Paying Sitter who Travels with You
Affordable Daycare?
My daughter very much wants to work, but is having trouble with childcare.
She is a young mother with a five month old baby. She has a work opportunity
right now where she can make $10/hr. but is much discouraged by the $7/hr
cost of babysitting which after taxes are taken out of her salary, will leave
her with very little if anything at all to show for her efforts. She might as
well stay home take care of the baby and apply for welfare except, she wants
to work. These are such discouraging
choices. Does anybody know of any programs out there where young mother's can
get help with child care in order to do part time study or work?
I'm sure lots of people will write in to say this, but $7/hour is more than
the young woman needs to pay for good childcare. Many home daycare
situations charge $4/hr for taking care of a child as part of a small group
in someone's home. Our little boy (3 1/2) has been in a home daycare
situation during the morning hours since he was six months old, and he has
done very well. Right now he goes to a group care program that is very good,
run by a woman named Rosa Jaramillo in Albany. Rosa provides both breakfast
and lunch, and she and her helpers take the kids on little field trips, walks
around the neighborhood, etc. We are very happy with the care he receives
there. If you contact Bananas (510) 658-0381 (for Oakland, Berkeley,
Albany, EC, etc.) they can offer lots of names with prices and other
information. I realize that $4 is still a lot if you earn only $10 -- you
could also check into cooperative situations, where parents volunteer to work
one morning a week and pay less for the care. Good luck!
Linda
I have a response for the person asking about help with expenses for
childcare. Contact Bananas- they have wonderful resources and are hooked
into everything that may be available. Good luck.
Mona
Occasional Babysitter
From: Orit
What is the going rate for an occasional daytime/nighttime babysitter?
responses from Oct 2000
I've had great luck with babysitters. The one young woman we've had for
almost 2 years started at $5 per hour for 2 children (and my daughter was
still just over 1 year). We now pay her $7 an hour, since the children are
older and she has done a great job. We even have a part-time college
student that babysits occasional evenings (and has a car) and we pay her $7
now, but started at $6.
I'd like to put in a general note of advice for people seeking part-time
childcare since I've been in that situation frequently in the last 3
years. I finally gave up and am now staying with my nearly three-year-old
kids all day, then going to work after 5:00 when my partner comes home.
The turnover in sitters was taking too great a toll on my kids and they
were asking me every morning, "who's my babysitter?" It's quite difficult
to hire someone reliable who will stay with you for only a few hours per
week. I don't know what the solution is, possibly exchanging sitting with
another family with similar needs at different hours or hiring a younger
(probably high school) person who REALLY only wants to work a few hours
each week. This last was our solution for over a year until our sitter
went on to college. Beware however, sitters who want the job for only a
few hours (in our case it was about 7 hours a week) if they can't or
won't tell you just how they are filling the rest of their schedule. I
had THREE sitters (all with references)come to work for us and then
leave, since July this year, two of whom left because they found more
work with another family AFTER coming to work for us and then decided
our hours were no longer convenient or enough. The third spontaneously
decided to pursue classes full-time so that was just our rottern
judgement/luck. It's also very helpful to know the sitter's other
present employers if they're already working and their families etc. as
the more connections you have to their life the more responsible they
will need to be. Good luck. I'd love to hear any other solutions people
have found. --
From: Eartha (9/98)
Someone asked in the 8/28 digest how much babysitters charge. I
called Bananas which is a childcare referral service. The going rate
for an occasional daytime/nighttime babysitter is $5-$7 depending on
the area and the provider.
From: Ed (9/97)
I am in the midst of switching babysitters and will probably try to share
with another couple. Our previous babysitter charged $7.50/hr for a single
child and 12.00 for two. Other than that I have heard all sorts of ranges
for pay. I would love to know what other types of arrangements people have
to gauge what is reasonable and fair for compensation. Also since we are
paying cash, we are not able to take advantage of pre-tas savings plans for
childcare. Was this ever a subject that was addressed in the mailing list
or is there some info somewhere that would be helpful?
We share a wonderful babysitter with another family and pay her $7.00 for
one child and $11.00 for two. We feel that this is a bargain and would
have happily paid her a little more had she requested it. She definately
earns her money. She cares for two VERY ACTIVE boys of the same age (1.5
years) and has experience caring for twins (in our selection criteria we
were especially looking for someone with experience caring for twins or
more than one child at the same development stage.)
Kelli
$12/hour for two kids??! At that rate I'd never get out! For the last two
years we have paid our babysitters $7/hour for two kids, and they've all
thought that was fair...
Kimberly
We paid our babysitter $6/hour for one child and $10/hour for two. But
lately it seems many sitters are charging $8/hour for one child,
$12/hour for two -- ouch!
Cecilia
I've only gone out a few times since Curt (20 months) was born
and only felt comfortable leaving him with a sitter he knew and
who has training for emergencies; we were lucky to be able to
hire a woman from Curt's daycare. It's expensive (for me) at $8/hr,
but it's worth it to me because I know she can take care of Curt in
an emergency-- as a daycare employee, she's had all the CPR and
emergency first aid classes and is up-to-date on them.
Peggy
Re: How much do you pay a babysitter?
$5.00 /per hour for THREE kids maxing out at $20/ per evening.
A couple of extra bucks for fixing a meal or changing diapers.
Ours would usually clean the kitchen up while we were out (this
was not expected/required but boy was it nice!)
Roger
Home-based Day Cares & Preschools for Under-3s
2000
I have looked on the UC parents web site at for advice on day care,
but it seems like no one wants to spill the beans on how much they are
actually paying. I send my 18 month old to Duck Soup in Rockridge and
it costs $829 a month. I didn't do an exhaustive search of east bay
day cares, but I think this is on the high end and I am wondering if
that is true. maybe we can't say the exact amount for some kind of
privacy reason?? If telling the actual amount is some sort of
problem--how about using ranges--$600-50, $650-700 and so on.
Also, over the course of the year our day care closes for all holidays
and a couple vacations. This time off adds up about a month off. I am
fine with this because I want our provider to have time off and the
staff to get vacations. Is this how other centers work? Of course, we
pay the same tuition every month regardless of whether or not the day
care is open all month. Basically, I'd like to know more about how
people are handling care.
Thanks
Sarah
I pay my daughter's daycare provider (at home) 10.00$ per hour (w/out
taxes,etc.). At the outset, it sounds like a lot, but if you do the
math, it isn't like she's rolling in the dough. And what she provides
to my child two days a week in invaluable in some ways (we love her
obviously). She is now charging others $15.00/hour and said it was the
going rate these days. Only you know if you can afford it. I know
that if we suddenly had to start paying our nanny $15.00/hour, then it
probably would almost be worthless for me to work even two days per
week....so consider that too.
I have a 7month old boy and we are currently paying $50 a day for
daycare. I was wondering if this is close to what I would be paying in a
shared nanny situation. If anyone is looking to share a nanny and/or has
information about current costs, please let me know. Jo Ann
From: Grace (1996)
When our daughter was about 9 mos., my husband and I started
visiting daycare centers around the Berkeley area and here's
our observation: regarding cost, they were all
very similar between $725 - 825 per month, providing either
lunch or diapers and all provided snacks)
Family day care (your child goes to someone else's home -- this is
regulated by the state and the caregiver must have a license)
seems to be $300-$500 per month.
The preschool my daughter attended (McGee's Farm) was on the high
end of the price range and currently charges $730 / month for full
time with no parent participation. I've seen it as low as
$500 / month, but those places usually have a lot of teacher
turnover because the pay is quite low (sometimes $5 / hour).
Our experience with home babysitting has been great. We are lucky
enough to have a home childcare dynasty across the street from out
home. There are two houses next door. The grandmother and motehr
live in one. The grandmother has two or three children, and the
mother works with Alameda County dealing with childcare issues. The
daughter has her two sons and eight other kids in her house. She has
an assistant. The two backyards are combined and it has lots of
play equipment. She has 17 years of experience, has lots of training
and does CPR training for childcare providers. She believes in
non-violence, maintains limits but is totally loving. Obviously.
we are very happy. Our daughter has been there since 6 mos., is
18mos now. Pam, who runs Harrison's Child Care provides a structured
environment - lots of stories, activities, preschool worksheets for
the older kids. Our cost averages $450/mo. for full time care.
My daughter is very happy, has learned lots of social skills
(including how to say please & thank you).
Another friend of mine takes her 2.5 year old to a day care home where he
has been since he was nine months old. The woman that runs the home
takes in 3 or 4 kids roughly the same age and gives them 2 hot meals a
day (she is state subsidized) at their own little kids table, back yard
play, "classroom" play etc. She charges $20 a day, or $18 a day if paid
in advance.
What we pay our parents & other relatives
In my particular case I am fortunate to have my mother close enough by
that she can come over in the morning and stay with my 22 month old son
four days a week for about 8 to 10 hours a day. I pay her $400 a month
which helps her to cover her rent. This works out to about $2.75 and
hour. It's especially nice for baby and me because he doesn't have to
wake up and immediately get dressed and driven off to day care. My mom
gets to hang out in a roomy house all day, instead of her small
apertment. She usually makes meals out of food in my house but does
bring her own food from time to time. There is a park on the end of my
street, kids my son's age across the street and of course our now well
toy-stocked back yard.
All in all I like having my baby at home, he has comparably less colds,
(he's never had an ear infection) and of course he loves his "Nanny", as
he calls his grandma. I also give him plenty of opportunity to play with
other kids his age, and try to take him on regular outings of some kind
even if it just a walk in the stroller to visit the neighborhood butcher.
I would like to add that I am planning to place him in a
nursery/pre-school situation around age 3.5 starting part time at first.
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Last updated: Mar 18, 2006
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