Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Adventures in babysitting

We did it. We had a babysitter watch Cameron for the first time so we could go out to dinner with some friends who were in town for the night. I was a little nervous because Cameron has had a slight cold and woke up several times the night before. We planned dinner to fall right after Cameron was put into bed. The timing worked out perfectly and when we left she was sleeping peacefully. Needless to say, this did not keep me from worrying about her although the glass of wine helped!

We ended up having the daughter of some friends come in to basically watch TV and listen to the monitor. Because of course my hope was that Cameron would sleep the whole time. And she did! The babysitter was on the younger side (15) but with her parents just up the street and the fact that Cameron would be sleeping I was fairly sure everything would be OK.

Cameron did end up sleeping the whole time and I walked the babysitter home. Am I completely naive in how much it now costs to hire a babysitter? We ended up paying $10 an hour after talking with a few people. I thought I was making good money at $5 an hour when I was in high school and college. Of course that was 15 (jeesh, 15!) years ago...

How about the rest of you? When was the first time you used a babysitter? Do you pay more or less than we did?

8 comments:

LauraC said...

One of our babysitters said she wanted $5 an hour! It's just plain cheap here is what I've decided. One of the boys' day care teachers that we often hire only charges $12. Everyone else generally charges $8-$10.

YAY for first babysitter!

Nicole S. said...

We paid $10/hr and I think its highway robbery!! I could see if the kids were awake but I think if they are sleeping, you should be able to pay them less. or have them do chores around the house. But none of the otehr moms do that so no one would babysit for me if this is what I were expecting.

Amanda said...

I might have to talk to you about this babysitter of yours if she is looking for more work, we need one and really want to find someone by word of mouth. I think you paid the going rate.

Donna said...

Depends on age, experience and location. Here it is between $10-$15/hour.

Anonymous said...

My first jobs baby-sitting earned me a whopping 15 cents an hour. Of course, as my granddaughter once said, "that was when dinosaurs ruled the earth". . .love. . .

Danielle said...

We're lucky that we have Eric's parents as babysitters. They even take Brady overnight once a month!

But babysitters here are expensive. Teens are tough to come by and most babysitters are nannies in the day. It's usually $15/hr, plus cab fare and dinner. That's nuts!

We need a sitter in November because all of the family will be at this event and I'm hoping a friend of mine will do it for $15/hr. She babysits for 2 other families and that's what they give her.

Anonymous said...

$10/hour is good, at least around here. Most sitters around here charge $15+ per hour. Of course, they do charge more when it's more than 1 kid too. But I've never heard of anyone in our area paying less than $10 an hour.

I'm glad it worked out well for you!

Karen said...

I remember how upset families were when I raised my rates to $1.00 per hour! Okay, so I'm obviously older than you are! Check out this book where you can put all your son's information for the next time you go out. www.bythebookkids.com