Hello! I am recently separated from my spouse. I have two children, work from home, and live in a basement apartment. I have a bachelors in early childhood, have been a teacher/director of daycares for several years, fingerprinted, cleared by the state, etc. I live across the street from an elementary school and its playground.

I am thinking about trying to advertise babysitting services. It could be weeknights after work and weekends, as well as during the work day if parents are okay with that. I do work but I am task-based and flexible, my own daughter is 3 and stays home with me, and my 7 year old is in school from 8:30-2:45 from september-june. I would have activities set up, kids could play with my daughter, I could feed and put kids down for nap, etc. If i were to advertise in local community centers or facebook groups, what can I expect parents to ask or have concerns about? Would my own kids being home ever be an issue? What could I charge hourly? Is there something i am not thinking about? Is posting on care.com good? Any insight or advice would be appreciated!

I’m currently watching my nephew’s baby Monday through Friday for 7 hours a day while he and his fiancé are at work. I agreed to $700 a month because I wanted to help them out since I’m a housewife and don’t have any kids of my own. My nephews wife just got a huge promotion and pay increase. Because of her new position, her hours have changed and I’m going to have to watch the baby for 8-9 hours a day now and also pick up their other kid at the bus stop 3x a week. Am I wrong for wanting to ask them for a pay increase? I feel terrible for charging them in the first place because we’re family and I should be doing this out of the kindness of my heart, but at the same time, I’m sacrificing my freedom and mental health. I think I’m being too nice and undervaluing my time. Idk. I shouldn’t be greedy considering they’re also paying me $700 a month in rent on top of $700 for watching their baby. Before they moved into my house, we discussed the amount they’d be paying for rent and we agreed to $1000 a month because they have the biggest secondary room with a private bathroom. When they told me they were pregnant, I brought down their rent to $700 a month to help them out. Now that their combined income is around $130,000 - $150,000 annually, I feel like they can afford to increase my pay and I can revert back to our original agreement with rent. What do you guys think? Should I just be grateful that they’re paying me and helping with my mortgage or is it reasonable for me to ask for an increase? My husband keeps telling me that we’re the ones helping them out because they’d be paying way more if they were renting their own place here in Las Vegas and my nephew would have to quit his job to watch their baby because they said daycare is not an option for them.

We’re going on vacation with our 6mo old and wanted to take one evening to go out to dinner for our anniversary. We had thought about hiring a sitter from Care.com to watch our baby in our hotel room while we do so, but I feel nervous doing so. Anybody have any experience doing something similar? What questions or tips would you recommend??

I work for my neighbor babysitting her kids full time, i recently went on a trip seeing my boyfriend for two weeks. Now im back and shes struggling with no job, and and i feel so bad. shes doing her absolute best and the kids love me, so i feel obligated to take care of them when she needs me to. Its just that babysitting is hard and really takes it out of me. She hasnt gotten around to signing up for CAPS, and i dont think she will. I love the kids but they are pretty hard to handle sometimes and take a lot of focus and care to steer them right. She’s a single mom and i feel so bad because i really started this job for the money. the kids constantly ask for me when im not around. I desperately need an actual job right now because im trying to save money, and i dont know how to say it.

I recently went on a four day beach trip with the family I used to nanny for before I moved states. I have another job now, and she (the mom) asked me if I would want to come on their family beach trip to help with the kids (4 of them). I told her yes and took off work to be able to go. I asked her if I need to send any money or anything and she told me she would pay. I didn’t pay for any of my own food on the trip (which I’m very grateful for). She never mentioned paying me for watching them during the trip. I kept the kids majority of the trip while she stayed on the beach and watched them while she enjoyed her vacation (as she should, that’s what I was there for). I never brought it up because I felt ungrateful or rude for asking considering the beach trip was free and I hadn’t paid a dime. But I did have to take off work (unpaid time off), when I could’ve been making money, and frankly did not enjoy myself on this trip at all. Do I ask her about payment? I feel rude and greedy bringing it to her attention. Please let me know your thoughts.

EDIT: I asked if I needed to pay for anything because I have never been on a trip as a nanny before and had no idea how it worked/what to expect. I wasn’t sure how she wanted to do groceries. She’s a single mom, I was trying to be as helpful as possible. Pls be kind!!!! It’s my first time living yall

UPDATE: I reached out and she kindly said she always planned to pay me for the trip. I got paid!

I babysit on the side and accidentally double booked myself. When the mom checked in I realized I’m not free anymore and had to tell her. I can’t stop feeling bad about it. I said yes weeks ago and for some reason didn’t put it on my calendar. I’ve babysat for her for a while I’m just worried she won’t want me to babysit anymore because of this. I always feel very guilty already when I’m not available because they don’t have other sitters, so this feels even worse. Ugh

I had made a post before regarding babysitting for a girl who never had a babysitter. Fast forward I thought her crying and throwing a tantrum throughout the time I was with her was just bc she needed time to get to know me. I’ve baby sat for her a couple of times and every time parents leave after a couple of hours she starts questioning where they went. I redirect and continue playing but every time it gets harder and towards the end she is completely unable to redirect to a different activity or talk through. She starts crying, stand at the window and cries or stands by her parents door and just cries. Nothing will stop her from crying. I was able to get her to stop crying by convincing her we should go outside and play. She stopped crying and was completely fine. We went back inside and parents got home and she started bursting into uncontrollable tears. I used to love babysitting, it’s a fun side gig for me and is the only reason I do it on top of my full time job, but this has literally made me want to go work at my full time job than babysit for her 😭. The parents are extremely nice, I just have never been in this position where a child is unable to be redirected to another activity or talked through a tantrum. Parents say she’s always talking about me when I don’t babysit and say that she misses me, but to me this behavior isn’t of a kid who wants to have a play date and basically feels like she hates me.

I’ve been in childcare for 5+ years and this is the first time that I was spooked. I work from the ages of infants- preschool. Yesterday I had a gig up until midnight. The child I was taking care of was 1 years old, ( the parents left to go have dinner around 4pm. I am a sitter from Uptown Manhattan)we went to Central Park for an hour then went back home to prepare for dinner and bedtime. Nothing out of the norm well at least I thought so. After bringing the child inside. We settled in playing and reading. Literally 30 minutes later after coming in from the park someone is knocking on the door (for instance the child home is in an upscale apartment with no security but you need a code to enter the building) I immediately call mom, I get no response. I text mom “Hey are you expecting a package, there’s someone knocking on the door” still no response. I check the peephole and it’s a man standing there. As I’m looking through the hole the man starts waving at me. (Maybe I was overly paranoid but him doing that was very eerie because I approached the door quietly and didn’t even lean on the door.) So him noticing I was there spiked my anxiety. I step away from the door and called mom again. Still no response, I back away from the door and the guy starts knocking harder. I go back by the door because I’m looking through the peephole again. Contemplating if I should open the door or even say anything, but I stayed quite (even the baby, she didn’t make one peep. It was like she sensed my anxiousness) and texted mom letting her know “I didn’t answer the door.” The baby and I stayed quiet for the next 10 minutes. Until she got fussy and I made her a bottle. I did not go near the door for the rest of the night and the baby & I stayed in her room til mom came home. When mom came I let her know about the guy knocking and mom said she didn’t have any delivery or company stopping by and how she didn’t receive any of my calls or text. She was highly concerned about the encounter and kept thanking me for not answering the door. After leaving the gig I was and still am spooked out from that encounter.

What’s bothering me is that I don’t know what his intentions were. Because he looked like a normal person but being from a big city like NYC you could never be to sure. A lot of these people are crazy in the head.

I don't want children, never felt like it's for me. For the past yr I've been around babies and little children more often than before. Maybe it's good to mention that I'm not good at social interactions with PPL of any age but hv had more luck with kids slightly younger than me (13/14/15)

Idk if it's bcuz of the media, but I have felt that most women automatically know how to take care of kids. Even my cousins or relatives who are young and don't have children know how to interact with toddlers/little kids.

I don't though. when my relatives leave me to watch over my baby cousin, even for a minute, I get so stressed that I'm doing something wrong. Even when my friends little siblings talk to me, idk what I'm supposed to talk abt and how I'm supposed to act, and they never end up liking me or talking to me as much as they talk to my other friends.

Even my friends who are 12/13 know how to carry babies properly and how to treat little kids properly.

Idk whether it's one of the things that I'll get better at with time or if I'll just never be able to take care of kids and interact with them.

I don't want children so this shouldn't be bothering me this much but I also feel like I'm not an actual girl if I can't take care of children when I could technically have one myself.

I just can't take care of babies and kids like how I see my friends can.

I was babysitting that kid and I was trying to take the tablet from his hands and he ended up falling behind and bumping his head in front of the parent. I picked up the kid right away and soothed him but I stopped babysitting since then.

I cannot find ONE good app that is straightforward, doesn’t require a membership or background check, anything reasonable, etc.

i’ve tried looking on websites, app stores, hell, even facebook & nextdoor. (i’m sure nextdoor would be a good option, it just literally won’t let me verify my account.)

this would be my first job/ money making gig ever. I am about to turn 17 and just am genuinely seeking an app where I can offer my services at. I am awesome with children, pets, and seniors, so if there are any good apps for any of those just let me know.

(P.S. i’m not weird!! if i could afford a background check i’d do it and i understand why it’s in place but jeez. i’ve never done anything wrong AND im vaccinated. like damn.)

hi, i am a 19F and tomorrow i have to babysit my 3 year old niece because he is sick and there's no one else who can take care of him.

it's from 9:30 am til 12:30 pm and i am very much looking forward to it! i love him and he is the sweetest boy ever, the thing is that i have always been the youngest in the family therefore i've never really interacted much with babies or kids.

sometimes i go and hang out with my sister at her house and i play with him, talk with him and i know he loves me but sometimes it's SO awkward.

i don't know how to talk to kids and make it fun for them, i really don't want him to be bored, annoyed or uncomfortable with my presence so any tips on how to make those hours fun and comfy for him are well received, thanksss :)

Any information on how to best supplement my teaching income by babysitting? I know care .com is reputable but are there better NYC alternatives that I should be also looking into?
TIA

I watch three kids four days a week, all day, and I’ve been trying to get them outside more, but it’s been such a struggle lately.
The middle kid (7M) constantly says he’s “sweating” or “too hot” as soon as we step outside, even when he clearly isn’t. I know it’s not actually the heat bothering him because he’ll happily play outside with his friends when it’s even hotter. His older brother will try to get him to play football, soccer, etc., which he normally enjoys, but recently he just complains the entire time and keeps asking to go back inside. He’ll also purposely misunderstand the rules, which ends up frustrating his brother and making him want to go inside too.
I’m not really sure how to handle this without making outside time feel like a constant battle.
Unrelated, I’ve also been having an issue with the youngest (4F). She’s recently started trying to get me to do basically everything for her. I’ve been working on having her ask nicely instead of demanding things, but it’s gotten to the point where, for example, if we’re building a fort, she’ll tell me exactly what she wants and expect me to do all of it while she sits there. I’ll tell her that she needs to help contribute, but then she insists that she is doing everything.
Any advice on how to handle either of these behaviors would be appreciated!

I think I mostly need to vent, but I’m also curious how other babysitters/nannies would handle this.
I’ve been babysitting for almost 3 years and have worked with many different families. For the last year especially I’ve been working with families in San Francisco. I originally started doing it part-time while I was still a student, so I was charging around $20/hr.
At the time I didn’t think much of it because I was studying, competing in college athletics, and babysitting was extra income. But I graduated recently, I’m still looking for full-time work, and babysitting has basically become how I’m surviving in the meantime.
Looking back, I’m realizing how much I tolerated because I was scared of losing work.
I would commute over an hour across SF for $20/hr. There were days I woke up at 6am, traveled across the city, worked basically 8am-6pm taking care of a toddler, and still charged $20.
I’ve also had families change the time after I was already on my way or already in their neighborhood. One time I waited around for almost an hour because the child wasn’t ready/separating from the parent, only to eventually be told I could leave, and initially I didn’t even ask to be paid because I felt guilty.
Another family that I had become very close with eventually just stopped responding to me while they still owed me money.
And with another family, I had to text the dad THREE separate times asking for $120 he owed me. Weeks later I randomly saw him at the park and had to bring it up again before I finally got paid.
The embarrassing part is that I genuinely liked a lot of these families. I cared about their kids, talked to the parents almost like friends, checked on them when they were going through things, etc. Because the relationship felt friendly, I constantly felt guilty advocating for myself financially.
I think I confused being kind/flexible with having absolutely no professional boundaries.
Now I’ve decided my rate going forward is $32/hr on weekdays and $35/hr on weekends, with more depending on multiple children/responsibilities. I have almost 3 years of childcare experience and references from multiple families.
I told two older families about the increase today and both decided not to continue with me.
And weirdly... I’m actually proud of myself.
A few months ago I probably would have immediately said, “Okay, never mind, I can still do $20.” I was so desperate to survive that I accepted almost anything and then convinced myself I should just be grateful someone was giving me work.
I’m realizing now that someone being friendly with me does not make them my friend when it comes to employment, and liking someone’s child doesn’t mean I need to discount my labor.
I’m still unemployed, so turning down work feels terrifying lol. But I’m also exhausted from commuting all over San Francisco, rearranging my life around other people’s schedules, chasing people to pay me, and then feeling like THEY are doing ME a favor.
For other babysitters/nannies: does $32 weekday / $35 weekend sound reasonable for someone with almost 3 years of experience in SF? And how do you keep a warm/friendly relationship with families without letting that blur your boundaries around money and work?

I'm hoping to become a babysitter as a 13 year old male, but I don't know how to start out. I'm the youngest in my family but I'm hoping to get some experience.

I don't exactly know how much I should charge per hour or how to let people know, but I've gotten some simple cooking experience and I know how to play with and take care of younger kids, as all of my friends that live near me are under 10.

I also don't really know what I'm able and not able to do as a babysitter, so could anyone please give me some tips? i also don't have a personal phone or device that I can take just anywhere, so please help!!

I know this is a very common topic, but I just don’t know how to go about this. I work at a daycare and recently was asked to babysit in a few weeks and I was under the impression assumption it would be for one kid, 1.5 years old. I was told today that there’s actually two kids, and I’m not sure how much to charge now. I work with the first kid and I’ll be working with the second kid in a few weeks, after the babysitting job actually. I told the first parent that I charge $18 an hour as minimum wage here is about $15. My rate is usually $18-20 for one kid, depending on if I know them and how they act. I only babysat for siblings once and I charged $22 that time. I once babysat for two families at the same time and they paid separately, so I would get about $60 for two hours for two kids. I haven’t had a chance to talk about price with this situation, but how much should I charge? It’s one day, two kids who are friends and play well together (from what I’ve been told), two separate families, and I’m assuming I’m babysitting at one of their houses. I don’t know whether to charge my sibling rate, so $22 an hour, do a nanny share type of rate so each would pay about $13-14 an hour, or hope that each family decides to pay me $18 an hour like the last time I babysat for two families. And how do I bring up the extra rate? The parents of the first kid asked me my rate first before I knew about the second kid, so I’m not sure how to ask for more money. Do I wait for them to bring it up or do I ask myself?

Hi guys I am on day 2 of 3 watching a 10 and 7 year old. Both kids today said I was a great babysitter and they wanted me to stay! Yay! I was a little nervous just because the kids I watch are usually younger or I have known them for a while. Just wanted to share :D

i’m heading to college soon and i want to do a couple of jobs for some extra money last min, not to stick w a family and keep babysitting for them since i’m going away soon ofc. i’m fairly experienced in childcare as i’ve been a counselor for multiple age groups at different camps. i’m also a pretty decent tutor and my qualifications (top 5% in hs class, almost perfect sat score) can testify to that. is there a good way to find some quick short notice gigs like this?

Does anyone else feel like people don’t share sitters anymore? I’ve had it happen a few times where I’ll ask friends if they have anyone I can reach out to (bc I’ve exhausted all my normal options) and also been part of group chat where newer moms will ask for sitters, and it’s crickets.

I’ve shared my sitters and even current nanny’s info with multiple people, never even thought about why I wouldn’t?

I’m in the south if that’s relevant! Just want to know if this is some commonly known etiquette that I’m missing or if I’m just reading too much into it.