How much should we pay a babysitter to watch a child overnight?
Posted by adminNov 13
We are going out of town and our regular babysitter (also his daycare teacher) has agreed to stay with our 2 year old overnight. We just need to know how much compensation we should expect to provide. My wife suggested $200.
By: Kjun30
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By: Kjun30
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8 comments
Comment by kaddie on November 14, 2009 at 4:24 am
200 – 250 sounds fair.
Comment by cybachic2000 on November 17, 2009 at 9:25 am
See me, i’d do it for $200 because i figure the baby is sleeping most of the time so really there is not much of an inconvenience. However, i believe that ‘professional’ baby sitters are paid a kings ransom for overnight stays. You could ring an agency through your yellow pages to see what the going rate is but i personally think you should discuss it with your babysitter before the event.
Even the old ‘you write down what you think it should be and we’ll write down what we think it should be’ can work and agree to split the difference. Usually that method is suprising in that you’ll find both parties are reasonable in their estimates!
Good luck with reaching a happy outcome.
Comment by thunderwoman on November 20, 2009 at 8:02 am
My goodness! For $200 a night, I’ll be your babysitter…lol !! That’s pretty steep for overnight. Even for the weekend I’d say that’s a bit much. I could see if you were leaving several kids that had bad behavior but $200 for one night? That’s way too much in my opinion. Babysitters and daycares don’t usually get paid by the hour (unless you’re paying a teenager to come over for a few hours in the evening). When you break it down by the hour even daycares don’t make but a few dollars an hour. I admire babysitters / daycare workers as it is very hard work (My husband and I occasionally watch the nursery at church). I would suggest about $60 – $80 maybe $100 if it would make your wife feel better. You do the math though. See how much daycares charge in your area for an entire week then break it down by the hour just to get an idea of what I’m telling you. Good luck and have fun out of town!
Comment by ARMY WIFE on November 22, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I would think $50 would be enough.
Comment by fffgel on November 24, 2009 at 1:49 am
Yeah, unless you live in New York (you don’t say), $200 is too much in my opinion for a single overnight. Isn’t that as much or more than you pay for a week of care?
Here’s what I would do. Take what you pay for a week of care – then divide by 5 to get what you pay per day. Double that and that’s the overnight rate. That’s like overtime.
So, let’s say you pay $200 per week for daytime daycare. That’s $40 per day. Double that for $80 per overnight.
Comment by MFG on November 26, 2009 at 2:50 pm
You could always just ask her…..but if that is uncomfortable than I would say $100 would be plenty. My husband and I went to a wedding and stayed the night and that is what we gave our regular babysitter and she was happy with that.
Comment by Sarita'sMommy on November 29, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I think is too much, I mean USD 200!! that is a whole week of daycare is some states. I say 50-70 is fair. Talk to her before tough, say you are thinking of giving her $50, if she doesn’t seem happy go up to $70, but $200 is way too much.
Comment by Momof1 on December 2, 2009 at 7:57 am
That is way to much $ for an overnight stay. I think $20-25 is fair afterall the kid will be sleeping most of the time. Give more if you wish but dang $200 for that can i babysit then?