"Babysitting" or Part-Time?? Pls Help me decide

[Fearlessbaby]

Hi, I have a neighbour with a rambunctious 3 year old girl who would like "babysitting" here and there. My question is what to charge. I would normally charge a parent $30/day for 4 days or less, 4 hours or less (part time rate)- but she says she wants 2 or 3 hours- so should I charge an hourly rate? (for babysitting I usually charge $13-15/hour- I'm also concerned cuz I have my two 1 year olds- and when she was visiting, she seemed aggressive with the year old girl. What to do??? Any advice would be helpful- thanks! :)

[gramma]

the great thing about casual drop in "daycare" is that if it doesnt work out, you can always say no the next time. If you've already noticed what could potentially be a behaviour issue why even bother? The other thing is that at 13-15 dollars an hour she may feel that she should leave the child all day for a better rate in which case your are stuck with an aggressive and rambunctious child all day.

[sunnydays]

If you feel that the child would not be an easy one to care for, just tell her you don't offer casual care as it is too disruptive to the day.

[apples and bananas]

I would say no based solely on the fact that it's a neighbour.

A neighbour who has asked you to do some random "babysitting" obviously doesn't understand the job that you do and thinks that it's convenient that there's a "babysitter" in the neighbourhood.

I see a whole lotta trouble with this one.

[Other Mummy]

Everyting A&B pointed out. And the child is "rambunctious" Oh my...run for the hills.

[Momof4]

Rambunctious, Busy, High Spirited - these are code words for RUN VERY FAST IN THE OTHER DIRECTION! Plus, it's your neighbour and plus they used the word BABYSITTING. All bad!

Ok, if you want to do this and feel you can handle it and it will fit into your schedule then by all means charge enough so that you don't feel angry and used. Lay down the law for the parents before you get into it and make sure you have it all figured out.

This would not work for my daycare since I plan our morning outings and I wouldn't like the disruption of a child who wasn't tranisitioning in with the group on a regular basis. But you never know! You can try it and have a trial period to see if it works out or not. Good luck!