Welcome to: Ask the expert!

How much do you charge when two or three families want you to watch their children all together?

For a temporary situation (babysitting here and there), I would charge whatever your regular rate would be for one family, and each additional family pays $3.00 an hour. So if you charge $10 normally for evening babysitting, you can safely ask for $16.00 an hour for all three families.

For a regular gig with multiple families (part time or full time) California state law requires you to obtain a license when you are watching children from more than one family. Visit the Community Care Licensing Division of California for more information. Obtaining a license is not as hard as it seems. Protecting yourself from liabilty of being sued for any reason is PRIORITY number one when working with multiple families - which licensing will not protect you against. A safe environment is very important and that is a requirement of obtaining a license to provide child care in your home or someone elses. Liability insurance is always a benefit!

Once you get licensing out of the way, the rate your charge would depend on what type of services you would be providing (meals, driving, educational material etc) Generally, if I was to have my own in-home facility serving a few families, my rates would be between $24 (4 hours) - $48 (8 hours) a day depending on the amount of hours the child would be in my care. You can also visit my proposed "in home child care" for more information.

How do I get more clients?

Well, you can start here for one! (If you live in San Diego). What I used to do is flier local neighborhoods (it's against the law to put fliers in mailboxes). I would put them up at community centers with their approval and pass the word out to any parents I would meet. Fliers and business cards are a great idea. Your fliers should have a selling point: your rates, services, qualifications and contact info of course. Building a web site is another costly but lucrative way to attract attention to your services, if you really want to get attention. There is more to the web than just building the site, you need to market it to search engines and have a good designer. You can email my web designer Susan Fox who can create an affordable & attractive web site for you!

What if I am afraid some parent/boss will give me a bad reference?

OH! That dreadful thought could send us into a tizzy! Chances are if you think they might, they quite possibly will.

A lot of people do not know this but it's against that law to give an explicit bad reference. In the US, this practice is illegal. An employer can only verify your dates of employment and whether they would chose to hire you back. Most big companies know this, but that evil mother of that bratty child may give your prospective client an earful! BOTTOM LINE: A reference is between a prospective parent and a previous parent you worked for, and anything can happen w/out your knowledge. You may have some legal recourse should you find out, depending on the applicable laws (as it is slander). Proving it in court is hard to do, so try to give only references of people that will speak highly of you and calling them ahead of time to let them know "you will get a call from so-n-so" often helps in your favor. Acquiring written references from those special families for your portfolio is always a plus! Yes, you should be collecting anything that makes you look exceptional for your portfolio (resume, letters, pictures etc). My portfolio has letters of recommendation dating back into my teens and tons of pictures (but then again, I am a teacher).

I am an immigrant from another country. Can you help me find work?

My web site functions as a place to promote my services and offer referrals to the child care providers that pay to be on my web site. I do have a referral area where you can list your services. If you are here legally & are qualified, you shouldn't have a problem finding a family. If you are here illegally, I cannot list your services on my web site under any condition, and I don't have any advice either.

When can I start babysitting? (at what age)

I started babysitting at the age of 13 or 14. My parents thought I was responsible enough, and they told me that I had to start saving for a car. I put up fliers in the neighborhood and had 2 steady families whose houses I could walk to in our development. I think I made $6-7 an hour. Along with that and working at a Deli/Pizza place at age 14 & 15, I saved up $2,000 in babysitting money by the time I was 16 to buy a used 82 Toyota Corolla. I drove the car proudly until I was 23! It never broke down. It is very hard for a teenage to save the money on their own. My parents collected my money and deposited into an account that I didn't really have access to (but was in my name). They gave me $10 here and there and an allowance, so when I turned 16, it was a surprise to see how much I saved.

Can I get more clients by signing up and registering on all these different nation-wide babsitting web sites?

It didn't help me. I signed up and put up my profile and EVERY web site that connects parents with sitters. I have not, to this DAY ever got an email from someone that saw my profile and I live in a big city. My philosophy is, if the parents have to pay to find us, they will not come. After all, would you pay an entrance fee to shop in a shopping mall? So why would parents want to pay a fee before they find a sitter? I think those sites would work better if they charge the sitters a small fee to advertise their services, and let the parents find sitters for FREE. I have yet to see a web site that works like this besides mine.

Also, be very weary when getting an email or contacted to meet a family from one of these sites. You never know who is on these web sites. The internet has been used by predators and it's always good to protect yourself by meeting a family in a public place. If you are under 18, your parents can help with screening families, too.

How do I report my earnings to the IRS?

Good question! Well as long as you are old enough to earn money, you are old enough to give some to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). If you earned more than $400 in one year from a family, you are supposed to report that income to the IRS with a special form come tax time. You should visit the IRS to find out more information on SELF-EMPLOYMENT TAXES.

If you earned $1,300 or more from one family, they must report it as well b/c you were technically an employee. The family generally must withhold social security and Medicare taxes from all cash wages they paid you. Some families will opt to pay you cash which makes not reporting tempting. This is illegal and dishonest, and will not give you good business sense should you make a go at being self-employed.

The benefits to claiming this taxable income, are the "write offs" you can have against the taxable income you earned (mileage, supplies, cell phone etc) that relate directly to babysitting career. The IRS is the best place for answers! I am still learning myself.

What do I tell the parents if I had a terrible time watching their child(ren)?

Oh! This can be a tough one. If you really think that you tried your best to discipline and redirect bad behaviors, and the child still showed disrespect towards you (or had the WORLD-REVOLVES-AROUND-ME-SYNDROME), then you have the right to express what you witnessed in their child with grace and tact to the parents.

Remember that you can always approach things in a MY-FAULT-MANNER by starting off with telling them a situation and then saying "I tried to do A, B & C with your child, but they actived like D, E & F - maybe I was doing something wrong and you have some tips on how I can do A, B & C better" You'd be surprised at how understanding some parents can be when you come from that "MY-FAULT-MANNER" - sticking to FACTS and less EMOTION, and of course there are the ones that have NO-NOT-MY-CHILD-SYNDROME.

I have to admit that there were a few times in my years where the parents came home [finally!] and I said "all went fine" and booked it out the door, cash in hand only to NEVER sit for them again and be suddenly "SO BOOKED UP". This is usually because I can clearly see why the child had issues [or witnessed parental behaviors that were not becoming of a respectful, independent child] and decided it was best not to lecture a parent on disciplining techniques or proper boundaries when I have no children of my own or at least a BRICK WALL or BODY GUARD between us.

My mother always said, "WAIT UNTIL YOUR A PARENT!" So on that note, use your best judgement because it's a thin line when dealing with a new family, who in essense, are complete and total strangers to you.

How old should I be before I start babysitting?

Well, that all depends on your level of maturity. I have met 13 year olds, I wouldn't let walk my dog, let alone watch a child. I have also met some very mature and composed 13 year olds that would make excellent babysitters. From the calls I get, it seems a lot of families these days are having older teenage (16-18) watch their children (and usually they know them already from the neighborhood or a family friend).

I think that most parents want someone that can drive in case of an emergency and act with commense sense and reliability, which 11-15 year olds are still working on developing. (These opinions are based on what parents tell me, as I am not a parent have had no experiences with hiring teenage babysitters; but I have worked with teens before in child care environments-so these opinions are based on heresay from parents and things I have observed).

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