How Much to Pay New Babysitter

This does depend on your location. I am in a northern burb of Dallas, TX and my 16 yr old averages $12-$15/hour with 3 regular families she babysits for.

Parents are not home when she is there, she is the primary caregiver until mom/dad get home including, feeding, diapering, playing with and and making sure any messes are cleaned up. The little girls love her because she does manis/pedis with little gems (with mom's approval of course).

The "average" here is arund $10 cash per hour.

You say you are there and she is helping you? When my daughter acted as mom's helped at 13 yrs old, she got $5-$7 per hour cash.

I personally charge 7 dollars an hour for 2 children. But I'm in Bloomington IL, not Cali.

This is definitely an area-specific question. It also depends on how old your girls are. Within an hour of me, rates go from $4 an hour (for up to 2 kids...crazy huh?!?!) to $15 an hour (for one kid). The fact that you will be there and not leaving does change things a bit, but for our area, $15 an hour to start sounds good, but I do think that $20 should be given fairly soon after starting.

I think what you are planning to pay her is great. That's $80 a month for a 14 yr old for giving up just 12 hrs of her time.

I pay $30 a day for my 4 and 5 yr old for a 9 hour day for an in home caregiver. I think $15 is fine but if you can afford more and she does a great job that's nice too. Another idea is to pay her the $15 and put the $5 away to give her as a lump sum tip around Christmas time.

I pay my neighbor girls (ages 13 & 14) $7/hour. I thought about $5, but like your husband, I didn't feel like it was enough. I pay my driving, older sitters, who make dinner, clean up and put the kids to bed $10/hour.

$15 for 3 hours sounds fair. That'll be $60 for the month, and for a 14-yr old should be enough for play money!

JFF I once knew a woman who paid her sitter $20/hour because she had no idea what to pay and thought (rightfully) that this was the most important job in the world! Haha! Good luck!

I agree that it's geography specific...even our high school sitter in southern CA charged $12 / hour....I think, however, that your agreement sounds good. She's young, has been helping you without pay, and just learning the ropes -- you could even give her another "raise" after awhile....also, it's a great chance for her to learn and you can help her be ready for later jobs, including asking for a certain rate.