My kids have only had relatives for sitters, as I'm so cautious. But yet, I take care of other people's kids all day long - is that hypocritical? My average pay per child is between $20-25 a day. Perhaps I should drop my daycare license and just do drop-in babysitting. Seems to be a higher pay (kidding - maybe). My husband nearly choked when the daycare renewal fee came up last month for $200. Between the license fees and cost of all the training; plus the constant county interference in my home and family; we are seriously considering dropping the license next year. Most of my families are from my church, so the license isn't a big factor for them. I'm just not exactly sure what the legal implications could be. Something to put a lot of thought into for the future. As for babysitting fees, I would probably pay about $5.00/hr. My dd is easy; so it's just my two boys that would make the sitter work for her pay.
When I was a student at Oral Roberts, I had it made!!! The neighborhood people knew that ORU Girls were reliable, so they would call the dorm. The ladies at the desk would post-a-note the info in the dorm. If we were free on Saturday or Sunday, we would find one that we were interested in and call. I had several "regulars" that way. (One even set me up with her "little brother" that went to Oklahoma State!) I would also use those kids for my Developmental Psych class "observations" notebook. Oh, and I think the most I was ever paid was $4/hour, and that was for up to three kids. That was top pay back then!!!
I might be the weird one....I just take them with me. If they are apart from me and my DH...they are with family. <--and that is RARE. I had a friend some years back that took her kid to the daycare everyday, even though she didn't work. If she had to go to town for ANYTHING, like grab some bread, she would pay a babysitter to watch her one kid. That would drive me crazy. It was like she didn't want to be seen in public with the little girl.
You are far from weird. If weird is the norm, then we are all weird. This is what the majority of us homeschooling moms do most of the day, we are with our children providing them a great education. When Ems is not with me, I feel strange because I am so used to her going everywhere I go. When Handsome and I want to spend time together, we take her to one of my sisters' houses. Patty
When I was single I would babysit up to ten kids on new years eve, I kept them over night and had a party for them with movies and food and fun! I made roughly 10-20 dollars a kid. I always told the parents to pay whatever they wanted and most of the timethey over paid me and other times one family used to pay me less one week and double the next, it made it fun!
I agree, many homeschool moms have their kids with them most of the time, especially when there is no family nearby, which is our case. That's why I say I'm going to have problems when my homeschooling days are over---I'm around them almost ALL the time. I don't feel right unless they're around! Right now we have NOONE to take them to. I don't know anyone who babysits that I'd want to watch them anyway. Like I said earlier, we HAVE xchanged babysitting with friends that we trust, but they moved away. But that's okay, MOST of the time I alike and want to be with my children anyway. Now that the kids are older, dh and I MAY go out sometime and let them stay home. We'll see....
Yeah, I was just thinking that we don't do sitters , in fact I could count the times we have paid someone, and it is on one hand. We have done sitting swaps with friends, but I end up watching their kids more than the othe rway around, its okay they need the break more! When I took my dh to anniversary place one weekend we had a sitter, a couple we know that are grandparents now! They are about the last ones, We just paid whatever we had at the time for the few times a teen has watched them. Now my ds16 or dd13 have watched the youngest and I sometimes pay them sometimes don't it depends if its a 'date' with hubby or a run to the store.
We don't do sitters. If anyone has our kids, it's family. However, sometimes it would be kinda nice to shop without the constant "Mommy, I want..." But if I did that all of the time, they would never learn to behave in a store, or learn that the free cookie from the bakery is only for kids who are nice in the store and listen to their mommies!
I agree, and for the most part people know if they invite dh and I someplace it is assumed our kids are invited too. Now that they are older we are starting to relax a bit and allow them to stay home if ds16 is at home. Sometimes DD is in charge but oldest is home too. That way no one is 'stuck with watching' the younger. I have always loved shopping with my kids, my sis thought I was nuts she would not even take her kid to a mall up to the point she was having her second child when first one was 10! if Grama could not take care of him she did not go. I tried to tell her she should have started right away, my kids shopped with me from the begining so they know how to shop, what to look for in a good buy and what is forget it stuff! So letting them stay home now and then at this point gives me peace for shopping, but takes longer cause my helpers are not there lol!
Our friends know this as well. When we are invited for dinner, they always have a table setting for Ems. She loves it! Our cleaning ministry goes to lunch a lot and she is right there with us. The majority of the ladies are seniors and they adore her. Ems loves the attention they give her. Patty
I agree that taking them with you is important. When Rachael was little, I would shop on Monday mornings, and get home just about the time Sesame Street came on. Even then, I rarely had the tv on, but it kept her busy while I put groceries away and made lunch. Plus, when she started at being "difficult", I would explain to her that only little girls who are good at the store got to watch Sesame Street..... I also learned to grocery shop with a kid in a backpack, lol! BUT!!! There IS a place for a sitter! I strongly believe that parents NEED time away from the kids. For us, that's usually during AWANAS. But a more formal "date" every now and then is a good thing. We take our kids ALMOST every where, though we're more relaxed now that Rachael can watch the younger two.
We have NO family around us. I think I have a great aunt that lives about 1-2 hours away that I haven't seen since I was about 8. lol So...I have to hire a sitter to watch the kids. My hubby travels and it is always in spurts but...I teach cake decorating classes and once a month Smoothing the Way and....if he is gone then...I have to hire a sitter. We hire a sitter more often for us heading opposite directions than we do to have a "date night". I take my kids with me during the day for errands and whatever. I have even had to take them to cake class when I couldn't find a sitter. May is a rough month to hire a sitter...wow! I went through a list of 10 before I just gave up and took them with me. lol
Absolutely!!! For us, time alone is easy to come by. Ems loves to spend the night with her cousins and they live near the busy part of the city so we do not have to travel far for a nice dinner. Sometimes we just stay home and sleep. Patty
I ran a licensed daycare and I got $35 for a whole 10 hour DAY! I would have loved to get a babysitter's salary!! LOL We usually have one of the youthgroup teens come over and babysit, if it's not my mom (our free sitter LOL) and we pay them about $20 for the night...about 4-5 hours. This has only been the case a handfull of times though, as usually if we need someone to watch the kids my mom is available.
Oh, and to add...we rarely are away from our kids when we go somewhere as well (aside from when Tanner is in school). If it's the store, they go with. If it's to a friends house, they usually go with. Actually, we are usually the ones to invite people over so we don't have to get a sitter or take them...we are the only ones in our close circle of friends who have kids so it's easier that way for us. I can count on both hands how many times my kids have been with a sitter (including my mom) this last year. People know that when they invite us, it's usually as a family. But, there are occassional time when we like to just get out without the kids...like this New Years. Gosh that was nice going to dinner without them. LOL!!! It was also our first time actually going out without Aiden. Eek!
Wow Jennie! As a licensed daycare, I would think you would get more than that considering you feed then and what not. Patty
Re room for a sitter, I agree totally! I would get away with dh once a week if I could that was our original plan. Once a week dates cause we did not get to date before we were married ( I wrote that story out on a thread somewhere if anyone wants to read it lol) anyway we do get away from time to time, but its more like once a month anymore between church functions and such. But now we use the kids to watch one another and pay them instead of someone else.
Nope. That WAS per kid though, not as a group. So, if I had 4 kids that was $140 a day. It wasn't bad money, but when you calculate it up per child, it's not much compared to what a sitter would get for just 3 hours or so.
okay, wow, thats not bad at all! My sis pays 10 dollars a day on some days and 20 on others ! When I worked that was going rate but that was mannnnnnnnnnnny many years ago lol So she has been blessed.
