[*MamaJen*]

I guess it depends on where you live and how old the babysitter is, but what's the range? Not for a day of daycare, but for an evening out, that kind of thing.
I've had both an adult friend and a teenager watch DS, and neither I nor them have really had a set idea of what the cost should be.
I want to be fair, but not extravagant.

 

[Drummer's Wife]

we now pay $15 per hour but it's for four kids and a college student who nannies/babysits for income while going to school.

We have paid $8 per hour for a teenager but I really didn't think that was enough, considering my high energy kids

She was fine with it, though.

 

[laneysprout]

$12/hour for a college student to watch our 18 mo DD.

 

[phathui5]

For our gang, we pay 2 teenagers $7/hour each.

 

[lilgreen]

$10/hr.

 

[elmh23]

We only use grandparents or friends. Grandparents, it's dinner. For friends, I usually trade and watch their kiddos for a night.

 

[lisalu100]

I think 8-10 per hr is reasonable in Baltimore- - at least that's what it looks like I'll be getting. And that is the rate for an unqualified day care aide.

 

[Ks Mama]

We've never hired a baby sitter but FWIW, we pay our nanny $14/hr. We're in NJ. When I babysat back in the late 80s, early 90s, I got about $8/hr.

 

[kewb]

I am in NJ and I pay $13-$15/hr for a college student. It depends on what they will be doing. Watching at home and making sure no one burns the house down or driving them all over town to various activities.

 

[MaterPrimaePuellae]

10 an hour for one 20 mo at babysitter's campus (she keeps DD while I teach); it would probably be more (like 12?) if she came to my house.

 

[RGsMom]

for 1 we do $3 an hour - a high school student from our church. But we usually end up giving her $4-$5 an hour - we don't use a sitter that often either. When we have 2, I think she asks for $5 for 2, but a friend that also has used her I think did $5 for 4 kids plus 2 older boys were home too, but they were at the 11/12 range that was iffy for that many kids!

 

[wendypf]

I pay $15/hour when I work from home and $17/hour when we're out of the house. We live in long island, ny. Our nanny is a mother of 4, grandma of 1 and practices EC while she's watching our 4 MO DD.

 

[Sasharna]

I wouldn't offer (or accept) any less than the state minimum wage these days.

 

[MoonStarFalling]

We're usually out for about 4 hours and I would pay $20 for one child. So $5/hr. I think child care here is very low compared to urban areas.

 

[grniys]

I pay my (very unreliable) sitter $7 an hour to watch ds occasionally in her home where she also is taking care of her dd. If I were to still use her once ds #2 is born it would be $14 an hour.

I'm currently looking for a more reliable sitter who is willing to come to my house.

I moved her from Eastern NC earlier this year, and the rates were all over the place. A lot of the military wives did home daycare charging $3 per hour per kid. My sitter charged a flat $25 a day fee... whether you were gone 1 hour or 8.

 

[Caneel]

I pay $10 per hour for our 3yo. The sitter happens to be my college age cousin.

When we talked about what other families paid her, I was shocked.

She was getting $6 to $7 per hour for multiple children under 5 years old for whom she was expected to cook dinner for, clean up the dishes, give baths and put them all to bed. One family expected to do laundry on top of everything else.

She has since upped her rates and is getting $9. We chose to pay her more because we don't go out that often and I know she can use the money.

 

[karemore]

It's about $10 an hour here. Some college students charge $12.

 

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

I have two elementary aged children, so not a lot of "care" needed, more just playing and supervising. We pay a high school student $10 an hour. We pay our regular college-aged nanny $12 an hour and have paid an older grad student $15 an hour. I would expect to pay more if I had more children, or if one was an infant or toddler. This seems to be the going rate in my suburban area.

 

[Amys1st]

To watch my 2 dds, its $10 an hour or just one, its $5 an hour.

 

[mistymama]

We have a college age girl that we pay $10 an hour for one 6 year old little boy. It's not much "care" involved .. he usually goes to bed at 8pm and she can watch movies on our couch.

It's a little higher than most people pay for one child around here, but it works well because she'll drop everything to come sit for us. She's fun, sweet and worth paying a little more to know ds is going to have a great time.