When you’re looking for your first job, you’ll likely land a job as a crew for a fast-food chain or as a freelance babysitter. According to Monster.com, babysitting is the most common first jobs among teens, with the cashier/sales role in 2nd place, and lab assistant in 3rd place. I’ve done all 3 in my own teen years. I found babysitting to be the most challenging, but also most rewarding. Babysitting is something that’s much more personal and fun than ringing up lattes and debugging printer issues.
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If you’re planning to go on a career related to childcare of someone who needs money, babysitting is a great option.
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The Demand For Babysitting Jobs
Babysitting is one of the highest-paying temporary jobs right now. The demand for it has been steadily rising in recent years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook of childcare workers has been rising by 7%. If you want to start your babysitting career and receive temporary jobs, you need to know the pros and cons of working as a babysitter.
Pros:
On average, the rate for babysitting services is about $10 per hour. People are willing to pay that money to get extra time. Additionally, depending on your luck, you can just put the child to sleep and get some alone time yourself. If you enjoy playing or doing activities with children, this job is almost the perfect job.
Cons:
Although babysitting is a job that pays well, job availability is not always guaranteed. Expect long shifts where you can’t go anywhere, and of course, the boredom when the child finally sleeps. Speaking of children, get ready to face challenges such as cleaning up their mess (especially if you’re babysitting a younger child) and coping up with their extra energy.
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Things To Know About Babysitting Before Starting
The Basics
As a babysitter, tasks will be a lot easier if you know childcare basics. Skills such as changing diapers, preparing snacks, proper bathroom hygiene, as well as organizing child-friendly activities are needed in this job. Getting into the babysitting scene is easier if you have younger siblings or relatives at home so you can get proper guidance and practice in childcare.
Handling Behavioral Issues
Each child has different personalities. Some children will not give you a headache while there would be kids who would use up all your patience. Before getting a babysitting job, know your stress tolerance and use age-specific knowledge at your advantage. This way, you can prepare the best activities that both of you can enjoy.
Unexpected Situations
Accidents can happen anytime and anywhere. Enrolling into a safety training and first aid class, as well as pediatric CPR, is recommended. A babysitter should know how to handle cuts, scrapes, choking (when small toys are accidentally ingested), and more crazy scenarios. Knowing who to call in emergencies will also help when accidents happen.
Pricing Your Services
You need to consider five things when pricing your babysitting services: experience, minimum wage, number of children, special conditions, and transportation. According to Care, the average babysitting rate for only one child is about $16.25 per hour. Depending on how many hours you take on babysitting jobs and your location, you can earn $243 or more per week.
If you’re new, you can ask other baby sitters how much they charge per hour and then get the average. Don’t forget to include the number of children as well as special needs (such as giving medications or feeding through a feeding tube) in considering your base rate. And lastly, if you’re going to babysit for a family living in a location far from your home, including the transportation cost. Add extra charges on additional tasks such as cleaning the house. If you’re still not sure how to price your services, you can use online rate calculators such as this.
Nanny & Babysitter Insurance
You might ask why a babysitter would want to have insurance while babysitting. Babysitting insurance protects you when something bad happens. This includes coverage in paying medical bills when the child was harmed because of negligence. Another example is when you’re wrongly accused of sexual abuse and you need to defend yourself; the insurance will cover the legal fees.
If you’re a teenage babysitter who takes babysitting tasks as a side hustle, you don’t need to worry about babysitting insurance. Most of the time, insurances such as medical and umbrella insurance would solve the financial consequences from an unfortunate event. But if you’re an adult babysitter and you do babysitting regularly, or if your babysitting income is the majority of your income sources, getting insurance is recommended.
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10 Popular Babysitting Apps To Get Hired
1. Bambino
Platform: iOS and Android
Bambino is an app where babysitters can find job posts online. It also provides access to awesome tools like time tracking and payment platform. Clients can recommend you to their friends and other families in the community which helps find jobs and build a network. A bonus in the babysitter’s side is the feature that allows them to view reviews about clients.
Details are provided in the job request so you can directly confirm or decline without asking more details. Babysitters are grouped into four categories: Junior Sitters for 13-15 years olds, Standard Sitters for 15-19 years olds, Advanced Sitters for 18 years old and above, and Elite Sitters for 18 years olds with a background check.
What’s Good About It: Your past clients can recommend you to other families in the neighborhood. Their recommendations are visible on your profile, which can help you find more future clients.
2. Sittercity
Platform: iOS and Android
Sittercity is another babysitting platform where you can find babysitting jobs in your area just by using your phone. This platform is more specific in the details of job posts (last-minute care, after-school babysitters, newborn care, etc). Babysitters will also be asked to write about their other skills (first aid training, newborn care experience, etc.) so each party can find a better match.
Additionally, you can buy a basic background check plan for $15 or an enhanced plan for $60. These can be skipped but can be opted-in if you want to increase your profile views. Reviews and references are also a feature of this platform.
What’s Good About It: Optional background check verification to get more profile views. More customized option, where you can tailor requests based on your schedule and experience.
3. Urbansitter
Platform: iOS and Android
As per their site, top sitters can earn up to over $1,000 a week while setting their schedule. Urbansitter helps babysitters find a job without a membership fee for job leads. Just like the sitters, parents would also need to verify their identity to keep the community safe for both sitters and families.
You can start by making a free profile, providing your childcare experience, as well as your hourly schedule and rate. Parents usually post in job boards where sitters can apply. The app is free, and the sitter takes 100% of the money earned after completing a job order. A helpful map is also integrated int he app, which makes life easier.
What’s Good About It: The sitter gets all the money earned without paying fees.
4. Seeking Sitters
Platform: Web
Seeking Sitters allows you to take jobs at your preferred schedule. You can take as little job as you want per week or you can also opt for a full schedule if you want to go full-time. The app is serious about safety, that’s why they prefer sitters who have extensive experience in taking care of children. They will also require CPR and First aid training, and yo yacking or inviting visitors.
Each sitter is required to wear a SeekingSitter shirt for easy identification in the client’s part. SeekingSitter has an in-house investigation company that screens applicants. Details of events (if there are events during the babysitting period) are also verified.
What’s Good About It: The company fills last-minute babysitting requests. This also means that they will be the one to look for jobs for you.
5. Bubble
Platform: iOS and Android
If you’re friends with several sitters, and you’re in good terms with them, inviting them in Bubble is a great idea. Just like other apps on the list, the company is the one that searches for a job for you. Its also cashless, as parents will pay you directly via the integrated payment system in the app.
The win-win situation for this is the vouching system where your friend sitters can recommend you. Scheduling is easy as you only take the jobs that you want. The app also enables sitters to read reviews about parents from other sitters. Additionally, there is a £1m public liability insurance available for each sitter.
What’s Good About It: Vouching system and the £1m public liability insurance, which helps if something unexpected happens.
6. Helpr
Platform: iOS
Helpr is one of the rare babysitting platforms that offer cancel protection for their “Helpr”. It is similar to Uber in a way parents “book” babysitters. After you’re screened, you don’t have to once again get into an interview once you’re offered a job offer. Guaranteed pay is also another great feature for sitters out there.
The app is only available on iOS and has no port for Android users. Location-wise, Helpr services are pretty limited to a handful of places. If you live in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ojai, San Franciso, New York, Atlanta, Seattle, and Chicago, you can take advantage of the great service and benefits.
What’s Good About It: One-time screening, cancel protection and online help support 24/7.
7. Sitter
Platform: iOS and Android
Sitter is a unique babysitter platform in a way because it lets babysitters add their current clients in the platform. There’s a whole lot of reasons why sitters would want to add their clients in the platform. Some of the features included in the app are task tracker, time tracker, scheduler, and more. Sitters can also find new clients by applying to job boards.
Just like other apps, Sitter provides an integrated payment portal where payments are deposited directly into your bank. If you prefer cash, this option is still available. The app will only show you families that you and your friend already know unless you change the settings.
What’s Good About It: Ease of transition with your client from traditional to app-based babysitting.
8. Sitter Friends
Platform: iOS and Android
Sitter Friends requires a minimum of 16 to use their platform. You can add two references to boost your profile. The more experience you have and the better references you got, the better you’ll chance can be in passing the site. The selection process is very rigorous and usually takes up to three weeks. However, if you managed to pass the application, you can earn up to $30 per hour with additional bonuses.
What’s Good About It: It is worth it if you can pass through the application.
9. Babysits
Platform: Web
Signing up with Babysits is free and easy. Linking your Google email works, but you can also use other email service providers. The site provides a flexible schedule for its sitters, and the power to negotiate their rate per hours. Instead of recommendations, the site uses a badge system to show achievements and credentials that can boost the profile view of a sitter.
What’s Good About It: Free signup for both babysitters and parents.
10. Curated Care
Platform: Web
Curated Care gives a platform for artist and teachers who wants to babysit for a side hustle. If you know how to paint, you can teach the child you babysit how to paint while waiting for the parents to come back. Sitters are called as “Kid Experts” who have cool skills or talents that they can use to babysit.
What’s Good About It: You can apply your artistic side and don’t have to worry about preparing for a task.
Make More & Take Charge of Your Money
6-Figure Income OnlyFans Masterclass: When Rose, top .1% of adult models on OnlyFans, reached out to me about her online course I was skeptical. Hundreds of course sellers & businesses want to work with me, I rarely say yes. But as I learned more about her humble background, OnlyFans modeling experience, her SIX figure earnings, 7+ year modeling experience, and mastery of how to succeed on OnlyFans, I was impressed. You can replicate her success too, check out Rose’s proven strategies on how to earn 6-figures on OnlyFans.
$5 Meal Plan: Meal planning can take loads of time, stress, and money you shouldn’t be spending. That’s where the $5 meal plan comes in. They will give you a customized meal plan, recipes, and grocery list to take the headaches out of meal planning. They have a free 14-day trial, risk-free and you can cancel anytime.
Personal Capital: Sign up and use Personal Capital’s budgeting & net worth calculators for FREE. We use them every week to automate our finances. Think of it as a secure central command station for your finances. It’s awesome!
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