There’s been a lot of discourse surrounding babysitters’ responsibilities, their rates, and how we, as parents, navigate the wild world of childcare. One mom is a little peeved after coming home from a night out to a messy house… that she didn’t really create.
“So, we had a sitter last night that we paid $35 an hour for two kids that were only awake for two hours of the time she was here,” TikTok user @allekjackson begins in her video with almost half a million views.
“Not one toy picked up, not one dish put in the dishwasher, washed, even like the food from their dinner plates was just like still on the plates on the counter.”
She goes on to say that when she was a babysitter when she was younger, she cleaned after the kids went to bed “without being asked.”
“…Even if the dishes weren’t from necessarily like that night, I would do the dishes in the sink. I would clean up all the toys. I would like make sure the house was tidy before the parents came home,” she said.
“Maybe this is just the way I was raised, [but] the sitters we’ve had, like don’t really do this, like some are a little better than others.”
Before even getting through the video, she recognized that this might be her fault, failing to set those kinds of boundaries ahead of time.
“I guess I now need to start like setting the standard when we meet them the first time, like, ‘Hey, and we expect you to like pick up after the dinner.’”
She asked, “Is this crazy of me to think? I definitely don’t think so, and for $35 fricking dollars an hour!”
The comments were mixed when it came to the OP’s confusion.
“You hired a babysitter, not a maid,” one user wrote.
“You paid her to watch your kids, not to clean your house. Just because you did more than you had been asked doesn’t mean someone else has to 🤷🏼♀️but yes, you should always set an expectation,” another said.
Another said, “thats not her job big dawg. thats just courtesy. and optional”
However, there were several people on the OP’s side, noting that they just don’t make babysitters like they used to.
One user said, “$35 an hour to not clean up the food the kids ate while in her care is INSANE. Per the logic of these comments babysitters should just leave changed diapers on the ground bc they’re not a maid! I’m floooored lmao”
Another wrote, “I used to ask for $15 an hour, clean the house, all dishes, bathe and put the children to bed, and then hide the wrappers from the snacks in the trash so there was no evidence of me eating 3 fruit roll ups when they went to bed. 🤣”
One user said, “Some of these comments??? A baby sitter should definitely pick up the toys and clean up after dinner. Honestly I can’t believe some people think that’s crazy. Yikes.”
Another user found a middle-ground and noted, “Cleaning up after the kids yes. Cleaning the house no. I would always pick up after the kids. My rule was to leave the house the way I found it. If you had dirty dishes whe she arrived you shouldn’t expect her to clean up.”
