Well... it IS kind of an awkward situation, letting the 2 worlds collide... but since it's already out there..

One of our babysitters (a 19 year old who is an assistant teacher @ our 2yr old son's daycare - no college degree) mentioned she babysits. I immediately asked what's her rate. And she very casually said, "Whatever you feel like paying me" - which really made us THINK about what to pay her.

As it turns out, we've been paying her close to $12-18/hr. (I know her hourly rate @ the school is about $12/hr.)

We take the following into consideration:
1) she's giving up a weekend night to babysit
2) we want to KEEP a good babysitter
3) we go out so infrequently, that it's worth splurging on a babysitter (sometimes we're out for 4-5 hrs)
4) even though she's single/no kids, she lives on her own & has bills to pay too.

For further reference, we used to pay the 16 yr old next door neighbor $5/hr. Most other adults we've spoken to charge at least $10/hr. We live in a suburb of Seattle.

As for bringing it up, my advice is.. when he asks if you can babysit on a specific night & still does not ask your rates, just take a deep breath & say something like: "We haven't really discussed it yet, but I don't really have a set hourly rate for babysitting. I'll accept whatever you decide to pay me."

Don't say anything like "I'll give you a break because we work together/we're friends" because you don't want to feel used. Put the decision on them.

Hope this helps!

It does, thanks so much...I like the idea of just being open and saying that I'm fine with whatever they want to pay me, since it is true, I just didn't know if it would be expected that I'd go in with a set rate!


And KSUViolet...does Katie like that schedule? Practicing, the hair, the modeling? It seems like so much for a 5 year-old, I would just hope that she'd enjoy it!

It sounds like Katie might not be as much of a Beauty Queen as Katie's mom wants her to be. I hate hearing these kinds of stories. Poor kid. I bet her mom says (and worse, believes) things like, "Katie LOVES being a beauty contestant!" :rolleyes:

My head is swirling after reading that post - I can't post most of my thoughts about poor Katie, because they wouldn't be polite. ;)

But I will ask this...does Katie get any down time? Ever? (aside from the "no more than one hour of TV after modeling :rolleyes: ) What about time to just play and be a kid?

And what kind of mom preaches "no carbs" to a 5 year old? (okay, so one semi-impolite comment snuck in there, but believe me...it was the least impolite out of the other options I was thinking of ;) )

She is free to do what she wants pretty much after modeling as long as it doesn't involve more than an hour of TV. She plays from then until it's time for dinner and bath time.

Now THAT is one of the rules that I break. I refuse to tell a little girl that she can't eat carbs. She doesn't even know what they are!