How to Start Babysitting
Three decisions before the first job, and then five jobs that teach you everything else.
Babysitting looks like it needs no preparation, which is why most people start badly and stay there. You take whatever the first family offers, you never write anything down, and two years later you are on the same rate you accepted when you were fourteen.
Twenty minutes of deciding up front changes all of it.
Decide three things before you take a booking
Your rate
Not a guess and not what your friend charges. A number built from where you live, how old the children are, how many there are, and what you can actually do. The national average is meaningless on your street. Rates in San Francisco and rates in San Antonio are a long way apart, and you are being paid on your street.
Your hours
Which evenings, how late, and whether you do overnights. Deciding this once, in advance, means you never have to invent a policy at ten at night while a parent is waiting for an answer.
What you do not do
Everyone has a line. Pets, cooking a full meal, driving children anywhere, more than three at once, newborns. None of those are unreasonable. All of them are much harder to introduce later, once a family has got used to you doing them for free.
Two questions usually come up before any of this. How old you have to be, where the real answer surprises most people, and whether you need a license, where the answer is no.
The free calculator builds your rate from your area, your experience, the ages and how many children. Two minutes, no card.
Work out my rateJob one: the one you meet first
Never take a first booking with a family you have not met. Arrange fifteen minutes at their house beforehand, with the parents there. You will be treated as more professional for asking, not less.
What to ask while you are there:
- Bedtimes, and what the routine actually looks like
- Allergies and anything medical, written down, not just said
- What the children are allowed to eat and watch
- Where the first aid kit is and how the doors lock
- A second contact, in case they do not pick up
- What time they expect to be back, and what happens if they are late
That last one sounds pushy the first time you say it. It is the single question that saves the most money and resentment over a year of sitting.
If you want the evening itself broken down hour by hour, from the handover to bedtime, that is its own piece.
Job two: the one where something goes wrong
It will. A child will not sleep, or will be sick, or will cry for two hours for no reason anyone can identify. This is normal and it is not a verdict on you.
The only thing that matters is that you tell the parents plainly when they get home. Sitters who hide the difficult bits do not get asked back. Sitters who say "she was upset from about eight until nine, I tried X and Y, in the end she settled with the hall light on" get asked back for years.
Job three: the first repeat
The first family who books you twice is worth more than any advert. Ask them, once, at the end of a good evening, whether they know anyone else looking.
Most sitters never ask. It is the cheapest job you will ever get.
Referrals are only one of the routes, and they are the best one. The other five are in how to get babysitting jobs.
Job four: the one where you get paid properly
Decide before the night how you want to be paid and say it when you confirm the booking, not when you are standing in the hall.
Just so it is easy on the night, I take cash or a transfer, whichever suits you.
Sent by text three days before, that sentence removes the entire awkward moment at the door. The awkwardness was never about the money. It was about raising it at the wrong time.
Job five: the one where you raise your rate
You will be better after ten jobs than you were at one, and better again after a year. Your rate should move with that, and January is the natural time to do it because everybody expects prices to change then.
Raising a rate on a family you like is the single hardest conversation in this job. It is hard because you have to say a number out loud to somebody whose kitchen you stand in, and the number sounds enormous in your mouth and completely normal in theirs.
The Script is eighteen chapters of the exact words: quoting a new family, answering in the doorway, chasing what you are owed, and raising your rate on a family you have had for years.
See The Script · $19What to bring
A phone charger. Something to do after bedtime that is not just your phone. A card or a note with your number on it, so the parents have it somewhere other than their messages. If you have a certification, bring the certificate once and let them see it, then never mention it again.
Common questions
How do I start babysitting for the first time?
Decide your rate, your hours and your limits first. Then start with a family who already knows you, meet them before the first booking, and ask about bedtimes, allergies, emergency contacts and what happens if they are late back.
What should I charge for my first babysitting job?
Your area rate for the number and ages of children, not a beginner discount. Starting low is the most expensive decision in babysitting because families rarely accept an increase from someone they hired cheap.
Is babysitting a real job?
Yes, and treating it as one is most of the difference in what people earn from it. Sitters who set a rate, state a cancellation policy and keep a record of hours make substantially more than sitters who take what is offered.
What should I ask parents before babysitting?
Bedtimes and routine, allergies and medication in writing, house rules on food and screens, where the first aid kit is, a second emergency contact, and what time they expect to be home.