Mother's Helper -- what can I expect? How much to pay?

My PT nanny just told me she accepted a FT job and has limited availability, so I'm looking to hire a Mother's Helper to come several afternoons per week to help me get things done while I WAH.

Our nanny is almost part of our family, we've known her for years, trust her to drive the kids to/from activities, she's CPR certified, background-checked,f ingerprinted, good with our dog, our neighbors know her, etc...(I could go on and on about how much we adore her)...but I need to find an alternative and was wondering the following:

If the mother's helper is still in school, do they expect to come to my house right after school? How many hrs/day is reasonable? Do I drive her to/from my house? Is she never left alone with the kids? Does she do laundry/help with dinner? How much is the going rate?

TIA!!

Re: Mother's Helper -- what can I expect? How much to pay?

Was at a NYSE party last night and was speaking to a woman there. Her daughter is a mothers helper she's almost 13 and gets paid $5 an hr.

She told me its her friends kids she plays with and her friend picks her up when she needs her. Her friend has 3 children the oldest being 8 the second 4 and an 8 month old. She takes her to her oldest sons games and is able to watch her son play sports while the girl entertains the two younger kids. I asked her a bunch of questions bc she lives right around the corner from me and I definitely need her

Hth


I don't think a mothers helper is there for laundry cooking etc. I may be wrong but I'm thinking a mothers helper is a younger person who is going to play/entertain the kids so u can get things done around the house

Message edited 1/1/2012 8:56:06 PM.

Re: Mother's Helper -- what can I expect? How much to pay?

We have a Mother's Helper --- a young girl who lives on our block.

We've been using her for about a year now. We started out using her just for an hour or so while I was home. She would play with my DD in the backyard or upstairs in DD's room while I did cleaning downstairs. It was perfect for getting heavy cleaning done where I needed everyone out of my way!

We have always paid her around $10/hr because there were times when we only used her for 1 hour and I felt bad giving her less then $10.

Now that she is a bit older and knows my DD well, we will go out for 2-3 hours and it works out to be more like $8/hr for several hours. We had her over for 2.5 hours the other day and gave her $25.

As far as transportation, she lives 5 houses away so she has always walked to and from. But if it is dark out I stand at the end of my driveway and just make sure that she makes it into her house OK.

As far as laundry/cooking, she doesn't do anything like that. She is a teenager and the way I see it she is there entirely to entertain Emily and care for her!

Re: Mother's Helper -- what can I expect? How much to pay?

Interesting...this mother's helper business. How do you go about finding someone????? It would be great to have someone else to watch and entertain DS While I get some work done, I cant always depend on my mom.

Re: Mother's Helper -- what can I expect? How much to pay?

i found my mother's helper at my local library during a babysitter fair. they usually have one 1x/year in nov. she was 12 at the time and she would come 1x/wk for 2 hours to play with DS while i got work done around the house or come with me on quick errands to entertain DS (ie: supermarket, dr appts). when she started he was around 15 months old. the only cleaning i expect of her is to leave the playroom the way she finds it when she comes and to put any dishes/cups DS uses in the sink. at the time i was paying her $15 for 2 hours. her mother was so happy with that! she thought $5/hour was sufficient but i felt bad only paying her that.

now she has been with us for over 3 years and we absolutely adore her! she still comes 1x/week, but now for 3 hours. my oldest DS is 4.5 and my twins are 18 months. i still only expect her to play with them or help me feed them dinner/give them a bath. i dont expect her to make dinner or do any clean up other than put away the toys they play with. i pay her $30.

when we use her at night so DH & I go out, i usually will put the twins to bed first and she only has to put my 4.5 yo to sleep. we give her around $12/hr for night babysitting (i just round it up).

i also have a PT nanny and her responsibilities are very different (i leave her alone with the kids, expect her to do laundry and other housework, make kids meals, etc) so she obviously gets paid more than a mother's helper would.

HTH

ETA: her mother drops her off. i only drive her home when she babysits at night bc i feel bad making her parents come out to get her (she lives less than 5 min away).

Message edited 1/1/2012 11:16:41 PM.