A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall coffee house 2175 ~ thankful we're all alive

I haven't a clue of what babysitting rates are. Jonni does sit on occasion and accepts whatever because she is doing friends a favor. I babysat for 50 cents an hour up to four kids. 5, 6, or 7 kids were 75 cents an hour. I babysat on summer vacation for $25 a week. It was all good money for me.

tina, i got $1 an hour and that was a lot. momma thought i was over charging, but i was in demand. i only did one daily rate job, it was awful. i don't even remember what i got. i think it was around $10/day for 3 kids.

merme, i'm glad you have max another day. that's good for both of you.

Well, when I got out of school and into the job market, minimum wage was $1.65. That was a tremendous amount of money. My first rented house was 3 bedrooms with utilities included for $65 a month. I lived near the community college and rented the other two rooms out to student/friends. No loud parties and stuff. It was cool and fun. But you cannot live on minimum wage very easily any more.

hello guys! I read where yall were talking about babysitting rates, but I didn't read back that much - me one tired pup!
well, I took the kids down the street this morning at 8:15 for the neighbor girl to watch them while I was at work. she did not answer the door. I brought the kids back home and told them to walk back down there in a couple of hours and see if she was there and wanted to hang with them till 3-4pm. they did, and she was willing. so they stayed from 11:45 - 4:15. I only paid her 15 bucks. I got to thinking about how her younger brother is at our house all the time and SHE gets paid 50 bucks from the fam to watch him. and then thought about how she wasn't up and ready to rock and roll at the time we had planned. and she said I didn't have to pay her at all. I also thought about what yall were saying last night how you can always go up on the pay if it works out well, but you can't go down. SO, I took all those into consideration and offered her 15. she said that was fine.????? am I a horrible person?

No, that is very fair for what she did, Cricket. And she needs a gentle suggestion to be on time in the future. And did the kids fight?

absolutely not! you were generous. and, it sounds like they did well while waiting for her to be available. which is a good sign for your future

I'm thinking you need to get your oldest (boy/girl?) to get ready to take on some responsibility for future babysitting for you. You need to tell him/her that she can actually get paid for sitting for you if he/she shows some maturity you are looking for. Like no fighting. You would need to work on both of them for that though with rewards. And when Peter calls Paul a name, reward Paul for not punching Peter's lights out. Or stuff like that. Your life would become much smoother altogether it sounds like. Explain what you are doing and why and how you expect them to respond. It might make at least one of them grow in front of your eyes.

No, no fighting. the kids are always very well behaved at someones else house. it is just when they are home that they get crazy with each other. basically they just watched tv all day over there.
well good. I felt good when I first paid her considering all things. but, once I got home I got to feeling bad. but, I gotta go with my gutt!
yea, I was a little frazzled when she didn't answer the door this morning. she said she was in the shower. I thought my kidos were gonna be alone all day unless I just didn't go into work. that is not the kind of stess I want to deal with. I really want the kidos to be able to prove to me between now and summer that they can hang together all day without any incidents. I have a 'no tolerance' rule now to the pysical things they do to each other and wanna leave them a few hours here and there to learn how to deal with each other without a referee. they REALLY are old enough to learn to do so.

that is a wonderful idea about paying the older one. (boy 11) to take the responsiblity of not fighting and keeping things in order. I'm liking that idea the more I think about it.
and yes! they did very well those couple of hours they were here alone this morning. they bagged up some trash, washed some dishes, got their cloths out of the bathroom, and put in a load of laundry.
I'm thinking this whole thing just might be do-able come summer break!

cricket, you could even "pay" them some today for being so "responsible"

also, i taught them not to call me at work unless it was an emergency. and i defined emergency as something broke, bleeding, dead, or on fire. i have gotten 2 emergency calls (and plenty that didn't qualify ) both fire, both after matthew was an adult (he's the baby) and both in exactly one month. somewhere there is/was topics on the fires at my house.

i should say, the fires were both in the last year or two. both "forest" fires.

I wasn't trying to tell you how to raise your kids. I really should have said this worked for me.

me too

no, worries! I love to hear everyones opinions.
most of my concerns I brought upon myself for letting the pysical fighting go on between them in the first place. I'm an only child so I guess I've never had any real handle on what is normal or acceptable or right between siblings??? and I know my cousins that lived next door...whew! there were 4 of them and the little ones got slapped around pretty good by the older ones when I was growing up. I realize now how wrong that was!

Well, I read back and started calling myself a know-it-all. I dislike a know-it-all almost as much as I dislike whiners.

ok, so your a know it all and I'm a whinner.
lets go eat worms together!

It's all good!
I really do appreciate everyones opinions.

Now I sound like I'm calling someone a whiner. I should just shut myself up.
I really was just talking general population quirks out there. Not here.

QUIT beating yourself up!
I was just trying to be funny, not make you feel bad!
(you would have to try a lot harder than that to hurt my feelings, or get me mad...trust me!)

So after your rocky start, how did your work day go, Cricket?

my day went really well, tina!
we had a huge house to clean today.
the three of us completly knocked out the upstairs and the two stairwells in 40 minutes! I believe that is an all time record for the upstairs.
the whole thing took 4 hours. then we had an office bldg. after that.

cricket, i'm glad i bailed and came back to reading the exchange with tina. or you would have had 2 of us beating ourselves up. and i'm glad your day went well.

and, anytime i tell you something about how i do something, or did something, take it with the appropriate grain of salt. and if good comes out of it, even better!

I really don't understand why you two are second guessing the responses you gave after I asked for sugguestions! I'm SO confused???? ha ha
everyone have a great evening. I'm gonna knock out a load of dishes and maybe crochet a bit before I call it a day. I have a pile of clean laundry stairing me down...they keep saying they'll be wrinkled if I don't fold them fast....but I am ignoring them. they will be fine till morning!
night night

have a good night cricket. i'm going to put a funny post up, then i'll be calling it soon too.

sleep well, Cricket

Well, I am ducking out early for me. It is going to be an early and long morning for me. Good night all.

I am quite used to shutting down a CH at night being the last to say good night. But not as used to being the first to greet in the morning. I woke extra early today. (hot flashes)
Good morning. It will be a busy one but I will be able to nap this afternoon so I am good with that.

I am watching the inauguration stuff too. Really not much choice but I also love to see history happen. And today is a day to be proud of. I am very glad that it is brought right into my home as well. I won't be able to watch all of it unfold because my day is unfolding in a different direction. But I'm sure I will be able to catch highlights that I might miss later too.
My favorite parts are the actual living transitions for the family. So much planning to do. What to stock in the family fridge. I always feel sorry for the children and the humongous lifestyle changes for them. There are up sides but so many down sides too. Fewer chances to fall or fail and pick yourself up and learn from the experience. And everything is national news when you do.

I was here earlier today but my computer was malfunctioning again & I couldn't post.

We've been all caught up in the Inaguration also, having ourselves a wonderful celebration which we would do for any Inaguration but particularly this one.

We even took the time to make our lunch like a dinner since he won't be here tonight at dinner time. We had ham, potatoes and corn. It was YUMMY!


Merme

I need to eat something. I have been grazing lately, following whims.
I am back. I watched a lot of the inauguration at the hospital while waiting. I missed bits and pieces of it though. But we got home about an hour earlier than I thought we would. Have to go back tomorrow again.

The parade is about to begin, so I hope you are still tuned in, Memosa! What a wonderful day.

Tina I hope you find something sensible to eat & get filled up. Grazing is okay but every now & again it is good to eat.

Maxi is out playing in the snow with the friends he hasn't had a chance to see in several months. He is having a great time!


Merme

My food whims are for the most part pretty healthy stuff, Merme. Vegetables, steamed and buttered, rice or potatoes or pasta. I really eat little meat these days. I'm not sure why.
It is cool that they stopped the limo and are walking as per recent tradition.

I've had a lazy day for sure since I've been snowed in. Johnny rented some really terrible movies that I've tried to watch but can't get through them they're so terrible. Took a nap. I'm eating Nilla Wafers right now.

Those sound good, Sheri--I am trying to avoid making supper--I am really to full--i had a late lunch, and if it were just me, I would not even make supper--

oh well-----

how about cereal for Ted and let the other fend for themselves.

did I mention that I went to an endocrinologist yesterday and my primary doctor had increased my thryoid medicine rather than decrease it and that's why I've been feeling so bad for the last month?

No you didn't. But I am so glad they are working on what ails you, Sheri. And that it seems such an easy fix. That is wonderful news.