(CNN Money)
It
seems like a parental dream: A college-educated babysitter shows up,
leads your kids through homework, dinnertime and a masterpiece art
project, cleans the house and then gives you a report card of how the
evening went.
This dream can be a reality thanks to high-end
babysitting services in New York City, but it comes at a price -- up to
$33 an hour.
That's more than twice the rate NYC parents typically shell out for
sitters. And it's a far cry from the paid-in-pizza,
put-the-kids-in-front-of-a-TV approach many suburban families are used
to.
Sitters Studio, a network of more than 100 caretakers in
New York and Chicago, charges about $25 for one child, and the rate goes
up depending on how many kids are at home. There's also a $20 booking
fee each time a parent reserves a sitter and a four-hour minimum.
That means for one night out, a one-child family would pay $120.
Kristina Wilson, Sitters Studio's CEO, said that while the cost is
high, parents are getting a lot for their money. All their sitters are
required to show up ten minutes early with a tote bag filled with
"artistic toys," abide by a no-TV policy, and they are required to make
sure all homework and household tasks are complete.
Plus,
because the company doesn't pay sitters in cash, the service is able to
provide families with full documentation of what they paid. This means
they can apply for Child and Dependent Care credit on federal tax
returns.
Related: 'The most surprising cost of raising my kid'
"On top of the picking children up from school and mealtime, the kids
will get a unique artistic experience every time," she said. "If our
sitter works with a child to come up with a ballet or a piece of art
made out of recycled materials, at the end of the night, they will fill
out a report card to let the parent know what they created and how it
helped with self-esteem and general creative thinking."
A number of babysitting services have cropped up to capitalize on the high price parents are willing to pay.
Hamptons Babysitters, established to cater to vacationing families in
the famed, ritzy beach towns on New York's Long Island, sets parents up
with CPR-certified sitters who are 18 and over,
have passed background checks, and are guaranteed to show up on time.
"We usually get families who maybe don't have their nannies or usual
sitters out at the beach, but want to be able to go out and leave their
children with a sitter they can trust," said Chloe Laundrie, a
22-year-old Hamptons Babysitter who just graduated college with a degree
in elementary education. She is now running the service's business end
as well.
There's a three-hour minimum, and the service charges
$25 an hour for one child, and $33 for three. On top of this, there's a
$25 booking fee.
Related: Kumbay-OMG! A $16,000 price tag for summer camp
These rates are shockingly high, even given the fact that babysitters
in New York are ranked the most expensive in the country.
The
average hourly rate for one child in New York is $15.34, according to a
survey of 7,500 families conducted by UrbanSitter. That's $1.21 more per
hour than the national average, and even beats out babysitter rates in
other big cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles. D.C. and Boston.
By comparison, the national average hourly pay for preschool teachers
is $15.11, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- and that's for
teaching a whole class. And of course, the federal minimum wage is
$7.25 an hour.
Related: How much will it cost to raise your child?
Laundrie said that parents don't seem to mind the cost.
"I hear moms say they can't put a price on childcare," she said. "Even
though the [rates] are a little bit higher, they understand most of the
time."
