Pay for middle schooler babysitting our guests' kids
My daughter (early middle school) wants more experience babysitting but is too young to do it without an adult present. We entertain friends a lot and many of our friends have younger kids. Last time we had friends over (with 2 preschoolers) she volunteered to take care of them in our playroom (away from the parents) for a couple of hours and did a great job. We gave her a $20 after our friends left. She loved it and said she wants to do this on the regular whenever we have guests as a paid gig, so we are trying to come up with a rate to pay her. We will pay her, not our guests, and she will never be left home alone with the kids (just different room). Anyone is paying their kids for this, and if what what rate are you using for it?
Aug 12, 2023
Parent Replies
We do this for our 11 year old kid. When we have friends over, we noticed that they are not nice to little kids (3-7 year olds) so we told them that they could earn money by “babysitting” from this time to this time and have it a bit more structured. We will have crafts projects or games for them to lead with the little kids. Usually I let our kid invite a friend so that they can do this together with the friend and they can split the pay (with the parents’ consent, of course). Usually a couple of hours and $10 is what we offer. Kid seems satisfied with this arrangement. As a frame of reference, Their weekly allowance is $5. They get paid $5 per week for plant sitting when our neighbor is away for vacation, $5 for folding a load of adults’ laundry. $10-20/week for cat sitting (daily visit, feeding, playing) all of these “sitting” is done with me or my spouse.