekend (Fri and Sat nights), I agree $150 for those nights would be a steal.
ETA: That's for all 3 nights, not per night, I think I didn't write that very clearly. I babysat my cousins (3 of them, 2 were toddlers) and to arrive at their house about 5pm, feed them dinner and put them to bed I made about $60 for 4-5hours. That's about $15/hr, but it was for 3 kids and usually on a weekend night.
__________________
Last edited by unewillow; 04-10-2012 at 12:07 PM..
I think Joanne's suggestion for $150.00 a week is reasonable. That's $10.00 an hour and I would guess in this economy they could find an adult (senior on fixed income perhaps) for that amount or maybe a little more. If her babysitting class is suggesting $5.00 an hour, that is probably the going rate in your area. She can also ask them about this specific situation. I would always pay more for a couple of hours than a regular sitter. Someone going out for a couple of hours, usually pays pretty well in part because who wants to give up an evening for $10-15 dollars.
I don't know what the area you live in is like. I would guess metropolitan areas have significantly higher rates than rural areas, the east and west coasts higher then the middle of the country.
Seeing as this seems like a regular job, not babysitting, I would draw up a contract if the employers have not already done so. Everyone needs to know the hours, whether taxes are to be paid, when time can be taken off and what happens when the family doesn't need her for a night, and how much notice each gives the other.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
My 16 year old makes $10 an hour per kid on average. She runs the nursery for a local church on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, and then babysits for the families on the side. I think I made $5 an hour back in the dark ages. That seems like a very low rate.
$150 for the three nights at the very minimum. IMO, that's a big time commitment for a 14yo, and caring for a 2 month old is a lot of responsibility. I'd probably lean closer to $15 per hour, but it depends on where you live and your relationship with this family.
Just to clarify - the $5 per hour was PER CHILD. She's cared for newborns before - had a regular "job" 2 years ago doing it for 4 hours, 2 evenings a week - but that was for her Sensei's son, so she didn't really charge them as much as she might have. Now that I think of it though, they were more than happy to pay her $40/week - so $5 an hour.
I guess $10 an hour doesn't sound unreasonable.
Thanks for the info.
(we live in the suburbs of Indianapolis, in a fairly well off town)
We have been paying $10 an hour which honestly just seems insane to me, but I have heard it is the going rate. Has she done any babysitting for this couple before? Is there any standard set already? $150 kind of sounds like a lot of money, but they may be completely fine with it. Depends on why they need the babysitter. If its because they are both working and are making enough to offset that cost then it should be fine. However I do think when you have an ongoing arrangement like that, it makes sense to just have a flat fee as opposed to an hourly rate. So maybe negotiate $100 for the week or something along those lines?. If the kids are going to be sleeping for part of that time I would also take that into consideration. However with a 2 month old she will probably have her hands full the whole time.
On a side note - I went back to work part time and when I started I was making in the $10 range so I struggled to hand over every penny to a babysitter so I had to work out some working from home hours, but also I paid a flat rate for the day instead of per hour.
Wow...your babysitters are making a bunch. My DD's get $5/hr for the first kid and an additional $1 per kid/hr. So 2 kids would be $6/hr. They usually make more though if it is an infant.
Wow...your babysitters are making a bunch. My DD's get $5/hr for the first kid and an additional $1 per kid/hr. So 2 kids would be $6/hr. They usually make more though if it is an infant.
So glad to hear. Sounds like a much more reasonable rate I used to make $1 an hour for babysitting... 25 years ago, but still. I remember babysitting 2 kids M-F 8am-5pm and cleaning the house too for $36 a week. I know I was totally ripped off, but I think that is why I struggle with the $10/hour rate. My kids are old enough that they just play with them and then send them to bed at the right time, but I don't ask that they do anything other than stay with them.
So glad to hear. Sounds like a much more reasonable rate I used to make $1 an hour for babysitting... 25 years ago, but still. I remember babysitting 2 kids M-F 8am-5pm and cleaning the house too for $36 a week. I know I was totally ripped off, but I think that is why I struggle with the $10/hour rate. My kids are old enough that they just play with them and then send them to bed at the right time, but I don't ask that they do anything other than stay with them.
I just did some quick math - and I was getting paid $5.55 an hour for a regular gig: 27 years ago!!
I told her to go ahead and start at the $10/hour and if they said it was too much, ask how much they felt they should pay her. Negotiate from there.
If my kids are sleeping our neighborhood babysitters get $5 an hour. If they're awake, we pay 6 or 7. That's three kids 4, 6, and 9. There is no way I'd ever pay $5 per child per hour.
Quote:
Originally Posted by apqsmom
Wow...your babysitters are making a bunch. My DD's get $5/hr for the first kid and an additional $1 per kid/hr. So 2 kids would be $6/hr. They usually make more though if it is an infant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tkm1005
So glad to hear. Sounds like a much more reasonable rate I used to make $1 an hour for babysitting... 25 years ago, but still. I remember babysitting 2 kids M-F 8am-5pm and cleaning the house too for $36 a week. I know I was totally ripped off, but I think that is why I struggle with the $10/hour rate. My kids are old enough that they just play with them and then send them to bed at the right time, but I don't ask that they do anything other than stay with them.
Maybe we are just cheap in MN? Or value-conscious? Funny that 3 of the posters on this thread are MN peeps who charge about the same amount for a young teen babysitter.
If my kids are sleeping our neighborhood babysitters get $5 an hour. If they're awake, we pay 6 or 7. That's three kids 4, 6, and 9. There is no way I'd ever pay $5 per child per hour.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
That seems like a very low rate.
Hybrid Mode
