8 Rules To Respecting Your Babysitting

Babysitting is a hard job and you want to know you are paying your sitter enough. Babysitter pay rates should seem obvious, but they are not.

Babysitters are like any other employees and they want to be respected. There are rate calculators on websites such as Care.com and Sitter City, which will help with calculating how much you should pay your sitter. These websites state that a sitter that is 18 should start with a base pay of $10 an hour. Younger sitters are more likely to be taken advantage of because of their age and the fact they are often less assertive about their rate of pay.

Here are 8 rules on how to respect your sitter:

• 1. Feed the kids: Hungry kids and sitters don?t have fun together, especially if the sitter is watching the kids at their house. A sitter does not want to empty their cupboards to feed your children. Parent can pack their children a lunch, unless they have made arrangements with the sitter.

• 2. Give the sitter notice: You should give your sitter at least 24 hours notice. Calling your sitter a couple of hours in advance puts them in an awkward position because they don?t want to have to turn you down. Babysitters have lives too and want notice.

• 3. Group arrangements require that all parents pay for their own kids: The rate goes up as the number of kids goes up. The sitter should be paid for each individual child they are watching.

• 4. Speaking of numbers, don?t push it: The absolute maximum amount of children that a sitter should be watching is five. Keep safety in mind.

• 5. If you?re going to be late: Call or text if you are going to be late coming home.

• 6. The sitter is the sitter: The sitter is not a maid or butler. They can be expected to pick up after the children, but don?t ask them to do extra housework.

• 7. Sometimes, the person watching your children has to make a call: It is unreasonable to expect a sitter to not answer their phone or read a text during their long day of babysitting. If the kids are reporting the sitter is always on the phone, on the other hand, it is time for another sitter.

• 8. Pay on time: It is best to pay when the job is done. If you use the same sitter every week, you can pay at the end of the week.