I hired a 13 year old to baby sit for me last night, she stayed over night with us after I got home, and I’m taking her back home today. I picked her up 30 minutes away and am returning her 30 minutes away (her little 8 year old sister stayed with us too) what would appropriate pay be for this age? She watched my son alone for about 4 hours I also bought the girls door dash for dinner
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What is minimum wage where you are? Times that by 4.
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Maybe $60. Minimum Wage. How old is your son? That’s also a factor
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the lift and food are a good will gesture in my eyes. Also they stayed over so that’s a lot of their time. I’m guessing as it was night time you needed the sitter. If you trust this person with your child look after them and pay them accordingly. Where I live four hours would be around £60 but an overnight stay would be a lot more
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I would say $40-$60 dollars
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You driving her doesn’t factor in. Neither does her sister being there. Door dash I’m on the fence about because you could’ve just cooked. Also, why didn’t you agree to a wage before she even came over?
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I would go for maybe 75. I mean you did keep this child overnight. And damn, that’s a privilege. 
In the United States, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babysitters be at least 13 years old to care for children, but some states have specific laws and regulations regarding babysitting age restrictions.
Here are some general guidelines:
- Check local laws and regulations: Some states have laws governing the minimum age for babysitting.
- Red Cross Certification: The American Red Cross offers babysitting certification courses for those 11 and older.
- AAP Recommendation: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 13 as the minimum age.
Consider factors like:
- Number and ages of children being cared for
- Length of babysitting job
- Travel requirements (e.g., picking up/dropping off)
- Additional responsibilities (e.g., meal preparation)
For payment, consider:
- National average: $10-$15 per hour
- Local rates: Check with friends, family, or neighbors
- Overnight stays: Higher rates (e.g., $50-$100 flat fee)
For your situation:
- 4 hours of solo care + overnight stay + travel
- Consider $50-$100 total payment
- DoorDash dinner is a nice bonus!
Remember to discuss payment with the babysitter and her parents beforehand.
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How old is your son? If she was changing diapers and such, $100. If he’s 8 and was playing with her sister, $50. Lots of factors here including what state your in. I wouldn’t factor in food or driving.
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Travel and food are irrelevant for her pay. I’d give her $60 minimum for the 4 hours. I would say the overnight is your call but considering her sister was there and also ate I’d say that time equaled out.
Next time establish a pay rate prior. Most kids in my area get $15/hr for one kid and a $1-2 more for each additional child.
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I am not understanding here, who watched who? Seems like you babysitter not her 
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My daughter babysits for $30 an hour for one/two kids and charges a little bit more if there are three plus kids she’s watching.
Oops sorry she does it for $20 an hr not $30 I hit the wrong button 
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50$ up 100$ if she is changing diapers.
If you want her to come again, overpay her. Good sitters are not easy to find, and if they’re good, they get snapped up pretty quick.
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her staying overnight & eating isn’t a factor. give her $50-75.
when i was 13-15, my rate was $10 an hour @ $5 extra per kid (so if i babysat 2 kids for 4 hours it was $40 plus $10 for two kids)
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She’s13 pay her minimum wage for your area for the 4 hours she babysat. Nothing else your saying takes away from the work she put in. In my area 4 hours minimum wage is $74.
$1 per age year. $13-15 per hour.
I would give at least 50/60. You want it to be worth her time. She stayed the whole night. The ride and food were nice but that doesn’t take away her work efforts. I used to baby sit at that age like that and would get about 50/60. If she’s good and you want her to do it again, make her want to keep returning 
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You pay what you would pay any sitter regardless of age. She kept your kid alive. $15-20/hr.
I was making $100 for that many hours at that age.
What does the time traveled, or dinner, have to do with it? You wanted her to watch your kids or you’d have found someone closer. $50-$60 seems fair. She rode an hour for you to watch your kids
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About $40 maybe $50 max is all I would pay. Baby sitting like this is more fun then working. Your basically using gas, food and have 3 kids to watch until you return them home. 3 kids food etc. It’s more like a sleep over.
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Your also not paying her to watch her sister. That’s on her or her parents.
About 40. Teaching responsibilities.
If bottles and diapers are involved and she cleaned up after dinner then $20/hr well deserved. If she was just entertaining kids then $15 an hour is baseline pay. Think minimum wage prices for a 13 year old. Dont pay less than minimum wage, be fair.
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At least $10.00 an hour
So $40.00
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Food and ride doesn’t count. She watched your kid for 4 hours she deserves to paid for those 4 hours. At least $40
Food and driving don’t count. That’s included as it should be when you hire any babysitter. Plus the fact she stayed over, doesn’t matter she didn’t watch them while sleeping you still kept her overnight someplace not at home for work.
I’d say at least 10 and hour for the 4 hours. Any less you probably should give her a lift home night before
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Thank God I have friends to help!! I wouldn’t be able to do anything if I had sitters lol
i’m certain you have already paid the person–but next time when you get a sitter, ask them how much they charge per hour. what would you do if they were expecting 20 per hour and they told you you owed them 100 or more? after all—babysitting is in fact a job whether you do it once in a while or 5 days a week–or whether you are 13 yrs old or 60 yrs old.
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I would never hire a 13 year old to babysit
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Between 40-60 food driving and over nignt don’t count
Should set pay arrangements before she babysits!!
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I see a lot of people commenting that $15 and $20 an hour is what a 13 year old should get. Wtf?
I had a 20 year old college student in nursing who knew cpr and had other credentials that a 13 year old would not. She charged $15 an hour.
A 13 year old is just starting out so maybe $10 tops is way more than appropriate.
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Are you happy with the job she did?
13 is too young to babysit these days. I know we did so at this age, years ago. But nowadays, if anything goes wrong, the authorities would say it was irresponsible to have a child looking after a baby (and her younger sister).
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$50-$60 … driving doesn’t count and neither does feeding her. That’s what you signed up for by having a 13 yr old babysit.
I would pay her 40$$ at the most
You should pay her the same as u would an adult woman as long as she is good with your child.
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$50 minimum. $10/hr plus a little extra because she have up an entire night which is a big deal for a teen.
At Least $25… but personally for an overnight, $40
Well it’s not back in the 1900s anymore. You can’t trust just anybody with your kids. Good reliable sitters are RARE. either you pay a sitter well or you don’t go- simple as that. Babysitting is a still a job and shouldn’t be cheap as it’s caring for someone else’s life. 
I would say forty dollars, it was probably well worth the break from kids for you
Yikes at a couple of these comments. Adults can’t just leave kids alone, a baby sitter is a service that allows you to go do what you wanna do. A service. If you think that service is not worth paying a normal wage for, then don’t use one or find one that works for your budget. (Not you OP, just in general) Minimum wage where I’m at is like 15.00/hr but I think 40-50 seems reasonable for 4 hours like others have said.
What state are you guys in? Even professional daycares don’t get this much
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I’ll I heard is “how can I get away with being stingy”
50 dollars minimum
At 13 i was babysitting for 10 an hour, now mind you that was 17 years ago, but i was an overnight sitter, I changed diapers, slept over, cooked breakfast, played with the kids, and walked home the next afternoon (unless they lived farther away then they brought me home)
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Nothing. A child of 13 shouldn’t be babysitting. They still need a babysitter themselves.
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How old is the kid she watched? i would say $40…
Huh I would not hire a 13 year old these days!
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As much as you’d pay your regular sitter
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I used to get $100 for sleepovers
At least $15 per hour.
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Wow I used to babysit my sister for free
My ex husband’s gf and her sis in law paid one of our daughters 40 to watch the sis in laws 2 daughters aged 7 and 3 ish but my dauggter (14) also lives with her dad and all atm and the sis in law has a son who’s a yr or so older but he’s a room hermit. She watched them for a 24 hr period during which my ex was in and away from the house off n on during the day but there at night just in case tho daughter was still in charge so to speak. This was a test run to see if she could be responsible enuff and was quite happy with the 40 bucks. Honestly I truly believe that just the fact of being trusted so to speak would have been enuff or whatever
I think that 50$ is reasonable for sure… time put in and possible tip if she cleaned up or did extra and for her to return again. … those rides were for your convenience to have her as a sitter … and well the food is on you. She didn’t ask for door dash. You could have cooked for them or had a pre made dinner? When my company buys us lunch they don’t deduct pay or consider me getting less cuz they fed me ? Hmm.
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I used to get paid 1 per hour lol times have changed for sure
At least 50. When my daughter does over nights
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How many children and ages did she have to care for?
Don’t penalize her for staying the night, it probably would have been harder if you had taken her home last night, having to get her, her sister and your child all in the car, and dinner is on you. You could have had frozen pizza a can of soup,
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100-150.
If you trust her to watch your child then pay to reflect that.
I think country is helpful in some of these topics. What’s standard in one place is wildly different to another.
I hope you knew the family because I cannot imagine sending my 13 year old to spend the night at a strangers house 
I don’t care if she’s 13 or 30 she provided a service that was needed.most children won’t speak up for themselves you should have negotiated pay before the job was done and had her paid before you dropped her off.door dash was her tip although generous I’ve always fed every baby sitter.keep the good snacks,be back when you say you will,pay a Lil more than agreed apon if you see she has done a little around your house.
Pay her what you would an adult. She did the job no matter her age.
I use to watch 6 kids for 50 cents an hour. That was in the 70s
I don’t know what country you are in, but it’s illegal here to leave a 13 year-old with young children!
40/50 if kids are older, if they’re younger and need bottles diaper changings 50/60
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No less than $50 she did stay the entire night even if she didn’t watch your baby all night.
I think $50.00 should be good!
I used to get paid 100 for over nights but i used to be alone, since you were there maybe 50-60 but then again, i would charge minimum wage hours. $15-$16/per hour? But thats just me, im paying my sitter $200
Every day once i find the perfect one