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People in the church tend to want to volunteer themselves to do service a lot and I think sometimes the most giving people get taken advantage of. I want someone to babysit my son who is about 3 and I have thought of a few people that I would feel comfortable with watching him. What I want to know is, how much should I pay per hour? I know most people in the church don’t pay the typical amount that you would to a professional babysitter, so what is a fair amount? I don’t want to pay too little and them feel taken advantage of, and I don’t want to over pay them and have them feel guilty. So how much would you expect to be paid per hour to watch a 3 year old? They will only be babysitting him for about 2 hours Unless these individuals have specifically offered to babysit as a service I think you should pay the going rate. To do otherwise is taking advantage IMO. ^ Ditto Pay the normal rate.
Ok thanks! I do not know anything about “professional babysitter” fees. We usually ask a YW from the church to babysit and we pay about $5 per hour to watch our 8 & 10 year old children (I admit that this is probably on the low end of what might be acceptable). With the YW it is nice because it is clear that it is a financial transaction and not a service. We have also “traded” date nights with another family in our ward where we take turns babysitting the other’s kids.
If I was looking for a babysitter, and had decided to pay them, I would treat it like any other business transaction, but just a bit softer than I normally would as they are friends to some extent (in the church community). i would ask each one what they like to receive on an hourly rate for babysitting. There is a business principle that the person who comes out with the number first loses. This is because they may come out with something much lower than you are thinking. If they are too high, you can always walk away from the deal. And if they are lower than you expected, then you win.
So, ask each one what they feel is fair, and then go with the one that provides the best combination of attitude and price, for your comfort level. it’s your child, so price alone isn’t the only factor — but you did say you felt comfortable with all of them….ask around — that will give you the going rate. And expect it to vary,by the way. Capitalize on that so you have more to put toward fast offerings and tithing
Thanks everyone! I asked someone at church and told her we would pay her as well and she got very adamant (almost angry) that she did not want to be paid so I left it at that because she seemed very serious about not being paid. So, yay free babysitting! Always Thinking wrote:Thanks everyone! I asked someone at church and told her we would pay her as well and she got very adamant (almost angry) that she did not want to be paid so I left it at that because she seemed very serious about not being paid. So, yay free babysitting!
Yep — let them come out with the number first — sometimes its free!
I’m glad it worked out for you. I can honestly say I don’t think there’s anyone in our ward who would do babysitting for free except in an emergency situation. We used to do what Roy mentioned – try to hire a YW (and we did a couple YM too) in the ward or trade babysitting. I always felt that I had an obligation to pay YW an appropriate and fair wage. First, because it made them interested in babysitting for us in the future. Secondly, I wanted to teach YW that their time and effort had value. I wanted them to learn to expect to be treated fairly .. To have “Market Rate Fairness” as their norm. Too often, YW do so much service and stuff for free that they lose a sense that their efforts and time have real value.
Give someone slave wages their entire life and they can start to think they are slaves.
I also write letters of recommendation for YW who have done a lot of babysitting for me. I tell them to put the letter in their resume file for the future, and to use me as a reference. Many did.
Back when my kiddo’s were little I always had YW/YM babysit. I also always paid them, even on temple night. There was a big push that the youth make temple night a service babysitting night. I could never get behind it. If date night was temple night it was still date night, they still gave up their time, they still got paid.
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