Would you be happy using teenage babysitters for your young kids?
How much would you pay them?
The young girl next door is 15 and has offered to babysit for us, we'd only be 2 hours and local. She is lovely and we are a wee bit desperate to get out and about on a more regular basis - but are finding the $25/hr charged by childcare girls too prohibitive. Am I being a bit too keen thinking that his may be a good option??
TIA - happy to be told the good the bad and the ugly!!!
I babysat right through my teenage years. I only charged like $5 max $10 an hour. $5 if I only had one kid and $10 for 2 or more.
Does she have siblings that she may have had exzperiene with? Has she done babysitting before for anyone else? Does she know your little ones? I had about 5 regular families that i'd look after and still look after a few families kids when they are really desperate.
She has an older brother and hasn't babysat before but she was very open about that. I guess I am a little biased as I did heaps of babysitting when I was her age and younger. I am surprised as one of my friends was quite negative about me even considering it. I guess because we are only going to grab a meal and would be within 15min drive rather than across town for hours and hours then I am more keen. Her parents are next door too. I was thinking about $10 hour whne the kids were in bbed!
I too babysat from about 13 or so and now that I am a parent I am amazed that these women left me with their kids when I knew nothing LOL. But I knew the kids and mothers quite well and they had seen me interact with their children from early on. I would visit them and hang out with them after school and on weekends as I lived in small county town and had no friends in close proximity. Maybe if she hasn't already, get her to come over for a couple of afternoon's to get to know your kids well first. Sounds a good idea especially as her parents are close and you would not be far away.
Depends on the teenager and the child. I babysat as a teen and knew the children and parents well beforehand (family friends). My mum lived a 5 min walk away. At first it was when the children were in bed (paid for watching TV and doing homework, bonus!) but age 15 onwards it was for whole days. It was a great summer job!
I think if you know the teen and she's responsible, doesn't matter about experience. A lot of people have no experience about things they do for the first time, a good dollop of common sense is all you need most first times. There are some teens I know I would be OK with them babysitting Liebs (should the need arise) so I don't think it's a bad idea.
I do agree that with a baby or young toddler I'd be hesitant to use our teenaged babysitters. Our DD is now four and capable of getting herself off to bed. It's more about having someone around to make sure she stays there and doesn't get up to mischief!
TBH I didn't use any babysitters at all with DD as a baby. Not even adults. At 13 mths my DD still needed a bf and cuddle before bed. I can't see her settling for anyone else or me relaxing while I was out.
We use our neighbour's DD (who's 16 now) and our minister's 15 year old DD, who lives down the road. They're both fabulous! The best thing is they play with DD until she gets into bed non-stop. She gets super-excited when we tell her either of them is coming over to play with her. We usually order pizza as well for both of them (can you see why DD is pushing us out the door? LOL).
We pay about $10 an hour, although we often round it up (so $50 when she's been there for 4.5 hrs). I love having the neighbour's DD especially, I too feel like we've got her Mum as back-up if there was ever an emergency. Our minister's daughter would do it for nothing but we would feel too bad about that!
I would feel fine if her Mum's at home next door. I am a little biased as I have seen 2 incidents in a hospital setting where a teenager was sitting & didn't have first aid experience in a choking incident. Also in Qld it is not considered okay until the child is 16 years old - I know this as a friend of mine was leaving her younger children with her teen whilst she worked and this was not legally allowed.
I'm a teenage babysitter, so I'm a little biased But I'd like to think I'm as responsible as someone older. I don't think anyone should hire a babysitter who isn't first-aid trained (teenage or not), and obviously experience counts for a lot.
I don't think that having a degree in childcare is something completely necessary for babysitting, though. Mums don't have degrees and most of the mums I know do a pretty great job with their kids.
For a regular nanny, of course, my opinion is different, but for a casual babysitter I think it's okay to have a teenager.
Also, $10/hr is very reasonable, even without the TV, internet and food.
Hhmmm I think I'm going to go against the grain here... Personally, I wouldn't leave my DS with a 15 year old right now, maybe a 17 or 18 year old though. For me it really comes down to their ability to cope and think fast in an emergency situation.
Not to be alarmist (and this is only my view with my own child) but with a 13 month old something can go wrong very quickly, a fall from the change table, choking, pulling a hot cuppa onto themselves, a serious knock to the head etc. When these things happen it's important for the person in charge to be able to assess the situation fast and act fast. Doing the wrong thing can have serious consequences and the 15 minutes it takes you to get home could be crucial. That's JMO though, but I also think about the teenager who is in charge, if something awful did happen how would they cope down the track having been the person who was responsible and was it fair to charge them with that responsibility.
Hope I haven't offended anyone, like I said, these are just my thoughts related to my own child at his current age. If he was 3 or 4, I'd probably have a different take on the situation.
I baby sat for friends of my parents and their friends and neighbours from the age of 12-17.... I enjoyed it, I used to get about 20-30 bucks a night (sometimes stay the night ).
I would suggest maybe giving her a trial run, see how she and your DDs interact? then when you are a bit more confident leave them longer?
DD1 used to babysit up until she got a social life and too much work at Maccas. She got about $8 an hour but that was 4 years ago (she was 14) She had plenty of experience with younger siblings and she is quite responsible.
I think nowadays the average money is $10 an hour from what I hear from the mums at school. I would be happy to use a neighbour because in the event of a problem her mum is right there IYKWIM?
My daughter is 14 in july and is very very well behaved and very good with her 2.5 year old and 10 month old sisters. She is also very responsible ... However, I wouldn't leave her arty home with them yet. Especially at night. She is great for her age but a bit too immature just yet I think. she sometimes doesn't think things through and what their consequences would be... But if she lives next door and her parents sure right there if need bee, perhaps it would be great. I think $10 pet hour would be acceptable to both you and her. Enjoy your time out!!!
Well finally giving this a trial - so long after the initial thought too lol! We're off to PT interviews for a half hour and will see how that goes - I figure it will give her an idea and the girls will be up still so easy enough. I feel a bit mean only giving her $10 tho!!!! At 6 and 3.5 the girls can be a bit of a handful so we will start slowly and see how things pan out. Thanks all for your thoughts.
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Teenage babysitters WDYT???
but we would feel too bad about that!
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