# What do you pay for babysitting these days? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370 "2008-04-14T23:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370/21 "2008-04-16T15:44:24Z")
Cool. Always good to have a reference. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370/22 "2008-04-16T16:20:52Z")
We pay one of the ladies from daycare about $10 per hour, usually about $40 a night, for one kid. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370/23 "2008-04-16T18:47:03Z")
Damn, I think I’m in the wrong line of work. They say here north of DC it’s $14 an hour! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370/24 "2008-04-16T20:01:59Z")
[QUOTE=Edward The Head] Damn, I think I’m in the wrong line of work. They say here north of DC it’s $14 an hour! [/QUOTE] well, that would make it “the wrong line of work” if you could parlay it into a full-time gig and get, like, benefits and retirement and stuff. . .But even though my sitters make $10.00 an hour, they seldom get more than a couple of hours a week from me. Now, if they could figure out a way to do that 6-8 hours a day, without the hassles of opening a day care center, they’d have something pretty lucrative on their hands. OTOH, that would require the kind of planning and scheduling that would _warrant_ that level of pay! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370/25 "2008-04-16T20:02:35Z")
Wow. We’ve been paying $5 an hour for two kids, but topping up the final amount. So for 4+ hours we’d typically pay $25 and then maybe add $10 for a total of $35, or $7 - $8 per hour. I’m thinking we’ve been underpaying now… ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370/26 "2008-04-17T05:18:33Z")
A few years ago I paid $8/hour to watch one kid, on the Big Island of Hawaii. I think I was getting a good deal - if I were to need a babysitter now in that location, I suspect I’d have to offer more like $10 or $15/hour. On the one hand, I’m glad that the work of teenage girls is more valued now - when I was in high school in the mid-1970s I got a lousy 0.25/hour. Even adjusting for inflation, I think babysitters get paid much more now. I recall feminists of that era pointing out that boys could easily make more money with after school jobs that paid minimum wages, while girls tended to be stuck in babysitting hell (this was also used as a rationale for why boys should pay for their dates). On the other hand … jeez that seems like an awful lot of money for work that requires no special qualifications, especially when the US Federal minimum wage is under $6.00/hour. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370/27 "2008-04-17T14:09:38Z")
[QUOTE=CairoCarol] I recall feminists of that era pointing out that boys could easily make more money with after school jobs that paid minimum wages, while girls tended to be stuck in babysitting hell (this was also used as a rationale for why boys should pay for their dates). [/QUOTE] When I was a teenager (90s), the angle was: Why are you willing to spend more on someone to fix your car or flip your burger than you are on someone to protect and nurture your _child_? While we still don’t make anywhere near mechanic’s wages, at least we’re now more valued than fast food employees. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370/28 "2008-04-18T05:47:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **WhyNot** : > When I was a teenager (90s), the angle was: Why are you willing to spend more on someone to fix your car or flip your burger than you are on someone to protect and nurture your child? Yep, hard to disagree with that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-pay-for-babysitting-these-days/445370.md?page=1)