Need some input...

[JennJubie]

I've been toying with the idea of offering my services for one weekend night at or near the end of the month each month for overnight care. The idea is to give parents the opportunity to take a night off together.... I know, I must be crazy, right?

Anyway... my question is what would you charge? My regular rates are $37 a day.... so I'm not sure what I would ask.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[Artsand crafts]

When I started I used to offer 24/7 care and charged $10/hr outside daycare hours when I did not have any idea of the market and how much parents were willing to pay.

In this area most of the few providers around are still offering care outside business hours and they charge from $10 to $15/hr.The rate around here goes from $40 to $50. If I do it again I would like to be well compensated. Teenager babysitters (the ones that go to parents' homes) could charge up to $12/hr depending on experience and most experienced nannies could charge up to $20/hr. I think I would recommend you to check at Kijiji or Craiglist in your area and see how much on call nannies are making since they would be offering a similar service so you don't sell yourself cheap or overcharge.

[apples and bananas]

If it were me, I would probably charge dbl my daily rate.

however, really think this through. This means that for one week out of the month you would not have a weekend off.

We have a very tough, stressful, high liability job and to not have that down time might effect your love for what you do. Once you start to offer something it's hard to take it away.

I will offer overnight and evening care over the Christmas season. I charge $40 for an evening (picking their child up before 11pm) and I charge between $55 and $70 overnight depending on the hours. I do this around Christmas only as an advantage to having their child with me full time. I've only had one client take me up on the offer and I don't offer it to all of my clients. Just the kids I think I could deal with for an extended period of time.

I would suggest that you offer this service as a "Christmas Holiday" thing.. A chance for parents to make their holiday parties, finish their Christmas shopping. If it works well and it's well received then extend it to one night a month. But at least if you do it as a Christmas special you can stop in January without any one questioning it.

[kimg]

I think A&B has a good idea. I wouldn't do overnight care. I'm worn out as it is. But if you did, I would charge at least double what your daily rate is.

[JennJubie]

This is most definitely not a willy nilly decision. My husband and I have discussed this at length, and given our current situation, I feel that I can do one night a month. It is actually less stressful for us to offer this than for my husband to put in more time at his work. There will be strict rules put into place, such as I pick the night and that pick up in the am will be done on time or I no longer offer the service. I'm good at covering all my bases in my contracts.

[playfelt]

If you were doing this for Friday or Saturday night during December I could see it being very popular in the sense of parents can go out, go home sleep it off and not have to worry about getting the babysitter home or getting up with the child. But as you say stiff penalties for not picking up by a certain time. That would also mean you could arrange to have Sunday as your sleep in or nap time to recover if necessary.

[playfelt]

Another option is Saturday care appealing to families that might want to go skiing or hiking or skating but not taking the infants/toddlers so would leave them with you for the day. 5 kids for the day would soon add up per month.