Although child care can be fairly expensive, many working parents find it necessary, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many families are scrambling to make ends meet and looking for any opportunity to save money, even on daycare fees.
A screenshot of a post from user JohnnyLong123 shared on Reddit was taken from Facebook. It sounds acceptable so far, but there’s more to the post where a woman states that she “is going back to work” and needs a “trustworthy babysitter.”
The mom explained that she has “3 kids. 1-month-old girl, 1-year-old boy, and 3-year-old girl. And I would be willing to pay weekly.”
Again, this still seems logical. Although the prospect of receiving a payment each week sounds appealing, anyone considering this babysitting offer would probably quickly lose interest.
“To start off, the pay would be $160 a week for all the children, then I could up the price,” the mom began.
You read that right: $160 a week for all the kids! That may be acceptable if the babysitter only worked a few hours per day, but unfortunately, she works full-time. The babysitter would be required to watch the children in his or her own house, working from roughly 7 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday.
“I’m planning on going back to work hopefully by April 6th if I can secure a trustworthy babysitter… I’d prefer my children be cared for at the babysitter’s home. I will need them to be picked up and dropped off before and after work. I’m looking for hours eight to five Monday through Friday, so babysitting hours range from 7 am to 6 pm possibly. I would have to talk with and meet you in person, of course, before setting up care, and I would like to have someone that genuinely loves children. If interested, message me,” the Mom wrote.
The working mom simply was not willing to pay a hardworking babysitter enough money for such delicate work, as someone on the neighborhood forum broke it down for the mom as a response.
“Do you realize that you are paying $3.50 per hour? For three children? And dropped off and picked up? I would be very careful hiring anyone for this little. They might put your kids in danger,” the comment said.
Many had a lot to say about the mom’s desperation to hire someone for such a low wage after the babysitting job’s posting was shared on Reddit.
“This woman is trying to find child care at less than a dollar per child per hour. I assume the babysitter, in addition to picking up and dropping off the children and spending her own gas money and vehicle wear and tear, would also be responsible for feeding three kids for free as well. At the end of it, the babysitter would essentially be paying the CB to watch her kids.”
Another individual voiced their worry that mom isn’t thinking about her kids’ safety saying:
“It’s like these people are all looking for somebody who is independently wealthy but for some reason wants to raise their kids for them as a hobby (ignoring the fact that ‘some reason’ is almost always ‘they’re a pedophile’).”
Sources: AWM, Twistedsifter, Pupperish