How much should my 13 year old charge to babysit a 5 and 7 year old for the day?

Question

We live in South Florida, and I would have to drive about 30 minutes to drop her off. Should I charge my daughter a small fee for the drive to help her gain responsibility?

May I add that I am not crazy! I am not going to drop her off and leave all day. I will be like a shark circleing the area. I will stay for a while in the morning, drop in for lunch, and probably shop nearby or go to the local library. I appreciate all your concerns, but I was asking about a price not about my daughter's safty. I can handle that part on my own.

Answer 1

Seeing as you are doing the driviing ask for 4 dollars an hour.
Per day turned out to be a nightmare for me they stayed gone 24 hours.

good luck

Answer 2

I hope this isn't a serious question, but if so, it's a bad idea for several reasons. First, the 12 year old may not listen to him and could create chaos in the household while you're gone. (Maybe s/he's not that type of kid, but siblings will be siblings, and I'd be concerned. Second, a 13 year old is not equipped to deal with a serious emergency - I don't just mean a medical emergency; something could go wrong with the plumbing, electricity, etc. Third, your neighbors are obviously unavailable to help if he needs a back-up. Fourth, no store will allow him to use your credit card. Fifth, a mobile baby takes a huge amount of maturity and responsibility to care for. Finally, if something did happen and the police came, you would be in trouble for letting 5 kids of those ages stay home alone. IF you wouldn't trust a nanny, why would you trust a 13 year old?

Answer 3

I think that you should check into a few things before allowing your 13 year old to babysit children, starting with liability. Your daughter is still seen as a minor by law, and there may be a legality issue. I would check with a state or federal labor board office just to see what regulations, and restrictions apply.
Secondy, I don't know if I would let my 13 year old be that far away from home, for a babysitting job. I used to let my daughter do some babysitting when she was 14, but it was because I lived in an apartment complex. She was only next door with a neighbour's kids, and only allowed to babysit the neighbour's kids when I was home, so if she ran into a problem she couldn't handle, I was less than a minute away. No matter how mature and responsible your daughter is, she is still only 13, and maybe unable to cope with certain situations.

Answer 4

IMHO, 13 years old is too young to be babysitting that age group that far away from home for that long. I allowed my 13 year old to only babysit in the neighborhood, so that if a problem arose, I would be able to step in and help.

The going rate in our area is $5/hour for the first child, and $2/hour for each additional child. Most parents round up -- so that if she babysat for 4 hours, that would be $28, rounded up to $30. It doesn't really matter HOW old she is -- if she's considered old enough to be responsible for them for the day, how is she any different from a 16 year old or an 18 year old? And if she ISN'T responsible enough, why does the parent allow her to babysit? They can't have it both ways. :-) (Once my daughter turned 16, her rates went up to $8 an hour, because she could drive herself. Most parents LOVED not having to drive her home afterwards!)

As far as charging her -- not a bad idea, although personally I wouldn't. But then again, as I said, I wouldn't let her go that far, anyway.

Answer 5

The rate here (western US) for children that age is $2.50 per hour per child. So I would ask $5.00 an hour for her to babysit.
If you'd like her to gain more responsibility, (like you said- good idea), I would reccommend you charge half price of what she is charging (whatever that is). So.. if she gets $5 an hour, tell her that your time is equally as valuable, but you're giving her a break at $2 an hour.

So to drive her there and back would be 1 hour, so you'd get $2 per day. Perhaps if she's responsible and gives it to you without you asking, you could save it for her, and give it to her weekly or at the end of the month.

You could also just charge flat rate gas (that way you'd get like $8 for driving her because gas is so damn expensive) haha. I think this babysitting job will teach her quite a load of responsibility. I hope it's safe for her to be that far away with kids that aren't much younger then herself. Make sure you're always just a phone call away~ Good luck!

Answer 6

I've babysat as an adult, and I don't charge, I let the parents pay what they feel comfortable. I know that just by being available, I'm already helping out the parents, and even if I make $10 for the day, that's $10 more than what I would have had sitting at home.

Yes, I do think you should get gas money from your daughter. My sister-in-law is 22 years old and does "modeling promotions" for products in Wal-Marts. (It sounds as though she just peddles samples and the like, but since it's through an agent that she got through her classes at Barbizon, I guess it's "modeling". And she hates Wal-Mart, go figure. I guess she justifies it because she doesn't actually work for Wal-Mart.) Because my MIL doesn't feel comfortable with her driving outside of their town she does the driving. My MIL complains not only about all of the driving, but the cost of gas. I've suggested that she ask my SIL for gas money, as it's only fair since she's driving all over the state. My MIL acted as though it sounded like a good idea, but I don't think it's happned. My SIL still lives at home and is still more or less fully Dependant on her parents, from college tuition, to clohtes, room and board. I have a feeling that she's not going to learn responsibility, because my situation was similar to hers when I was her age. Unfortunately, my husband does not see the similarities.

So, yes, I think it's good that you are not only keeping an eye out for your daughter, but that you want to charge her some gas money. (For what it's worth, the 14- or 15-y-o girl next door to us is Red Cross and CPR certified, but if I were to hire her, I would make sure that one of her parents is home. Yet, I'm even hesitant to leave my seven-week-old daughter home with one of our moms.)

Answer 7

who is she babysitting for that would expect her to come from 1/2 hour away? The hourly charge should be whatever is the norm in your area, but they should reimburse you for your gas to bring her there, you should not be charging your daughter. You might as well stay with her and help her if needed rather than waste your day driving around there.

Answer 8

Aren'tyou just a wee bit concerned for your own child, cos at 13, I think she's just a bit young for an all day resposibility.

Answer 9

for both kids for 6 hour i would charge $30. i would charge her $10 in gas.

Answer 10

No, No you shouldnt