I am 18 years old and in college my first year and i often baby sit for my younger cousins ages 10, 8, 6 months and 5. That would be 3 boys and a girl. I often am not geting paid either and with all of them at once it can be rather tiering. It is not all the time all 4 cousins at once but alot of the time it is. It can also be embarrasing to be seen with all of them in public To movies or something people tend to stare or ask if the one of them is mine. Plus they do not listen sometimes and fight alot amongst each other. How do i politley tell my aunts who i love and who used to babysit me that this is getting to be a bit much?I feel like they are kind of taking advantage of me.
2006-09-19 06:04:37 · 14 answers · asked by Elanor p 1 in Family & Relationships ➔ Family
I am taking 13 credits in college right now and need a job to help pay for things so is it wrong that i ask for some kind of payment for babysitting my cousins at least for 4 days a week for them?
2006-09-19 06:05:14 · update #1
I really love my family
2006-09-19 06:05:34 · update #2
At one point i had to take the 8 year old too class because my aunt was stuck in traffic and i could not leave him alone!
2006-09-19 06:18:51 · update #3
If you are keeping children this young by all means you deserve to be paid. Next time your aunt calls and asks you to baby sit tell her that you would love to however you can only do it if she agrees to pay you. Explain to her that while you love her and your cousins that you have to have money for school. If they don't want to pay then that is on them no one else is going to keep them for free either.
2006-09-19 06:09:03 · answer #1 · answered by Martha S 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Dont be stupid and listen to the crap about the paying for babysitting.
Listen, you already have some of the answers. You really love ur family. That is wonderful. But remember, your aunts also babysat you, and likewise, you are doing for family sake, not money. You never know, it may turn sour later, so do not give the slightest chance for it to.
Being seen in public is not an issue, as you can still have fun with them, and you are 18, but nobody said u can't have fun with your cousins. The hell with what ppl think. Remember, they will appreciate/remember you as they grow older because you were there, and if you do love them, that quality time spent, you cannot earn that anywhere, and the time spent you cannot buy in no matter how big a bloody mall they build.
What u can do though, is get that other job, and pay more attention to your studies. Let your aunts know when your free schedule/days are (in wome conversations, etc), and they will appreciate that. You will have to do some planning, but then again, with that, at least, you get to have the best of both worlds....
good luck
2006-09-19 06:31:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow! Wish I was so lucky to have a responsible family member to watch my kids for free all the time. It does sound like they are somewhat taking advantage of you. Maybe it has become such a regular thing that your aunts aren't really thinking much about it. If you haven't said anything, I'm sure they are assuming it's a good situation for everyone. I'm sure the kids come home happy and the aunt's have enjoyed the free break. It sounds like you are very close with you family so you should be able to have an honest talk with them. Let them know how much you enjoy spending time with your little cousins but that in light of your schooling and need for some income to support it, you will have to take your cousins out much less often, therefore enabling you to get a job and thus an income unless they would like to start paying you and then that could be your job. If they choose to pay you and caring for your cousins becomes your job, you will have to have a little mini-meeting with the kids to set out your expectations for behaviour and some ground rules. If the kids still do not listen and fight a lot, discuss it with their parents and solicit suggestions from them. Maybe you can take different sets of kids on different days, trying to keep the ones that fight the most apart?? Good Luck.
2006-09-19 06:22:57 · answer #3 · answered by Super-Mom9 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Heck no! Your aunt should be paying you something! I've been babysitting for the last 15 yrs and I know how it is. If I babysit 4 kids, I atleast get paid $15-20 an hour. I understand that's your family & I wouldn't charge my family full price either, but she should at least give you around $8 an hr. If she won't pay you, then slowly decrease the amount you babysit for her or find a part time job so you can't babysit.
2006-09-19 06:16:18 · answer #4 · answered by r2512r 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Be honest. Tell them you either need to be paid or you are going to find a paying job. You have a right to earn money for what you are doing. Let them know that you are having trouble with the kids and see if the three of you can work something out.
2006-09-19 06:19:16 · answer #5 · answered by dr's mom 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hey
Tell your aunts that you are a taking a full load of classes and you need time to study and your looking for a job to help pay for your books/classes tell your aunts that you can watch your cousins on occasion and you love your family and your not trying to get out of it but you want to pass school and get a degree and be successful like they are and I hope after this your aunts will wake up for they are taking advantage of you and your time stand up and let them know that your in college and its more fast paced and more work to do then it was when you were in HS
2006-09-19 06:10:19 · answer #6 · answered by AngelVirgo9206 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Just tell her you can't that you need to find something that will pay you that you need the money for school. and if you have to babysit take them to a park, pack a lunch or something so they get tired and don't fight as much. Movies cost to much to take that many kids to. For gods sake your 18 get a part time job so you don't have to babysit.
2006-09-19 06:10:04 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
You need to get paid for your time. Yes they are taking advantage of you and no don't feel bad about asking them to pay you for your services. They would be paying someone else a lot more money if you weren't around. Right?
2006-09-19 07:13:42 · answer #8 · answered by flutterby 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your family loves you as much as you love them then they should understand that you need to be hitting the books and not yelling at immature brats. Education is very important in life and needed to help make something out of your life. Good luck with the school work and babysit when YOU want to!
2006-09-19 06:14:40 · answer #9 · answered by kimpierce76 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Is your aunt your mom's sister? If so your mom can tell your aunt that she needs to pay for your services. Tell your mom that you will have to get a job unless she starts to pay you. Then you won't have time to babysit them. I would not let my sister do that to my daughters. I expect anyone who has my girls babysit to pay them.
2006-09-19 07:32:23 · answer #10 · answered by porkchop 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋