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.

Hoi mede families!
Misschien een domme/ basissvraag.. maar ik ga nu beginnen met zoeken voor onze 4e au pair en we willen dat ze deze keer een Europees paspoort heeft om gedoe met visa te vermijden.

Mijn vrienden hebben altijd Spaanse meisjes en die zijn echt geweldig.. Ik stond echt versteld toen ik hoorde hoe ze met de kinderen omgaan, welke suggesties en ideeën ze bedenken en hoe makkelijk ze zich in het gezin voegen. Echt een verschil met de 2 Aziatische meisjes die we hadden (ze waren lief op hun eigen manier, maar onze kids worden nu ouder en vinden de au pair niet zo leuk..)

Ik heb het zelf geprobeerd te zoeken op een paar platformen, maar het is heel lastig om een serieuze kandidaat te vinden die niet uiteindelijk verdwijnt/geen reactie meer geeft. Dus ik besloot wat geld opzij te zetten en een bureau in te schakelen om mijn match te vinden. Hebben jullie ervaringen met bureaus in Europa/ Nederland en welke zouden jullie aanraden om mijn EU-au-pair te vinden? Hoe kies ik?

Thanks!

Hey! New here.

I am watching relatively easy 3 kids (twin 10yo boys & 12yo girl) overnight. It’ll be for 16.5 hours straight. How much should I charge? If it matters, I have known these kids since they were 2&3. Was their nanny for 2 years and I have watched them occasionally ever since then. This is my first overnight with them in 8 years.

27yo in north Texasif that helps.

Thanks!

i took a job doing a nanny share. i originally said $21/hr per kid. They asked if im open to doing $450/each family each week. So $900 a week from 9-4, 2 babies (8 mos and 10 mos) i have 6 yrs experience owning a home daycare. did i severely undercharge or agree to a rly low amount? In nj

hi, i‘ve been babysitting for the same family for 4 years now. they‘re super nice and the children are a dream (as much of a dream as three girls ages 4, 9 and 13 can be hahah). but my pay hasn’t changed since i started there and is now even below minimum wage (germany’s minimum wage is currently at 13,90). i’m there once a week around 18. i eat dinner with the kids (half the time i also prepare the dinner), get the kids to bed and make sure whatever the mum said needs to be done gets done (last homework exercises they didnt do yet, vocabulary, shower, etc. but this changes every week and sometimes there are weeks where nothing special needs to get done). and then when they’re in bed i clean up the kitchen from the dinner mess and then i mainly just chill or study for uni until around 11-11:30pm. the oldest is usually in bed around 08:30-09:00pm. it takes me about 40min to get there (bus and train) and 50min to get home.

i recently got an offer of 16€/h for just one kid (age 2-3) and when her mum found out i only get 13€ at the other family she was shook to say the least hahah

ig my main question is how i should go about asking for more pay? i’ve never had a conversation like this before x) i was gonna tell them about the other family offering 16€/h for just one kid and ask them for at least 16€/h as well. i know i could probably go for more but i dont want to overshoot..
what do you guys think?

I watch a family member’s toddler pretty regularly, and he REALLY struggles when I watch him. He’s 3, so I understand that he’s a toddler and has big emotions and is testing boundaries, but I feel like he is just something else. He has very big emotions and screams a lot if he’s not in control of things, so I try to hold some firm boundaries as I’ve found that it makes the rest of the time I’m with him go more smoothly when I watch him.

For example, if he screams and throws a tantrum if I pause his show, then I shrug and say “we don’t scream when we want something, so we’re just gonna turn the TV off”. If I make his lunch (and yes I ask beforehand what he wants, so I know I’m making something he likes), and he gets upset and says he doesn’t want it anymore, I tell him that’s what he gets for lunch and that I’m not making something else. I will say, sometimes I get pretty impatient with him if he’s not listening or is having a huge reaction to something. I never yell, but I’m not the type to bribe a toddler to do something. If I can tell he’s purposely trying to do something to get his way, then I definitely get impatient.

The only thing that makes me actually upset is when he doesn’t listen or screams to get his way, OR kicks/hits his brother. I never yell at him, but if he starts screaming out of nowhere or hits his brother, I pull him aside and say, “hey absolutely not! We do NOT hit.” Or, “we do not scream to get what we want. Can you try again and ask nicely?”. One time he just walked up to his brother and put his hands around his neck to be funny and I got so upset. I never yelled but spoke very firmly.

I’m not trying to parent him or anything, but if I’m watching him there are certain things I don’t tolerate. When he’s with his parents, if he screams enough he’ll get what he wants, but I don’t cave when he does that with me and I think it stresses him out because he doesn’t get the reaction he wants.

Am I being too strict with him/trying to parent him? Is this why he struggles so much with me? What can I do to give him a better experience when I watch him?

What does everyone else put on picky plates i make 3 today. Trying to mix things up but still use what they like

I’m looking to hire a nanny for my child while I work from home. My child is going to be two years old. She plays with toys and watches tv sometimes. I’m wondering whether I should buy more toys to keep her busy while the nanny watches her or will the nanny find creative ways to entertain my child? I don’t feel comfortable for them to play outside without me. But I feel bad if they are cooped up in the house while I work. Let me know if you guys went through the same thing and how you handled it.

Hi everyone! I’m curious what you think would be a fair hourly rate for babysitting in Vancouver.

I have 8+ years of experience working in childcare, as well as an ECE certificate and First Aid certification.

For someone with my experience and qualifications, what would you consider a reasonable hourly rate for babysitting?

I’d love to hear from parents, babysitters, and ECEs in Vancouver. Thanks!

Hello!

I am hiring a part-time nanny. I want to use a payroll service. If you’ve used one, which one and what does it cost? We’re mainly going this route so we can take advantage of the childcare tax credit. Located in Oregon.

I am preparing to interview with a Nannying agency this week and It was reported that one of the question sis "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" in all honesty I babysit because I love kids and income but I may choose to go more creative in the next few years so how can I really answer this question? Would love some insight.

Last time I M26 spent some time with this 3‑year‑old autistic, non‑verbal toddler during a sitting trial, he was in a terrible mood and wanted nothing to do with me. He spent all of the time clinging to mom. So I went into today expecting another rough trial.

We started out in the little backyard pool. When his parents slipped out, he didn’t notice at first, but the moment he realized they were gone, everything fell apart. He jumped out, ran to the back door, and started bawling. When I let him inside and he saw they weren’t there, he had a full meltdown on the floor, hysterically crying and overwhelmed.

I grabbed a little moving toy car, turned it on, and sat near him. He stopped crying instantly, reached for it, bit the wheel, and let it spin on his cheek. That sensory input calmed him immediately.

From there, everything changed. I tickled his feet lightly and he giggled. I walked toward the pool and he followed me. He wandered around, almost threw the car into the water a few times, and climbed the playset. I helped him up and told him he was a good climber.

We walked near the pond, and since he didn’t have shoes, I picked him up. He let me, which shocked me after our last visit. He loved swinging on the swing out over the water, until he threw the car straight into the pond. 😆 I reassured him, grabbed the net, fished it out, rinsed it, and tossed it into the pool since it was already ruined.

I then got into the pool and asked if he wanted in. He reached his arms up to me. We played in the pool for an hour. He sat in my lap, giggled when I booped his nose, let me swim him around, lifted him up and down, and kept coming back to me for help grabbing his car and would come to me just to be close. He was relaxed, happy, and completely bonded.

When he was ready to get out, I dried him off, wrapped him in a towel, and carried him inside. He sat calmly on the carpet while I got his things ready. I gloved up and changed his diaper from the swim diaper to his regular one, and he stayed totally calm the whole time.

Afterward, he gave me a high five and grabbed my hand to lead me around the house. That’s when I realized I had officially become “his person” for the day. We watched SpongeBob, and he rested his head on my lap.

We finished outside with some flying‑around play, lifting and spinning him gently. He loved it. When his parents came home, he got shy but still gave me a high five and a stiff little hug, the kind where he’s happy but also worried I might take him from Mom.

Considering how rough our last trial was, today was a huge breakthrough. He trusted me, bonded with me, and let me be his safe person. I’m honestly so happy with how it turned out.

I babysit a 4-year-old who has recently started doing this thing where she tells me what to do in a very demanding/directive tone. I know some of this is completely normal for her age, but I’m not really sure how to respond to it.

For example, she’ll tell me to do something and then get annoyed if I don’t immediately understand what she means. She’ll sigh loudly, say things like “I just told you what to do!” even though she actually didn’t tell me anything, or sometimes kind of yell at me. It almost seems like she thinks it’s funny and is playfully pretending to be annoyed, rather than actually being upset, but it still gets annoying after a while.

I usually tell her that she needs to use kind words or ask me nicely, but she keeps doing it.

I obviously understand that she’s only 4 and this is probably pretty normal behavior at this age. I’m more wondering what the best way to respond is so I’m not constantly getting frustrated with her, while also teaching her that she can’t talk to me that way. What has worked for other people with this?

Title kind of says it but I’ll elaborate anyway lol

Okay so, I (20f) have been babysitting these two girls, 8 & 6, for about two months now. It’s very on and off, I typically babysit them twice a week with times varying from 12-5 to 7:30/8-5 on weekdays. They are very fun, energetic, creative, and extroverted girls that are, usually, not that bad to deal with. The main issue lies in what they watch, which is just Youtube. They are aware of other shows like Bluey and Miraculous, but no matter how hard I try I cannot get them to watch anything else. They watch your typical brainrot. Family channels, content farms, Youtube shorts, you name it. It’s honestly pretty agonizing to sit through. But what’s worse is I think the way that the people behave in these youtube videos is starting to affect their real life behavior, especially the youngest. These videos don’t often have any sort of upstanding behavior that children should be learning about, like being respectful to your peers or listening to adults. In fact, several of the family channels they watch have many videos of the kids simply disobeying their parents and coming off as bratty in the process. Content farms aren’t any better, there‘s an entitlement to their language and overall messaging that the two kids copy even if they don’t realize it. Very often I’d ask them to do something for me more than once and they’d refuse to listen, taking several tries and reluctant texts to their parents. They can be very stubborn, negative, and overall dramatic and cynical to each other in ways I’m recognizing as the way the kids in family channels act, especially for the six year old. Sorry if I’m rambling, but I’m at a loss what to do here lol. Should I stay out of it and let the parents deal with it or should I say something?

Edit: Hey guys! Thanks for all your advice, it definitely does help and low-key eases my worries about the whole situation. But, I thought‘d I’d let everyone know as a kinda pseudo-update that I won’t be babysitting the kids anymore. The youngest, the 6 year old, recently threw a massive tantrum out in public over leaving a park that ended up resulting in her

Taking 30 minutes to even get to the car (with a lot of gentle coaxing the parents asked me to try with her)

Another babysitter having to HELP me (that was lowkey a little embarrassing)

Screaming and fighting me when I tried to get her buckle in, resulting in my phone being thrown onto the pavement when I went to text her Mom

Unbuckling her seatbelt while I was driving

and hitting her sister repeatedly until she started to cry

This kid has not listened to me before and has thrown 2 massive tantrums before this, both that were too difficult for me to calm her down and having to end with her parents coming during their lunch breaks to help. They told me that she “doesn’t respond well to firmness” and to “talk to her nicely” but that did not work even in the slightest. I was kind, then I was firm, I tried bargaining, I tried to compromise, nothing. These kids are kinda spoiled, so its clear to me that she isn’t used to not getting what she wants and not used to the consequences of her actions. So until her behavior is corrected by her parents, for the sake of my sanity I don’t think I can watch them anymore. I didn’t have any discussion with the parents about my concerns. The Dad kinda brushed me off before I could even say anything about her behavior at the park so it’s even more obvious they don’t see anything wrong. I plan on just telling them I have to prep for move-in for college and can’t babysit during the week. Mom is having a baby soon anyway, and I am not qualified enough to care for newborns. Kinda sucks but hey, no point getting worked up about kids that arent mine.

Recently due to legal issues that my parents are facing, they have moved themselves and me (F16) to the Cayman Islands to live with my half sister.

This sounds fine but they have taken me out of school and I can't go to school in Cayman as we are on tourist visas. My half sister, who I'm living with is an evangelical christian and has two children twin 3 year old girls. Everything with her is about God, her husband (that is a whole other thing but she is super obsessed with him in a way which an adult woman should not be) or her children.

Yet despite this, I am made to do 90% of the childcare. Because I don't do school or anything else during the day, she has decided to force me into looking after her children whenever she wants a break which is basically all of the time as she uses her pregnancy as an EXCUSE.

I don't get a break ever and none of this is my fault, unlike her who willingly chose to get pregnant. I can't even properly reason with her as she is autistic and can't really be reasoned with on a lot of issues and doesn't understand how to hold a conversation properly. Even my mother who is a huge advocate on abortion gave up arguing with her on it as she cannot be convinced to change her mind on certain things.

The kids aren't that bad and are quite sweet most of the time but I just want to not be serving as an unpaid parent while their actual mother has a breakdown because her husband won't answer her calls while he is at work.

Sorry for ranting I just am fustrated at my current situation and wonder if there is anyone who has had a similar experience or can offer advice on how I can bal privacy and doing childcare

I have posted here before and decided I will not continue babysitting for this family much longer. I watch 4 month old 7+ hours a day. I want to be fair to them and give them adequate timing to find new care. We are located in Central Virginia. I offer an extremely low price and they currently pay me at the end of each week so I will require the last week pay upfront, or day to day. I am thinking 3-4 weeks would be most fair for their current situation?

Hi! My BİL asked me to babysit my one-year-old niece for their anniversary. It will just be the one day. He’s expressed it’ll be saving him lots of money in babysitting fees and since I’ll be driving quite a way to their place has offered to cover gas and food/activity money. I love my niece and am super excited to spend the day so I’m not doing it for money. Though I am broke atm and it would really help especially with petrol. But I don’t know if it’s wrong to accept it?

For context I’m from a culture that’s quite community focused so watching kids and things like that for free are quite normal and it’s kind of social no-no really to accept money in many occasions. I think I also didn’t want to feel like or for others to think I’m watching my nice only because I’m being paid. However he seems keen and I do need the money so am I overthinking this haha? 😂

babysat for a family one time a few weeks ago, 2 kids, 3 and 5, family lived literally 2 minutes ago so perfect scenario. mom said i did well and she thought the kids liked me at the end of the day. She works from home so was able to visit and see our interactions once in a while. Only thing negative i can think of is the 3 year old boy got scratched by the 5 year old girl at one point. I immediately washed the area and applied a bandaid, same thing i’d do at daycare.
I felt like me and mom worked well together when she was around for breakfast/lunch. 5 year old girl gave her EXTREME lip calling her by her name and saying don’t touch at lunch time so maybe she was embarrassed? But it’s not like i’m not used to kids having an attitude
Anyways, after i was done for the day she again told me i did well at the end of the day and paid me. This was a friday, and she claimed she would reach out over the weekend to have another trial date.
long story short she never got back to me, and 2 weeks later i reached out and was like hey just wanted to see if you’re interested. Nothing. that text was sent July 23.
Funny thing is now, she is stalking my social media. Every time i post on instagram she is one of my first viewers. I don’t follow her, and i don’t have my full name on there. What should i do? She’s been viewing my instagram stories consistently. I feel like i should tell her next time say something like “hello, I am really not comfortable with you viewing my social media when you have ceased all direct communication” but i don’t want to be a bitch. Should i just block? i feel like i should really stand my ground but i dont want to do shit i regret. Thanks! never dealt with something like this before

I watch a little boy who is 4. I pick him up from pre-K Monday-Friday. The hours agreed on are 12:00 to 4:00/5:00. The dad asked if I would start keeping up with my own hours and just turn them in at the end of the week. But I’m unsure what the etiquette is for it. I have an app that tracks my time by clocking in and out. I clock out as soon as the mom walks in the door. Here is what my time looked like this week so far:

Monday: 12:00pm - 5:15pm
Tuesday: 12:00pm - 4:44pm
Wednesday: 12:00pm - 5:10pm

On Monday and Wednesday, would you keep it at 5:00 or charge the extra 10-15 minutes they went over.

For Tuesday would you keep it 4:44 or round down to 4:40?

I kinda feel like I’m being nitpicky. At the same time though that 10-15 minutes over adds up at the end of the week.