Babysitting

Today I would like to share some details about my experience of babysitting.  I know there are a lot of stay at home moms that use babysitting as a way to bring in some extra money.  I also know lots of people might have questions about the exact details of it all and I am here to answer some of those questions and share a little bit of advice. 

First off, a little background info.  I have been babysitting out of my home for a year and a half.  I have been involved in the child care a.k.a. daycares/preschools for 8 years.  I have had some REALLY great experiences with child care and I have had some really ugly experiences that have left me soured to the whole idea.  Child care is not easy and every situation is different because every child is different.

Here is my situation that works well for my family. 

Currently, along with taking care of my 2 children,  I babysit one child 4 days a week for 7.5-8.5 hours a day.  I also babysit 2 other children (they are siblings)  once a week for 9 hours.  I have Fridays off completely.  I did not go out looking for either of these opportunities, they both presented themselves and I accepted them.  I consider myself "full" at the moment, not because I feel like I couldn't handle more children, but my house size is at its max until the basement is finished.  I have had a couple other opportunities to babysit more children but I declined because of space. 

How much money do I make?  (not much) :)

Babysitting is a very low paying job, but I figure it is better than nothing, and I enjoy being a stay at home mom and believe that it is where I need to be at the moment.

Each family that I baby sit for decided how much they were going to pay me and I agreed to the terms.  The first child I began watching was a newborn when they started coming to my house.  I started off watching the baby 2 days a week for $25 a day.  I soon realized that $25 was probably not enough to make worth my time so after about 8 months when I began watching the baby full time (4 days a week) I asked for a raise.  They gladly accepted and I now make $32 a day.  Not tons, but better for my family. 

In general for children under 2 years old I highly recommend no less than $3.50 an hour.  Once a child is potty trained I think the price can go down.

The family provides the baby's food, diapers, milk, wipes, clothes, carseat, etc.  I had a pack and play that I set up in a room for nap time.  So there is no out of pocket expenses for me.  They bring everything that the baby needs.  This family has chosen to pay me at the end of each week. 

The other family that I babysit for once a week has two children that are both potty trained.  One is Adalyn's age and the other is in preschool.  They pay me $5.00 an hour.  I keep track of the hours and then give them a "bill" at the end of the month.  They come once a week, and on that day I have 5 kids 4 and under.  It is a busy day, but goes fairly smoothly since the kids enjoy just playing together.  Sometimes more kids= more entertainment (other times it just means craziness!)

This family also provides all food and anything else that the kids might need while at my house.

So over all I make $550-$750 a month depending on how many weeks are in a month.  Not terrible, but still a lot of work!  I just have to not compare my salary to McKay's because then I just get depressed... 

   
How I do it

I don't/didn't have a really set schedule that I followed except when the baby was really little.  We just do what works for each day.  The parents and I work together and we talk openly about any changes that need to be made on either side.  On the day that the older kids come we do a lot more activities such as make play dough, art, sensory time, water table, games, forts, etc.  The parents I work for came to me to babysit their kids because they wanted a mom watching their kids not a teacher, so I don't force the kids to do a lot, just lots of free play, story time, and attention.  Just like they would get at home.   

As far as getting out of the house we don't leave much.  Only about 1-2 times a week and when the baby was younger and Jensen was a newborn we never went anywhere.  I always just stayed home until after the baby left at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and then would do my errands.  Not going anywhere would not be ideal for most, but I was actually ok with it most of the time.  The summers were nice because we could still go outside and for walks.  The older the kids get the more we get out and go places like the library, the gym, or the park.  We now have a van that can fit all of the carseats and the kids are almost all capable of walking on their own (Jensen is so close). 

Nap time is crazy, and only about 30% of the time do they all sleep at the same time.  We use fans and music to drown out the noise and I trained my kids to fall asleep on their own so that I did not have to rock them every time but they still don't all fall asleep at the same time since some take two naps and others take one. 

Fridays off.  Best thing ever!  I didn't plan this part it just happened, but it is a must in my world now.  So nice, especially since McKay has some Fridays off too.  Fridays usually become our catch up days or Utah vacation days.  :)


Future Plans

For the longest time I promised that I would never have a daycare in my home.  Too much stress and too much pressure, but as I have more good days than bad in the babysitting world I find myself dreaming of possibly opening a daycare in the basement.  I think I could do it, if I set some good ground rules and found families that I enjoy working with.  So I may expand things when the basement gets finished.  But we may not do it too.  Babysitting will only get harder as my kids get older so most likely we will just do it for a few more years and then stop once we get busier with our kids lives. 


Advice

If you are wanting to babysit here are a few things that I have learned. 

Babysit kids near your child's age or at least younger than your children.  The oldest child I babysit is 4 and that is the oldest I can go right now.  Adalyn is only 2 and so our toys/house is set up for 2 and younger.  The 4 year old occasionally gets bored with the toys, but still enjoys reading books and doing projects. 

Get a few certifications.  If you are going to advertise your services I would take a few classes such as Food Handlers permit, or CPR.  This gives the parents the idea that you are serious about this and you care about the safety of their kids. 

Don't over do it.  Start out small and work up.  In the beginning I never thought that I would be able to babysit full time, but we started part time and then went full time and now waking up at 6:30 everyday and babysitting is no big deal. 

Have a back up plan.  Have someone that you can call at the last minute to babysit for you in case you or your kids get sick. 

Your kids come first.  I can tell when Adalyn has had enough "fun" and we back off for a little bit, maybe even take a day off from babysitting if it is really bad.  For the most part she loves the social aspect of having others over, but sometimes we have to do special things over the weekends to give her some extra attention that she felt like she missed out on over the week. 



Well there you have it!  More then you ever wanted to know about babysitting.  Let me know if you have anymore questions or advice.  :)