Watching other children

I have a quick question. Has anyone who is a stay at home mom considered watching other children as a supplemental income? I am kind of toying with the idea and would love to hear any feedback or ideas. For those moms who work, would you have your children stay with a stay at home mom? I am trying to think of some ways to make some extra income for our family and that idea just seems to make sense since I already stay at home and love being home with my kids.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

I recently put an ad up on craigslist for babysitting services. Problem is, with the economy being the way it is, people want you to watch their kid(s) for long hours for very minimal pay. I had someone who wanted to pay me $20 for 10 hours to watch both her kids and feed them! That's crazy! I know a lot of moms who do it though and have success with it. Also, most people want you to have CPR certificates as well. I'm definitely interested in doing it for supplemental income as well. My girls are old enough now where they can play by themselves more and they could use some friends. Good luck!

 

Thanks for your reply! Yeah I posted an ad but I haven't heard any responses yet. But I can understand how some people will try to not pay to much for the services. If I really am going to do it, I will call around my area and see how much they charge and then definitely charge less than that. I just wonder how it would all work out. Thanks for your input!

 

I put an ad on sittercity.com, along with a pic of myself with the girls, and had a ton of responses. I had so many responses I had to take my ad down. I had a lot of the same problem that Christine mentioned - people just don't want to pay. It's ironic b/c if I hire a babysitter I have to pay $10/hour, but people want you to babysit their kids for 40 hours a week for $2/hour or less. I had one lady who wanted me to go to her house, 5 days a week, 11 hours a day and watch her 2 kids, for $75/week.

I did eventually find something that worked for me, I keep a little boy 1 to 3 days each week. This way I still have days each week that are just me and my girls. My suggestion is that when you find a child, you need to write out a contract and both sign it. In the contract you need to designate drop off and pick up times, pay, and your sick policy. I've been doing this since June 2008 but I am planning on stopping when this baby is born and then taking it back up once my girls are in preschool.

 

I'll have to put up an ad on sittercity as well. It's ashame that people don't want to pay for our services. After all, we have our own children to attend to as well and who better experienced than a mom of multiples.

 

I filled out all the info on the site minus paying for a background check. I figured that if someone was interested in hiring me they could pay for the background check themselves. :good:

 

I agree!

 

I'm babysitting in my home currently. I work with two separate families. One has a 21 month old son and I take him for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. I also work with a family who has a 13 month old and a 3 year old and I take them anywhere from 1-3 days a week for 6-7 hours. I charge $2.50 an hour. This does not include food, diapers, wipes or juice. I do supply milk because we already have that and it's not a huge amount. My family doesn't drink juice (the girls love water so I am afraid to ever give them juice) so it's a hassle to get it. $2.50 an hour is cheap and definitely the lowest I would go. I don't watch kids past 6 and never on weekends. I love babysitting. It entertains my kids and the little income I make allows me to pay for my gym membership and not have to ask my husband for money to go buy him a birthday present Also, one of the families wanted a background check, but I made them pay for it. It's totally okay! I did supply references to both families as well.

 

Thanks for all the great replies! I am going to try sittercity as well! I would really only be interested in one or two more children, since I have the twins and a three year old. For those who watch other children, do you have a seperate room for them to play (i.e; a playroom)? I don't have a playroom, all the kids play in the living room. Also, do you think it would be a negative not to have access to a backyard? I live in an apartment, which a lot of people do in my area, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Also, for those that babysit are you CPR certified or hold any other certifications? Thanks in advance!

 

I don't have a play room. The way my house is set up there is a living room in between the 2 kids bedrooms. I babygate it so that they can play in either of the front 2 bedrooms or the living room.

I have a back yard, but I don't use it. There is no shade back there and it's so hot down here, and I'm pregnant. I never take the kids outside here. I take all 3 of them out to play dates if DH is here to help me. We had 4 car seats (2 in each car), so when I want to take the little boy I babysit out of the house we move one of our seats. The majority of the time when I am babysitting we are here.

I am not currently CPR certified. I was at one point in time, when I was a lifeguard, but not any more. I have a 4 year bachelor's degree, I'm not sure if they asked for that on sittercity or not.

 

I work outside the home, but my girls go to our neighbor's house and she is SAHM with older kids. It works perfectly for us and she will probably watch the girls even after they start school (put them on and take them off the bus). We love her and pay her well ($12/hr). If you have working moms in your neighborhood, that might be a place to start looking.

We don't have a formal contract with her, but she's watched the girls since they were 10 months old and everything has worked out well (they are now 3 1/2). We have set pick up and drop off times, and I provide most of their food for the week. If the girls are sick but not feverish, she will still watch them. If her kids are sick, its up to us if we want to send them. Her house is large and they wouldn't be in contact with them if sick. We pay her for the time she watches them so if we take a vacation or she does, we don't pay for that. She is now a part of our family and I love that she is helping to raise my girls and has helped to teach me about being a mom

 

I would actually really like to do this, but I'm mostly worried about legal ramifications if something happened to their kid, like if they broke an arm or a younger baby chocked on something my kids left behind them (we don't have tiny parts yet but we will eventually). Freak accidents happen, and I don't want to risk being held responsible for it just to earn $3 more an hour...

It's sad though, I really wouldn't mind doing it (if I found people who don't mind the fact that I only speak French during the day).

 

Aimee, I love you to death, but honestly, after paying $25/month for Sittercity, I would not pay more $$ for a background check. And I didn't even look at people that didn't have background checks done already.