I'm hoping you guys can pray for me about a small but troublesome decision....
I've been babysitting for a family quite a bit these past two weeks. Around three days last week and a little over three days this week (note: these are 9-hour days). It looks like this will probably turn into me getting paid to watch their kids for a total of 20ish hours a week starting in the first week or two of February. My pay would come partly through a DSHS program and partly from both parents, both of whom are now working (as of last week). The general situation until now was everyone involved is barely scraping by....
The mother has said she wants to pay me something for all of this. I haven't been doing it to get money, I've been doing it to be helpful while unemployed. I know she can't afford to give me any amount out-of-pocket that would approach a reasonable hourly rate. Last week she gave me $50. It was a little hard to take but I knew she would feel bad if I didn't let her give me something.
She asked me to come up with a figure to ask her for. Of course I'm inclined to tell her just to give me what she can afford, but I'm afraid saying that will cause her to give me more than she can really afford. I don't know the details of her budget, but I do know that she's getting her first paycheck in a couple of months, she has standard expenses that are more than she gets in child support (her other source of income) and her car is currently broken down. If I refuse to take any money until it comes from DSHS, she will have a big problem with that and either insist on paying me or try to stop having me take care of the kids.
So I think the kindest thing I could do is ask for some amount. I don't quite know how to come up with that number though. You can pray that I figure that detail out and also that it is clear weather I should commit to solve there childcare problem until summer, pending DSHS funding. It's one of those situations that would be so much nicer if money wasn't wrapped up in it, but unfortunately we are all poor enough that money is an integral problem in the mess for everyone.
