Lisa's Lines

The Babysitter Saga The sweet and fun teenage babysitter my family has used for years got a “real job” last month.

I’m happy for her.

Really... I am.

She will make more money working at the local gas station than she will watching my two little girls on random days and nights. She will build her resume and grow from the new challenge.

I get it.

But, I’m not ready.

I’m not ready for my kids’ babysitter to grow up and not be available when my family needs her. We need her. My kids love her. I know her, and she knows my kids. We’ve got it all figured out--transportation, communication, discipline, dollars paid per hour... everything. Ugh.

I know. I’m being selfish. It’s hard not to be when it directly affects your kids--more importantly, WHO is watching and caring for your kids. It took me at least a week to morn the “loss” of our babysitter. (Granted, she did say she would like to watch the girls if she isn’t working. But, considering she’s a very driven workaholic, I’m not foreseeing many open/free weekends and evenings in her near future.)

It was time to find a new, go-to babysitter. Do you know how much babysitters get paid these days?! Wowzer. $10 per hour for two non-diapered kids (ages 6 and 3) is the going rate. Of course, you provide the food and transportation too.

I really miss our old babysitter. She didn’t mind getting paid $40 a DAY during the summer to hang out with my girls, plus her mom always dropped her off and picked her up. Oh, how I’m already longing for those “good ol’ days.”

Okay, fine. $10/hour it is. (NOTE: My husband almost choked on a meatball when I informed him of the going babysitter rates.)

The next step was finding someone reliable, who likes kids, isn’t allergic to cats, and who lives in our general vicinity. Since we’re still new in the neighborhood, we don’t have many connections yet.

I asked a neighbor lady who has kids about the same ages as my kids if she knows of any good babysitters in the area. She had one name and one phone number. The girl lives about four houses down from us, but I have never met her.

And, because I’m THAT MOM, I asked a few people about the girl and her family. Basically, I needed references before asking her to watch my kids. Is that going too far? I don’t know. Some people say you can’t be to careful, but others say you need to trust people. Whatever. I felt better hearing that other people in the neighborhood spoke highly of the girl and her family.

So, I called her.

No answer.

Figuring she didn’t answer because she didn’t recognize the number, I opted to text her. I explained who I am, how I got her number, and why I was contacting her.

She agreed to watch my kids the next day.

Then, I sent her this text: “Fantastic! Is $65 for 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. okay?”

No response.

Waiting for her to respond was ridiculously agonizing. Will she say “no” because it’s not enough money? Our lovely old babysitter graciously accepted $40/day. Oh, how I miss her...

Right when I was kicking myself for the 100th time about not upping our pay rate, she responded.

BABYSITTER: “I usually get around $10 an hour, would you be okay increasing the amount a little?”

Yep. I’m the cheapskate.

Now what? I had a potential go-to babysitter with fantastic neighborhood reviews all lined up, but the thought of forking over $80 / day made my stomach do flips.

I called my husband. He couldn’t handle paying $80 for the 8 hours either. Maybe we are cheapskates or maybe our babysitting days of getting paid $5/hour are still too vivid in our minds.

Whatever it was, we finally decided the following: In order to establish a good working relationship with the potential babysitter in the neighborhood, we booked the girl for the next day, but cut her hours back from 9 a.m. - noon. (I would be an hour late for work and John would leave work a few hours early.)

I texted the babysitter back the new timeframe and informed her we would pay her $10/hour. She confirmed that she would be at our house at 9 a.m. the next day.

Then, of course, I had to ask if she needed a ride. I never thought to ask her age.

Turns out, she has her own car and will drive herself over to our house or just walk. Huh... That’s handy.

Maybe this whole new, expensive babysitter thing will be good after all... (Just not too often! According to my mental calculations, a simple dinner and movie date night will now run us about $120. Ouch!)

In the end, my girls enjoyed their three hours with their new babysitter, who really is wonderful. She is happy and energetic, and my kids reported that they didn’t watch TV and the babysitter didn’t even use her cell phone once!

Maybe I can handle this $10/hour babysitter thing.

Maybe.

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