It's hard to know as a parent what the "going rate" is for a babysitter in your area.
Especially if you have never employed anyone in your life, it can be challenging.
This article will give you a brief overview and some tips on knowing how much to pay your babysitter.
There are several influences to what you can expect to pay a babysitter for watching your kids.
For the purpose of this article, I will assume we are talking about occasional babysitting, and not a full-time nanny.
Where you live makes a difference in how much you can expect to pay.
Just like my job, if I were to go to Los Angeles for example, the cost of living is much higher and therefore my salary would be a fraction higher just because of the physical location.
So obviously if you are trying to hire a babysitter in L.
A.
, then you should expect to pay more than someone in Omaha, Nebraska.
The second and third items to consider when you are determining how much to pay your babysitter are how old the children are and the experience level of the babysitter.
You can expect to pay about $2 to $4 per hour hire for a baby sitter that will be required to watch an infant or toddler.
The younger children require much more attention, so harder work equals higher pay.
Also, experience will play a big role.
Most parents will hire a friends teenage daughter or a niece and there is nothing wrong with that if your comfort level is okay with that.
Some parents will want to have a babysitter with years of experience and perhaps a certification in either first aid and CPR.
These types of certification will cost you a little more per hour, but will cost you less in worry.
Obviously if your child requires special attention due to a condition, then this will be more per hour.
Decide on a good per hour base rate that you are comfortable with.
For your niece that could be $5 per hour.
For a professional you could start at $10 per hour, and add an additional $1 per hour for every child that will be watched.
So for example, if you are paying for the babysitter to watch two children, then your base rate of $10 plus $2 for your kids would be $12 per hour.
These are just a few tips, and I've included a helpful link below for more information.