It finally happened.................................

[HIU8]

I actually need to HIRE a babysitter for the first time EVER. DS is 6 and DD is 3 1/2 and we have never hired a sitter. Either my father, sister, brother or neighbor has babysat. We have a cocktail hour to go to tomorrow night for DSs new school. My father was supposed to sit. Well, he is sick and won't be coming over (he has been on and off sick for the past 2 months and really really can't handle the kids when he doesn't feel well). No one else can sit. SO, now I have to scramble to find someone to sit. It will be for about 2 hours max.

So, questions......

1-How old is your occasional sitter?
2-Guy or girl?
3-how much for 2 kids/per hour in a major metropolitan area?

[egoldber]

For that kind of thing (1-3 hours, no bedtime), I use one of the teen sitters in my neighborhood. They charge $5 an hour, are very responsible, and their parents are a few houses away if they run into a situation they can't handle. The two girls I use are 8th graders.

[TwinFoxes]

One is 19, and is a full time nanny (not for us) and she gets $15/HR. The other just turned 18 and is a high schooler, she gets $12/HR. I live in your general area. Maybe a little closer in? I think you can probably get a high schooler for less, but ours also works at a mother's day out program, so she has more experience with kids than a lot of high schoolers.

[TwinFoxes]

Well clearly I need to move down the road to Beth's neighborhood!

[MoJo]

1) 37
2) girl, if I can say that about someone my own age!
3) n/a; I'm in a pretty rural area

I found her by asking some of my friends. Even though all of them were like you and always had family to watch their kids, one knew another mom who watches kids in her home for extra income, and she "specializes" in drop-in/as-needed type situations.

Best wishes finding someone on such short notice!

[egoldber]

LOL!!!!! I am lucky with these girls I think. :)

If we need someone for a long time or to go out for the evening and put the kids to bed, then we have a more experienced sitter we use. She is a daytime nanny (not for us) and charges $15 an hour.

[BabbyO]

Our occasional sitters are sisters (14 and 15 yo), HOWEVER, their mom is our regular daytime sitter and since they are homeschooled, they are around our DS more that we are and I have NO problem trusting them, (even with a very young child). Plus we have retired neighbors on 3 sides for backup! (we do let the neighbors know if we're going to be gone and ask if its ok to give the sitter they number for an emergency).

We only have one, but our going rate is $5/hr. Not sure if you'd go more like $6-8/hr for two or more kids?

[justlearning]

Do you have a friend who could watch your kids (who has kids your kids' ages)? We don't have any family in our state, so we almost always do a swap with friends when we need someone to watch our kids. It's a win-win situation all around. My kids enjoy playing with their friends and it's free babysitting for us and for our friends when we later watch their kids for them.

To answer your question about cost, in our area, most babysitters charge around $10 for two kids your kids' ages. That's the price for older teens. In reading earlier posts, I'd be VERY happy if I could find someone for $5.

ETA that another option is for just you to go alone to the event while your DH (if he's available) watches the kids. We do this for the kids' open houses--both parents don't really need to be there in my experience.

[jerseygirl07067]

We have used mostly girls, college age, paid them $10 for 2 kids. Now that I have 3 it's more like $12. If they're in high school I might pay a bit less. It depends on if the kids will be awake the whole time while they're there (I'm apt to pay a bit more) or if they'll be sleeping and they're there just to make sure the house doesn't burn down, lol, I might apt for a bit less.

I live in central FL, in the suburbs of a smaller city.

I have used one of the neighbor's sons in a pinch, for about 2-3 hours before I had my 3rd and paid him $8. I set a movie up for the girls, and he probably texted the whole time on his phone anyway. :)

[lhafer]

My occasional sitter is a teenage girl who is the daughter of DH's coworker. She was 12 when we first started using her (a couple of hours in the afternoon while we went to a movie or something). She's 15 now. We did $7/hr with her. She used to live right down the street, but we have moved to a new neighborhood, but I drive to go pick her up/drop her off now - she's about 10 minutes away.

[gatorsmom]

With little ones those ages, I'd say you should get a sitter that's at least 15 years old. I've found that with older kids (like 7+yo who can follow commands when you ask them to) you can get a babysitter that's a bit younger.

We used to pay $8 for two kids for night time babysitting. For the afternoon, you might be able to pay $6. I'd ask the babysitter up front what she's being paid by other families and go from there.

[HIU8]

I was thinking of having DH go. He works about 5 minutes from where it is going to be. He has a meeting that ends 30 minutes before this will begin. So, right now that is our most viable option.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

We use a mid-20s sitter. She's great. She charges $15/hr, 3 hour minimum. We try to have her come at least 1x/month.

[ThreeofUs]

College woman - 21, best place to find babysitters, imho, from the career office. I pay mine $12/hour for watching my two extremely active guys.

and

Doula - mid/late 50s, much better mom that I am!, charges $15/hour, is very attached to DS2 and a good friend. I'm happy to pay it.

[AnnieW625]

hire the neighborhood sitter. As a former neighborhood teen sitter I loved those type of jobs and the money was a nice extra too!