A California mom is calling out teens for their “outrageous” babysitting rates.
“The other day my daughter came to me and said, 'I got my first babysitting job. I think I'm going to charge them $20,” Alissa Haroush began a TikTok video.
Haroush's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Twenty dollars an hour for a 10th grader with no experience!?
“Let's break this down,” Haroush said in the clip. 'You can't even work legally. You don't have a college degree, you don't even have a degree secondary school rank.”
Not only that, Haroush noted that her daughter does not have a driver's license or CPR certification.
“This is ridiculous!” Haroush exclaimed. “It's unskilled labor.”
Not everyone agreed.
“We show them that they value themselves and are not used by other adults,” one person wrote in the comments.
When a Tiktoker wondered what Haroush meant by “unskilled labor,” she replied, “Is a 15-year-old skilled labor?”
Haroush, a jeweler and mother of three in Los Angeles, says teen sitters lack “the same value” as experienced adults.
“We are corrupting our children. They are getting more and more rights,” Haroush tells TODAY.com. “Yes, I think my children deserve the best in life. But I also think they have to earn it.”
According to Haroush, new babysitters should be charged a minimum wage, and caring for one child should cost the same as caring for four.
A study by Urbansitter found that average babysitting rates in the United States increased by 4.5% in 2024, surpassing inflation by 3.4%.
The average hourly rate for a nanny nationally is $23.61 for one child and $26.57 for two children.
Women's empowerment speaker Andrea Owen went viral in 2016 when she argued that teenage babysitters should feel empowered to name their prize.
“My experience with this is that the girls usually say, 'Whatever you want to pay me is fine.' NO. THIS IS NOT OKAY,” Owen wrote on Facebook. “This starts at home. Parents, teach your children, and ESPECIALLY your daughters, to name its price and stand in it with confidence. 'I would really like to look after your children and I charge X per hour for that.' Practice it with her.
“It may sound crazy, but as girls we are not encouraged to ask for our worth,” Owen continued. “Babysitting is often a first job for girls, we need to help them succeed in future jobs and not be afraid to ask for what she deserves.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
