Is this really a fair wage to ask for a Babysitter?

[Prime Ang]

They sound poor.

 

[faustian]

Anyone ask yet why TS was cruising facebook classifieds for babysitter jobs?

 

[scrubido]

It's outrageously cheap. You could not get a baby sitter to just drive to your house and leave for $10.00.

As to part 2-NO- It is not practical, or fair, to have a 10 year old responsible for getting his 7 year old sibling to school on time. And No, responsible parents would not head off to work leaving their 10 and 7 year old child responsible for themselves ans unsupervised.

There is a difference between a 10 and 7 year old getting themselves ready to go for school, and being completely left alone to do it.

Lol @ helpless 10 year olds

 

[cooks1]

Lol @ helpless 10 year olds

I never suggested 10 year old children were helpless.

I suggested that heading out for work before your children wake up, leaving your 10 year old child solely responsible for waking their 7 year old sibling, and making sure they both got to school on time, is not responsible parenting.

If you would care to make an argument against THAT assertion, I'd be happy to hear it.

 

[Medusas Weave]

Lol @ helpless 10 year olds

there are 30 year old helpless "grown" men. You will notice them by the tell tale signs like wearing a spiderman shirt, seeing the latest Thor movie by themselves, and playing video games 3 hours a day.

 

[ProBoxingInsidr]

plus the free sex with the father. don't forget that.

i dont actually laugh often on here, but that one got me

 

[ProBoxingInsidr]

I never suggested 10 year old children were helpless.

I suggested that heading out for work before your children wake up, leaving your 10 year old child solely responsible for waking their 7 year old sibling, and making sure they both got to school on time, is not responsible parenting.

If you would care to make an argument against THAT assertion, I'd be happy to hear it.

sure, millions of people have been doing that for years, including my sister and i when we had a single mother working 2 jobs. she was a great mom and somehow we turned out ok (my sister better than i).

 

[Prime Yossarian]

Bro, do you even convert?

The AUD reached parity with the USD 4-5 years ago, now $15 us is a bit over $20AUD. the kids making $20AUD/hour are normally 15/16 yrs old with no skills, hard to imagine them being on a similar payrate to a paramedic, but as someone pointed out things are cheaper over stateside.

Sidenote The higher payrate:cost of living is great. I loved being in my 20's, working 3 jobs for 9 months of the year living frugally, then being able to travel for 3 months all round the world.

 

[scrubido]

I never suggested 10 year old children were helpless.

I suggested that heading out for work before your children wake up, leaving your 10 year old child solely responsible for waking their 7 year old sibling, and making sure they both got to school on time, is not responsible parenting.

If you would care to make an argument against THAT assertion, I'd be happy to hear it.

It happens every day all around the world and somehow humanity survives.

 

[Prime Yossarian]

I dont know how the cost of living compares but a paramedic making 15$/hr is going go be about 50-55k a year depending on Kelly days and such. Some of my guys get up into the 60 and 70s. And I literally live/work in a top 5 poorest city in the US.

You wont get rich but you can make a pretty good living considering its a 2 year degree and you get 200+ days off a year.

I looked it up and a kelly day looks like a paid shift off if you work over 212 hours in 28 days. Is that right?

212/28 = 7.57 hrs per day = 2763 hrs per year at $15/hour = $41453 per year

how do you get to 50-55k per year?

 

[electricsheep81]

sounds like a shitty deal. Seems like you'd be making a bit more than gas money, unless the sitter lives down the road from the parents.


$20 a day seems more fair imo

 

[cooks1]

It happens every day all around the world and somehow humanity survives.

That's not really a good argument that it's responsible parenting.

Stoning little girls for 'dishonoring the family name' after they are raped also happens every day all over the world, and somehow humanity survives.

 

[scrubido]

That's not really a good argument that it's responsible parenting.

Stoning little girls for 'dishonoring the family name' after they are raped also happens every day all over the world, and somehow humanity survives.

Some people have to work really early. A 10 yr old is perfectly capable of getting a 7 yr old up and ready to school. My brother and sister grew up that way. Both parents worked early and we had to get up, get fed and get to school. It's not the enormously complicated process you think it is. My parents would leave food for us to heat up and clothes for us to wear. Call it irresponsible if you want but my parents raised us to not burn down our place in their absence.

 

[cooks1]

sure, millions of people have been doing that for years, including my sister and i when we had a single mother working 2 jobs. she was a great mom and somehow we turned out ok (my sister better than i).

Never said people didn't do it. Never said that the parents who left their 10 year old kids alone to take care of of their 7 year old siblings weren't otherwise great parents. Never said kids can't turn out OK if they end up doing that as a child. What I said was it is not responsible parenting. And I have not heard a single argument to the contrary.

My parents did it with my brother and I as well. I was 2 years older than him. And both my parents were great parents. And it was very irresponsible of both of them. Especially in 1979 before the existence of cell phones. And especially for my parents, one of whom was a teacher, and could not be contacted directly in case of an emergency. And one of whom was a sales person out in the field and could not be reached at all.

Here are 2 very good reasons it is not responsible.

1) You are leaving a LOT more up to chance. You are putting the safety and security of a 7 year old in the hands of a 10 year old. A lot more can go wrong. And the decision making of a frightened 10 yr old, on average, will not be as good as the decision making of their parent or an invested adult.

2) If something does happen, and the younger child is hurt or worse, a 9 or 10 year old kid is not emotionally capable of dealing with the guilt of that. It is absolutely ruinous to them. In fact often the parents, wanting to deflect their own personal guilt for not being as responsible as they should have been, end up resenting the older child, causing them to feel even worse.

Imagine the guilt a 10 yr old kid would feel if their little brother or sister were accidentally killed on their watch.

My wife's maid of honor lost her little sister when she was 10. Her mom worked a 4pm-1am hotel shift, and left her in charge of her little sister until their dad got home around 6pm. Her little sister was playing in the back yard and got into a big fire ant pile. She started screaming and her sister rushed out there to get her out of the pile and get all the ants off of her. She got her back in the house and washed her off and even put calamine lotion on her, like her parents did for her. By the time she realized it was a much more serious matter and called 911 and started screaming, it was too late for anyone to act in time to save her sister.

That is just not something a 10 year old really recovers from. They have 10 yr old guilt in them the rest of their lives. This poor girl is still absolutely racked with guilt 25 years later.

I'm sorry, but it's not responsible to put a 10 year old in a situation where they might have to deal with that kind of guilt. Let them stay home by them selves and watch after themselves for a while? Sure. But putting them in charge of younger siblings unsupervised-not that responsible.

Children are capable of amazing things. I remember the 10 yr old girl chasing after the guy who kidnapped her 22 month old sibling, yelling until he let him go.

http://abc13.com/news/video-man-takes-off-with-toddler-sister-helps-save-him/551939/

But just because they can do something does not mean they should. The odds of something bad happening are a lot higher. The odds of the kids not handling an issue quickly or effectively enough are greater. An 10 year olds are definitely not emotionally ready for the guilt of something like that resting upon them.

 

[edco76]

I looked it up and a kelly day looks like a paid shift off if you work over 212 hours in 28 days. Is that right?

212/28 = 7.57 hrs per day = 2763 hrs per year at $15/hour = $41453 per year

how do you get to 50-55k per year?

Over time

Our medics work 24 on 48 off. So in a 2wk pay period, you have 120hr.

15 x 80 = 1,200. then add over-time
22.5 x 40 = 900

So 2,100 per 2 weeks x 26 pay checks = 54,600

Actually you get two 120hr checks and then a 96 which would bring that down a bit. But you also get off late pretty often or whatever so you recoup a lot of that. So rather than make the math more complicated, I just said 50-55.

I'm an operations manager for a private ems service. Should we be paid more? Absolutely! But a lot of the complaining you see about fire fighters and medics making 12$ an hour is misleading. Its hard for people to wrap their heads around the schedule.

 

[scrubido]

Never said people didn't do it. Never said that the parents who left their 10 year old kids alone to take care of of their 7 year old siblings weren't otherwise great parents. Never said kids can't turn out OK if they end up doing that as a child. What I said was it is not responsible parenting. And I have not heard a single argument to the contrary.

My parents did it with my brother and I as well. I was 2 years older than him. And both my parents were great parents. And it was very irresponsible of both of them. Especially in 1979 before the existence of cell phones. And especially for my parents, one of whom was a teacher, and could not be contacted directly in case of an emergency. And one of whom was a sales person out in the field and could not be reached at all.

Here are 2 very good reasons it is not responsible.

1) You are leaving a LOT more up to chance. You are putting the safety and security of a 7 year old in the hands of a 10 year old. A lot more can go wrong. And the decision making of a frightened 10 yr old, on average, will not be as good as the decision making of their parent or an invested adult.

2) If something does happen, and the younger child is hurt or worse, a 9 or 10 year old kid is not emotionally capable of dealing with the guilt of that. It is absolutely ruinous to them. In fact often the parents, wanting to deflect their own personal guilt for not being as responsible as they should have been, end up resenting the older child, causing them to feel even worse.

Imagine the guilt a 10 yr old kid would feel if their little brother or sister were accidentally killed on their watch.

My wife's maid of honor lost her little sister when she was 10. Her mom worked a 4pm-1am hotel shift, and left her in charge of her little sister until their dad got home around 6pm. Her little sister was playing in the back yard and got into a big fire ant pile. She started screaming and her sister rushed out there to get her out of the pile and get all the ants off of her. She got her back in the house and washed her off and even put calamine lotion on her, like her parents did for her. By the time she realized it was a much more serious matter and called 911 and started screaming, it was too late for anyone to act in time to save her sister.

That is just not something a 10 year old really recovers from. They have 10 yr old guilt in them the rest of their lives. This poor girl is still absolutely racked with guilt 25 years later.

I'm sorry, but it's not responsible to put a 10 year old in a situation where they might have to deal with that kind of guilt. Let them stay home by them selves and watch after themselves for a while? Sure. But putting them in charge of younger siblings unsupervised-not that responsible.

Children are capable of amazing things. I remember the 10 yr old girl chasing after the guy who kidnapped her 22 month old sibling, yelling until he let him go.

http://abc13.com/news/video-man-takes-off-with-toddler-sister-helps-save-him/551939/

But just because they can do something does not mean they should. The odds of something bad happening are a lot higher. The odds of the kids not handling an issue quickly or effectively enough are greater. An 10 year olds are definitely not emotionally ready for the guilt of something like that resting upon them.

Do you live your life in fear of everything that could possibly happen?

 

[ajwbjj87]

I was cruising the local facebook classifieds and I saw this ad,



I don't have kids so I'm out of the loop when it comes to this kind of stuff, but this seems kind of chintzy.

Edit* Also, When I was a kid the solution to these parents problem would be to have the 10 year old get up on her own, wake up the 7 year old, have them poor themselves a bowl of cereal, brush their teeth, and walk their ass's to the bus stop.

My wife ownes a daycare 500 a month per kid minus the driving to school open 7am - 5pm, this people are borderline retarded asking ten bucks a day

 

[cooks1]

Do you live your life in fear of everything that could possibly happen?

Not at all. I don't typically dwell on things like this. I have 7 and almost 3 yr old daughters. My 7 year old is smart as a tack and gets up every day, makes and eats her breakfast, gets ready for school, and even makes her own lunch. Then she makes her way 10 houses down to a bus stop that I swear to Zeus has more parents at it than children. So I know full well what children are capable of. And I know full well that parents tend to go a little overboard in this day and age protecting their children.

But I don't think my wife and I will be strolling out of the house at 6:30 on a school day morning when my daughter is 10, leaving her alone to get her then 6 year old sister ready for first grade. Why? Because it's not responsible. Regardless of whether she is capable of it or not, it's not her job. And she certainly will not be emotionally capable of handling the guilt if something happened to her sister. And while the odds of something like that happening are admittedly remote, we won't be putting her in that position. Because putting your children in a position like that is not responsible.

There are much better ways to teach 10 year olds responsibility that putting the life and well being of their younger sibling in their unsupervised hands.

 

[scrubido]

Not at all. I don't typically dwell on things like this. I have 7 and almost 3 yr old daughters. My 7 year old is smart as a tack and gets up every day, makes and eats her breakfast, gets ready for school, and even makes her own lunch. Then she makes her way 10 houses down to a bus stop that I swear to Zeus has more parents at it than children. So I know full well what children are capable of. And I know full well that parents tend to go a little overboard in this day and age protecting their children.

But I don't think my wife and I will be strolling out of the house at 6:30 on a school day morning when my daughter is 10, leaving her alone to get her then 6 year old sister ready for first grade. Why? Because it's not responsible. Regardless of whether she is capable of it or not, it's not her job. And she certainly will not be emotionally capable of handling the guilt if something happened to her sister. And while the odds of something like that happening are admittedly remote, we won't be putting her in that position. Because putting your children in a position like that is not responsible.

There are much better ways to teach 10 year olds responsibility that putting the life and well being of their younger sibling in their unsupervised hands.

Of course there are and for all you know, the parents that dont have the option to take their kids to school every morning teach them responsibility in other ways as well.

 

[cooks1]

Of course there are and for all you know, the parents that dont have the option to take their kids to school every morning teach them responsibility in other ways as well.

I am sure they do teach them responsibility in other ways. And I am sure most if not all of the parents that head off to work leaving a 10 year old to take care of a younger sibling and get them off to school are doing so because they don't feel like they have a choice. But they most certainly do have a choice. It is just a choice where both alternatives are shitty. And those are the toughest ones.:icon_chee

I am friends with many parents that face this predicament. And you know what? None of them are happy about doing it. None of them are walking around acting as you are, going 'what's the BFD about it bro?' All of them feel anxiety about it. As you say, they are pinned in a corner. They know it's not the best thing. They know it's not responsible. The alternative is less money for the family and a different lifestyle, which can have it's own consequences.

I am not suggesting that parents that do this are shitty awful parents. I am saying that in this instance, they are not making a responsible decision.