Child help: Babysitting. - Help.com

Your Neighborhood Babysitter

of (Your town or city)

Let me introduce myself . . .

I am (your name). I am (your age) years old. I have been babysitting for (x) years. I have babysat children between the age of (X) months to (Y) years of age.

I am a residence of the (name of subdivision) subdivision. I have additional child care experience as an assistant pre-school teacher at (name of church or other known entity). I also coach 5 and 6 year olds for my summer swim team,(or something similar).

I am responsible, fun, compassionate and outgoing! I will NOT watch your children watch TV.

I generally am available to babysit everyday of the week at anytime accept for Mondays 8 am - 2 pm.

My pay rate is $6.95 per hour and an additional $1.50 per any additional children.

You can reach me at (555)555-1234 from 9 am - 7 pm.

If you would like any of my references I have them ready at your request.

Three dollars an hous is way too little, trust me. I charge 5, but around here that’s really low, lots of people make 6 dollars or more. Think about how much you’re actually making, like if you work 4 hours you only make 12 dollars, it’s very unfair.

Good, because three is way unfair.

Rosieo wrote:
yea i said on the flyer that it would be 6 dollars an hour with an additional 1 dollar for any additonal children

I think 1 dollar is awfully cheap for additional children. Babies especially. They are a handful all by themselves. Rethink this. Perhaps $1.50 - $1.75 for children #2 and 3. $1 for every child after that.

Just a thought. It’s your business. You can low ball your price if you want but word of mouth is what will bring you more and more customers. If you start out too low it’s awfully difficult to raise it later on.

with pricing.. you need to figure out what is the going rate in your area. with you being cpr certified… that means that you have taken that extra step and are what parents are looking for…. so the price would mean that you would make just as much if not a dollar more an hour…

make sure… you have a contract with these people… friends or not… because some will use and abuse the privilege of having you babysit and not pay you.. this way… you have a contract and can take them to court if it came down to it.. having a sign in and sign out sheet is good.. because then they can not argue the price.. i did daycare for many years.. and have actually had to use my contracts to get paid… best of luck..

I have babysitted before numerous times, I made between 7 and 20 per hour (and that was over 5 years ago), depending on the family. So maybe you shouldn’t be so rigid on your prices and you will make more. I don’t know anyone who would only pay 3.00/hour anyway…and you would never go back to work for them again!!

sh456 wrote:
I have babysitted before numerous times, I made between 7 and 20 per hour (and that was over 5 years ago), depending on the family. So maybe you shouldn’t be so rigid on your prices and you will make more. I don’t know anyone who would only pay 3.00/hour anyway…and you would never go back to work for them again!!

Jeeeeeeez. I had one client who paid me about four bucks an hour, thought that was fair, and was surprised if I asked for five. And her kid was a biter. At eight.

Little Miss Enigma wrote:
again thanks to all. i made up a few signs and placed them on mailboxes and light posts around my neighborhood but never got any calls. i took a few to my friends neighborhood and still no calls. i actually resorted to walking up and puting them on doors and garage doors. i havent gotten any calls. i am gonna gice it some time and then i will go back out and put more up. i need the money and i cant get a real job until this summer.

You could try placing an ad in the paper, but if you get any calls from the or from the flyyers, make sure someone like a parent or something goes with you to meet the people, just to be safe.

Little Miss Enigma wrote:
again thanks to all. i made up a few signs and placed them on mailboxes and light posts around my neighborhood but never got any calls. i took a few to my friends neighborhood and still no calls. i actually resorted to walking up and puting them on doors and garage doors. i havent gotten any calls. i am gonna gice it some time and then i will go back out and put more up. i need the money and i cant get a real job until this summer.

Wow. Glad to see this old post still going strong. The issue I see now is that your efforts to post signs is not reaching your target employers, e.g. mothers with young children. Time to think outside the box. Where do moms go? Parks. Grocery stores. McDonald’s. If possible, have some business cards printed up (www.vistaprint.com offers them for free) and hand them out directly to any mom you run into. Literally this will only take about 10 seconds. “Hi. My name is _____. If you ever require the services of a sitter I would appreciate a call.” And hand them your business card.
Second, do something unexpected and noteworthy that they will remember you by. For instance, make note of the brand and size of disposable diapers a mother uses for her baby. When you show up for the job, hand her a “free” pack of those diapers. She will remember the gesture and more likely will call you back a 2nd and 3rd time. In return, ask if you can add her name to your reference list. I’m sure you can think of some other ideas along these lines for other older children. Don’t buy toys though. Make it something useful that the mother will come into contact with every single day. Everytime she touches it she will remember where it came from.
I don’t know of any mothers that turn to the newspaper to find a sitter so I wouldn’t waste time or money putting a ad there.
Lastly, stay positive. Keep smiling. Nobody wants to hire a grumpy sourpuss to watch their children. Good luck!