[ZomgBlue]

i am going crazy with the hawks in the playoffs or w/e the hockey stuff is called... i have been babysitting like mad for 3 families... heres a small list of things that have happened lately that i am wondering what others would do in the same spot.

- monday night the dad for one kid showed up drunk with another woman, and over an hour late (mom was soo pissed she came to get daughter like 15 minutes before the dad showed up). now if the kid was still there i would have personally stalled and tried to have the mother come to get the kid and also tried to keep the kid away from the father at this point... because the father DROVE OFF IN A CAR!! i feel like stepping on toes would have been the right thing to do.

- monday night and tonight one dad keeps ripping me off he seems to think i only work for 5 an hour when i clearly undersell myself for 10 an hour, i mean at my age and with my skill i could rightfully charge 15. lets be honest though, i am a last minute sitter and not on board with any company so working for 10 is a good way to beat out the 16 year olds. i do not want to insult the man but he needs to know that it its 10 not 5 and i really wont keep working with his kids if he doesnt start to pay up.

so what in these 2 situations would you all do? i mean i honestly had no idea what i would have done with the first and the second i just dont know that dad very well. so i asked another parent i know well if it was a given that i charge that much, and she said dont worry she will just casually mention it for me because i dont want to come off wrong. though i know i will need to start speaking up for myself if it happens again. ugh, i need to sleep now for 24 hours because well i babysit again on friday. lets hope the hawks win so i can babysit again on sunday.

[KungPowKirby]

ZomgBlue, on 03 June 2010 - 12:53 AM, said:

i am going crazy with the hawks in the playoffs or w/e the hockey stuff is called... i have been babysitting like mad for 3 families... heres a small list of things that have happened lately that i am wondering what others would do in the same spot.

- monday night the dad for one kid showed up drunk with another woman, and over an hour late (mom was soo pissed she came to get daughter like 15 minutes before the dad showed up). now if the kid was still there i would have personally stalled and tried to have the mother come to get the kid and also tried to keep the kid away from the father at this point... because the father DROVE OFF IN A CAR!! i feel like stepping on toes would have been the right thing to do.

- monday night and tonight one dad keeps ripping me off he seems to think i only work for 5 an hour when i clearly undersell myself for 10 an hour, i mean at my age and with my skill i could rightfully charge 15. lets be honest though, i am a last minute sitter and not on board with any company so working for 10 is a good way to beat out the 16 year olds. i do not want to insult the man but he needs to know that it its 10 not 5 and i really wont keep working with his kids if he doesnt start to pay up.

so what in these 2 situations would you all do? i mean i honestly had no idea what i would have done with the first and the second i just dont know that dad very well. so i asked another parent i know well if it was a given that i charge that much, and she said dont worry she will just casually mention it for me because i dont want to come off wrong. though i know i will need to start speaking up for myself if it happens again. ugh, i need to sleep now for 24 hours because well i babysit again on friday. lets hope the hawks win so i can babysit again on sunday.

I'm not sure what I would have done about the first one, but the second one should be paying you the right amount of money. I might print up a really simple receipt having something like start time and end time, along with your amount charge ($10) already printed on there. That way, he can not grip. Show it to them at the beginning of it, and then have them sign where you put the time. Then when they come back have them do the same. Figure out how many hours exactly x the preprinted $10 and there you go. Nobody can complain or say they didnt know.

I'm thinking something like this.

ZOMG Babysitting
Start Time _______ signature______________
End Time________ Signature_________________
= _______ hours
______ hours x $10 an hour =$________ total

I have something similar for when I nanny.

[Kii]

I understand the woes of being ripped off. I was always super flexible with my rate when I used to babysit, because I understand that some families really need a babysitter but can't afford one.

But this one family, no matter how mnay hours I worked for them, would always give me twenty dollars.
And I normally worked 5-10 (sometimes 12) hours for these guys! And I had to babysit their son as well...who was in the same grade as me.

That's right. He'd be home while I was babysitting, and I had to make both of them dinner. Awkward.

I never said anything, but needless to say that as soon as I got a real job, they were put on the back burner.

They're lucky they had such a sweet kid.

Other horrors while babysitting:

- Letting the kids eat as many clementines as they wanted under the assumption that it was good for them, only to later have to take care of the poor kids when they got sick.
- Allowing the children to invite friends over only to have said friend scale me and jump on my head.
- Having the parents walk in on me watching CATS the musical at 2 or 3 in the morning. (Not a horror, but embarrassing, nonetheless....)
- Generally dealing with waves of young girls ganging up on each other and bickering.


All in all, the kids were pretty delightful, though.

[ZomgBlue]

kungpowkirby, on 03 June 2010 - 01:34 AM, said:

I'm not sure what I would have done about the first one, but the second one should be paying you the right amount of money. I might print up a really simple receipt having something like start time and end time, along with your amount charge ($10) already printed on there. That way, he can not grip. Show it to them at the beginning of it, and then have them sign where you put the time. Then when they come back have them do the same. Figure out how many hours exactly x the preprinted $10 and there you go. Nobody can complain or say they didnt know.

I'm thinking something like this.

ZOMG Babysitting
Start Time _______ signature______________
End Time________ Signature_________________
= _______ hours
______ hours x $10 an hour =$________ total

I have something similar for when I nanny.

i will try that kirby because like i had said the wife knows the price the husband seems to be totally oblivious.

kii, these families sadly i know can afford my 10$ an hour rate. i baby sit an average of 5 kids at once sometimes 7 it depends the boys sometimes want me to watch them because i do play video games other times they dont because its only going to be till like 1030. the nights its till 2am though the boys that are 11 and 12 love having me there to play video games.

just found out might need to rent a game for tomorrow night... i wish it was easier to hook up stuff to their tv as i have a 360 and they have a ps3... ugh

[proxy]

I use to babysit for my Aunt but I quit because I was tired of her B.S.

[ImNewHere]

I really don't think you could pay me enough to babysit.

[sammy-45]

For the first one I would have made sure that the Dad was not driving. If you can tell that he is drunk, don't try to stop him yourself, call 911 and report him. For the safety of everyone.

As for the second one try the time slip thing. It might work.

I know more about being a nanny then babysitting though, as that what my sister does. I watch my own baby for free... so no help there.

[ZomgBlue]

sammy-45, on 03 June 2010 - 09:18 PM, said:

For the first one I would have made sure that the Dad was not driving. If you can tell that he is drunk, don't try to stop him yourself, call 911 and report him. For the safety of everyone.

As for the second one try the time slip thing. It might work.

I know more about being a nanny then babysitting though, as that what my sister does. I watch my own baby for free... so no help there.

yeah, that dad i had never met before and i only knew he drove off after the fact because there was a toyota in front then when i went to open the door for another person there wasn't... he said "im going to get her back to her place" talking about a woman that lives 4 houses down the street so i was like okay walk safe you guys. but yeah... lets just say that i almost wanted to charge for the 15 minutes i had to watch him make an idiot out of himself and from now on im taking note of what cars are there and who comes out of which ones... as for 911 that now on my notes with his number in my phone.

[TekoMuto]

join the military, problems solved

[ZomgBlue]

TekoMuto, on 04 June 2010 - 07:22 AM, said:

join the military, problems solved

how the hell would that solve my problems??? i dont want anyone to order me around, i rather order people around. plus then i would have to like be healthy and well i fail that.


I have great news though, I started 'star cards' they are secret cards that all are different prints and have the kids names on them and well if you do something nice i put a star on it, you do something evil you get a big blue dot on your card (bingo marker haha). things went amazing in that way catagory last night well... 3/4ths of the kids cared one of them went home with an almost all blue card because he kicked his baby brother in the face and one of the older boys in the crotch... then refused his time out lets just say someone was put in bed and a LONG note was written for mom and dad.

Also did a sales slip of sorts said it was so I can keep track of my own funds and maybe help them out too. One parent was like are you misplacing your money ash?? I was like nah im just bad at saving so if i keep track of my earnings then put away parts of it and have paper work i can see where im falling through. this time i got paid correctly.

Lastly I did my first over night sitting... omg one of the 2 i was overnighting puked and I could only think to say 'well i told you that you shouldnt eat all that junk food' as i walked upstairs to check out how bad it was. poor guy had to come sleep on the sofa with me till his mom came home because he didnt have sheets on his bed or make it to the bathroom on time. He is 11 though so he dealt with it good. When his mom got home she was so thankful and all, then i was like yeah he may need a new futon mattress and uh your other darling peed through her pull up so your bed is soaked too... she was just like 'it was so worth staying out more than i thought it would be, now off to be a mom again. and uh you busy sunday? theres another game.'

So far i think I have proven myself as a very helpful babysitter and the parents also loved my star cards too. so if anyone wants to steal that idea go for it.

[Sir Viver]

TekoMuto, on 04 June 2010 - 07:22 AM, said:

join the military, problems solved