babysitting and parents show up late?

Question

my babysitters want to know what they should do if we, the parents, show up late. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Babysitters who come over to your house while you go out to dinner and a movie or babysitters that watch your children during the day while you're at work? Two different situations. If it's a sitter coming over occasionally, the parents need to make every effort to arrive back home at the time they told the sitter, call if it's going to be longer than half an hour, and then pay them accordingly for their time. Now, if it's your day care provider asking this, they need to charge by the minute for every minute a parent is late picking up their kids. I have a day care in my home and I charge $1 per minute after 5:30, closing time. I understand that things happen and parents can be late occasionally, but anything after 5:30 is my personal time and parents pay for the time they use that is above and beyond the scheduled 50 hours of care I provide each week. If lateness ever became habitual for a family I worked with, I would ask them to find other child care arrangements. Plain and simple, parents should not take advantage of and abuse the personal time of their day care providers.

Answer 2

They owe the extra money - and she will pay more in fees than it is worth to pursue it. This is how she does it. She needs to call them, give them a reasonable price and tell them that she will not be babysitting for them again, but that if they do not pay her, she will tell everyone within earshot the truth of what happened when she babysat for them, and not only will she not babysit for them, but she will warn other potential victims of their tendencies. Also, she needs to have a cell phone number where they can be reached for emergencies. She should have called and told them that she was concerned that something bad happened at around midnight. She should never babysit for someone that does not leave an emergency number where they can be reached. If the couple were stranded in the middle of nowhere on the way home, and had just incurred exorbitant towing fees and hassle and are now looking at a huge auto repair bill, they may have been unreasonable for this reason - let's hope so. But I'm sure that you friend would have understood if they had come home with their explanation, apologies, regrets, and gratefulness.

Answer 3

Most babysitters charge $1 per minute for being late.

Answer 4

parents should call if they know they are going to be late. then the babysitter should stay there and not make important plans that night.

Answer 5

I tell you what ,,, when I did daycare,, I had parents that seemed to think it was ok to be taken advantage of.. Hey,, if you are to be there at 4pm then be there at 4pm.. People seem to think a daycare provider has no life,, and don't have plans themselves.. I myself,, got fed up.. and posted that its $5.00 extra for every 15 minutes you are past your time. sounds harsh and expensive. but believe me it ended that problem. Hey when you're at your job and you work over your scheduled 8 hrs you get overtime.

Answer 6

Pay them extra if you are late. And call them if you know you will be late. They may have other plans for when they are finished babysitting, so it is extremely rude for you to be late unless it is unavoidable.

Answer 7

I charge $5/10 mins they are after 6pm. Keep calling and keep the sitter knowing what is going on at all times.

Answer 8

Pay them for the hours they have worked.