Community Chat

[QVCkitty1]

The summer job post got me thinking about my babysitting days. I didn't really enjoy it, but I was good at it so I had lots of customers. My worst job  was when I was in college and I had a regular very well paying gig with some well to do parents who didn't believe in saying no to their children. The kids weren't too bad , but they were no picnic. I was really glad when a waitress job in a local bar opened  up. I often wonder how those kids turned out. 

[Meowingkitty]

Nope. I had no desire to babysit. 

[chickenbutt]

I did.  If I wanted lunch money I had to make it myself, as a kid.  Fifty cents an hour.

I only remember one family with some little hellians.    That was awful, but I did it.  Now - no freaking way.  

[Drythe]

No, but I always had 'jobs' of some sort until I started 'real' work at 15.

Just not my gig.

[happycat]

Good Grief @chickenbutt, I'm sorry.

I did babysit some. And I helped mom with my little sisters all the time.

[Irshgrl31201]

I sure did. I took CPR classes from the Red Cross in 7th grade and I spent the whole summer of 7th grade babysitting and saving money. By Sept I had over $2500 saved up. I never said no that summer to anyone unless I was already babysitting. I started at $2/hr which was the going rate where I lived but by then I went up to $3.50. 

[deepwaterdotter]

I used to sit with the four sons of a family that lived a block from my house.  They were good kids and entertained each other.  I felt secure knowing that if I ran into a stressful situation, my parents could quickly come to my rescue.  Their father always drove me home to my front door and waited until I was inside at the end of the evening (my parents insisted).  As much as sitting with these boys was a pleasant experience and easy money, it helped to make me realize that I didn't want to be a parent. 

[LUVNLIFE]

I did when I was 12. It was for one family, a few houses down from mine. They had 4. Ages 1yr. to 6 yrs. old.  I love babies and kids-still do. I was terrible at making meals for them. I would burn the grilled cheese and spagettios (no microwave) LOL.

[CareBears]

It seems that is all I did, for 2 years in a row every day after school until 6:00 P.M., and then 3 summers in a row, 40 hours per week and I was paid $30.00.

I stopped babysitting when the families in my neighborhood started hiring me to babysit 2-3 families at one time, but I only received pay from 1 of them and I had anywhere from 4-6 kids, even at that young age I knew I was getting ripped off, LOL!

[QVCkitty1]

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@luvnlife wrote:

I did when I was 12. It was for one family, a few houses down from mine. They had 4. Ages 1yr. to 6 yrs. old.  I love babies and kids-still do. I was terrible at making meals for them. I would burn the grilled cheese and spagettios (no microwave) LOL.

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I had a couple of kids who always wanted me back, because I didn't burn the popcorn. The bar was not set awfully high. LOL.