Hey everyone! I nanny one day per week for a great family with a special needs child. A has therapy all day on Friday and I prepare snacks and lunch along with light cleaning after A. MB is a SAHM, and although it is a short shift, I consider myself a nanny, not a babysitter.
MB's sister, who is also a SAHM, approached me about watching A and her cousin I, at MB's house the week after Thanksgiving. On one occasion that I watched cousins, I did so through a baby-sitting service, where I watched 4 kids for approximately $75/8 hours work. It was like I got paid from one mom and not the other. I didn't say anything to the sitting service, not quite sure if there were special rates when baby-sitting for two families at a time, either relatives or friends.
Would it be fair for me to get my normal rate from MB, plus charge her sister? I don't want it to seem like I am money hungry, but at the same time, I could use the extra cash due to the amount of driving I do on a weekly basis because of school, along with other bills. Thanks for your help!
It's definitely not greedy to expect more money for watching more children.
ReplyDeleteOf course you should be paid more! You got $75 for watching 4 kids for 8 hours? That's nuts! Maybe you should present it to them by giving them both a discounted rate, but in the end you will be getting more. Example: if you normally charge $10 per hour from MB, you can ask both MB and her sister to pay you $7-8 per hour apiece. I think they'd be on board with that because it would benefit everybody.
ReplyDeleteI agree with MissMannah. Give each family a discounted rate that combines to be a higher rate than you would normally get. I did work for a babysitting service once that allowed "sitter sharing" but each family was still required to pay the same rate. Which was great for the sitters, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable going that route for people I already know.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched kids from multiple families since I was in high school, but at the time, my main family asked me and my twin brother to watch six kids (three families). We were each paid a dollar more per hour than my usual rate.
ReplyDeleteYou most definitely should be paid for an extra child. You are not a daycare!
ReplyDeleteI agree. And hey, RaleighNanny, I work in Durham! :-D
ReplyDeleteFrom experience make sure you are paid an hourly wage.
ReplyDeleteAs an example: The family I was working for had friends visit. They left two out of three kids with me. Plus, the family I worked for had three of their own. These kids were ages newborn-4 years of age. Yes, my employer told me she would pay extra since I was caring for her friends kids. Well it ended up to only be an extra $20.00 she wanted to give me. Mind you five hours plus.
I brought it up to her. If you are paying me $17 an hour to watch your kids, then I should be getting at least an extra $10 an hour to watch her friends kids.
I look at it like this the other family would have to pay someone no matter what if they wanted to go with another family. Why do you think you can skip paying me?
So of course they were red in the face. Did fork over the extra money. I felt good, I am not a doormat.
I most definitely say you should get paid extra for watching add'l children. This is a no-brainer. So yes...I would negotiate a price BEFORE you begin watching both children..otherwise you may find yourself in a pickle. I cannot advise you on an amount since I do not know the area you live in, however I wouldn't think anything less than say..$12/Hr for two children. Since one is special needs, you might have to up the price a bit.
ReplyDeleteYou are a professional. You charge per child. Of course you ask for payment. I'd get the same as you are getting now per hour.
ReplyDeleteI have shared sitters with both my sister and my brother and would never dream of not paying for my kids also. We always work it out ahead of time with the sitters. Usually there is a base fee and then a "per child" for 2nd child on. For instance, sitters I usually use charge me $10 - $8 base fee and $2 for the 2nd child. When they also watch my brother's kids (he has 3) we worked it out to $14 an hour because his kids were older and needed less hands on supervision. However, my sister has an autistic son so I she watches my kids also (which is rare because caring for my nephew is pretty one on one) I actually pay here the $10 because my kids are youngish so with my nephew and my 2 she has her hands full. I always bring up payment myself, but would be averse to sitter bringing it up. Anyone who would object to working out extra pay for extra kids is probably not worth working with
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