Childcare in My Home 3Yro Girl & 6Mo Boy 11Am-6pm M-th

25 a day is almost insulting. I paid 300 a week for my son when he was an infant. He's six now and I'm still paying 140 a week for before and after school care-- literally 45 minutes in the morning and 90 minutes in the afternoon at a Center with a 1:12 ratio.

Stand firm and start thinking like a business person,

Way to little pay for babysitting. My granddaughter goes to a daycare in Texas and her mom pays $500/week. $125/ week for two kids is not enough.

Welcome to mamapedia, D..

Wow...$25 a day for a 6 month old?? No. More like $250 a WEEK - and that's still saving her money. as day care for an infant in Denver usually starts at $375 for full time care.
You will need to stand firm on this. AND you will need to follow the state guidelines and rules - check into that. Ensure that you are NOT breaking ANY laws by caring for these kids...do you have insurance? Are you bonded? Have you had a background check? You need to be protected as well as the kids...having in-home day care is not for the faint of heart. There is a LOT that goes into it. It's a business and needs to be treated as such.

You need to ensure that she knows her children will be disciplined and will follow YOUR HOUSE RULES. There are boundaries and rules...make her sign a contract with you.
Set up a business account because she's going to want to use you as a tax write off, right? well - that will trigger an audit on you if you don't show a BUSINESS account and account for the money properly....there's a LOT to this...THINK before you get into this.

On a side note:

If you moved without a job? You didn't plan well.
What skills do you or your husband have get jobs?
If you didn't research PRIOR to moving? That's on YOU.

$25 for 7+ hours of work? That's $3.50 an hour! It's a lot worse than "not quite a fair wage."

You're allowing her to take advantage of you.

I agree with the others about researching going rates in your area, and contract that includes notice about vacations (yours and theirs), a sick policy, a lateness policy, and details on who provides food/snacks.

What you should leave out of the discussion is whether they make messes, get into your stuff, and don't understand "rules." The child is 3. That's her job. If you're going to do in-home day care, then you have to childproof your home or use gates to section off some areas. That's your job.

You need to treat this like a business and have professional standards and documentation as well as communications with her. The cost of living is irrelevant - the cost of comparable daycare facilities is relevant. If you're serious about this, then get licensed by your state too.

When my son was in daycare full-time, we paid about $150/week. (He's 8 now, so that was a few years ago.) So that would be $30/day for each child. Now that was a daycare center, but I believe the price for daycare vs. in home was about the same. So, I agree that she should be paying a bit more.

That being said, it is important for you to keep in mind that she needs to pay you fairly for the job you are doing, regardless of whether or not it adequately supports your family. If you need more income, you need to consider taking on more clients. Many in-home providers have 10 kids in order to support their families, so it's important to consider what is realistic.

If you want to get a better ballpark idea, call around to a few daycare centers or in-home providers and ask them what they would charge. That will give you a decent idea of how much is reasonable.

Also, try to remember that the 3 year old is being a typical 3 year old. They make messes, they get into things. It's their job. Your job is to redirect.

What I would do is research the going rate for home child care in your area. Just check online and in your neighborhood.

That seems crazy to me. That's what we paid for childcare per child per day for a preschooler over a decade ago at a facility.

Keep in mind, it depends on what you offer. I think some parents would pay more for structured environment, outings, pre-school environment, nutritious meals, etc.

Not trying to be critical - but some outfits are set up as actual pre-school type places, so I think they charge more and the moms running them are sometimes trained.

So - when you check rates to compare, I would just be mindful of that.

I would think check per child rate, and then usually they don't charge double necessarily for 2 kids - but babies usually run more to care for (they did at our daycares).

I think 3 year olds do get into things and make messes - that part can be expected. As for rules, etc. that's pretty standard.

Remember she doesn't get to set the rate - it's not what "she wants" rather what you ask. You can compromise, but it should be close. If it's not, then it's not the right fit and you should find some new kids to care for if this is what you want to do. Good luck :)

I agree she isn't paying you enough. But are you following all the child care laws in your state? Are you licensed and bonded? Are you CPR certified? Are you paying taxes on your income so she can report her child care costs on HER taxes? Are you providing the 3 year old preschool curriculum?

If not, then you are not a true child care provider. You are a babysitter. There is a difference. You can't expect to make 'child care' rates when you don't offer the same perks as a true child care center. You can only expect to make babysitter wages. Also you may be breaking the law by operating a child care center out of your home without being licensed and bonded.

um.
no.
why didn't you set a reasonable rate before you agreed to watch her kids?
ETA infants and toddlers are demanding. if you were unaware of that before, you're probably not qualified to babysit these children regularly.
this sounds like a bad deal for everyone concerned.
khairete
S.

I agree that you need to check rates in your area.

My 22 yr old nannies on Monday afternoons for a 2nd grader and Kindergarten child and gets $60 cash. She get more or less money if hours change.

She did not set her rate... the mom pays the going rate for our area.

Someone is trying to use and take advantage of you.

I'd check the going rates in your area at

https://www.care.com/babysitting-rates

If you don't have a written contract - you should get one and renegotiate periodically - yearly is typical but you can also do 6 months or even month to month (usually it's more expensive the shorter the term).
Be sure to have a late pick up clause - if they run significantly late then they pay extra for it.

When our son was an infant - and this was 19 years ago - the going rate in the northern Virginia area for 1 infant in a commercial daycare was $160 per week.
The rate went down slightly once a child was potty trained.
I don't imagine you could find that rate today - it's probably gone up by quite a bit.

To give you perspective, I pay $25 for someone to watch my kids for two hours after school, which requires pretty much just driving one to piano lessons and the other to hockey. The kids are 11 and 13.

$25 for 7 hours of work is an insult.

You need to research what other home daycare providers in your area charge and adjust accordingly. Perhaps you could discount your daily rate a little to account for the fact that you're probably not a licensed provider with a background in early childhood education, but there is no need to work for $3.60 an hour. Do not let this woman take advantage of you.

Sounds like this is a friend which makes it hard, but still, YOU set the price. YOU are providing the care/service. You should at least be making minimum wage.

Well for heaven's sake, just say no! She's taking for a ride here and you have the right to say no. Tell her how much you expect to be paid and stick to it. You can do something else and make more money, and be done with your work when you leave it.

i would do 25$ a day for one child. double that amount for the 2 kids. you can discount her and say 45 for both but 25 is just nowhere near enough

I would do it, but only certain days and you want 40$ a day not 25! So you can have another job and have free time. She isn't going to find anyone cheaper than that.

That is less then $5 an hour, even teenagers get paid at least $5 an hour for babysitting. I would call around and find out what the rate would be for the children in the local daycares.

No way! That is unfair and you are being taken advantage of. You need to have a price list that you hand out to new clients. For one kid they pay x a month. For two kids they pay x a month (give a slight discount, but not much). Make them sign a contract. Google this up and you can find contracts already written...just change it to say exactly what you want it to say.

It sounds like this is not the job for you. Clearly you feel underpaid and are too stressed about the 3 yr old making messes and getting into stuff.

Doing daycare for 2 kids part-time is definitely NOT going to support your family.

Good luck!