How much to pay a teen for overnight stay?

[pharmjenn]

I have asked a coworkers son (17yo) to stay overnight with my 14yo next month. It will be 6 nights and then a week after 7 nights. I work night shift and some events recently have led me to not want my son home alone. I will be home and sleeping during the day, will have dinner with them and be gone from around 8:30pm.
He will be responsible for taking my son to camp for 3 of the days but otherwise just hanging out during the day. They are both interested in football, video games and junk food so shouldn't be hard to keep busy.
This teen is planning to study psychology and pursue counseling so he may also be able to get my son to talk about some of his concerns.

I have no idea how much to pay him! He makes minimum wage at his job at a trampoline place and is quitting soon to head off to college. Do I offer a per night rate? Is $50 too low? $100 a day?

[gymnbomb]

How many hours total will he be there each day/night?


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[firstbaby]

Is he responsible for your son just during the overnights? Or will there be 7 days of 24 hour availability sometimes together sometimes not? Honestly, $50 is way too low. If it’s just overnight, I would do $150+

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'm confused about the hours. So, he is the only one in charge from like 8:30pm-3pm (barring days your son has camp)? And the days he does have camp will he have total free time or is he expected to be hanging around your house? That is a lot of time and worth way more than $50. If it was just overnight and both would be sleeping, I would be ok with $50. But, you are adding a lot of extra hours on top of that. Is your kiddo ok on his own during the day and just doesn't like the overnights?

[pharmjenn]

Just got back from dinner with him and his Mom. I think he will mostly only be here from 8pm to 8am and then gone most day.
My son had a psych emergency end of last month and I am not ready to let him be home alone overnight. He has promised he is doing better and getting treatment but I want to get through the summer.

[KpbS]

I think $50 a day is reasonable. He will be asleep part of the time and sounds like he won't have too many additional household duties. Your DS can load/unload the dishwasher, run the vacuum, feed pets, etc. Good for you taking extra measures for your DS. Make sure to get references and maybe do a background check. My DSs have completed these to work in childcare.

Hugs to you (((hugs)))

[Melbel]

$50 would be very low and falls far below minimum wage. The sitter would be giving up his evenings (social life), bed, and comfortable setting and would be on call, including potentially challenging situations given the history.

[marinkitty]

I would pay $10-15 dollars an hour (given that you are in the bay area, I'd think you are closer to $15 - that's the going rate here for a high school sitter per hour) for hours spent at the house, asleep or not. As PPs have pointed out, even if he is asleep he is "on call" and this is quite a bit of responsibility. I'd pay accordingly.

[hwin708]

My catsitter is $78 plus gratuity for a 9 hour overnight stay. Versus $26 plus gratuity for a half hour visit.

While child care and pet sitting are not the same thing, we really aren't discussing "child" care with a 14 year old. And my petsitter probably has more responsibilities when I am out of town than your "babysitter" does - she does the food and water, the litter boxes, and sweeps up the litter. Technically she has other housesitting tasks included in her rate (vacuum, water plants, bring in mail, take out trash, strip and wash the bed she used), but I have a housekeeper who comes to the house as well.

I have seen higher (and lower) rates for overnight catsitters, but it is never remotely the same as their hourly rate multiplied. This is not the same amount of work at all.

I would offer $100 a night, but feel comfortable with $75 a night. At 13 nights, he will make $975-1300 primarily while sleeping and playing video games. This is a nice addition to take off to college with him. I agree with the other poster that he is basically giving up his familiar surroundings and a social life for two weeks, but I don't agree that this is something one is paid a lot for, because it is typically something one does to make a little extra cash when they are NOT planning on doing much more than hanging out and sleeping anyway. If a crisis happened while he was there, I would obviously tip him heavily in appreciation for his help. But I would not do $50 a night, because that is $650, and I would be uncomfortable paying such a low amount after two weeks of work, however relaxed it may be.

[corrie23]

Please forgive me if I am misreading your post, and if that is the case disregard the following.

Respectfully, I do not think that it is appropriate to leave a mentally unsafe/unstable child in the care of a teenager. That is way outside the scope of a 17 year old to monitor or manage effectively and risks trauma for that adolescent in the event that your son is unsafe (and likely would be considered neglect). Likewise, a teen planning to someday study psychology is not at all qualified or equipped to discuss your son’s concerns (which sound fairly serious) and should not be asked to do so.

I have compassion for the fact that you may have limited supports, and circumstances that make it difficult or impossible for you to modify your work schedule to be home with your son overnight, but this is not a safe solution for your son or for this other CHILD.

I know that it is difficult to think clearly when you are experiencing distress, but this does not sound like a safe or appropriate plan for either child.

I encourage you to reach out to your local community mental health agency or other local social service agencies to inquire about respite care or other support services to meet your child’s needs if he is not able to be safe.


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