If Insanity is Contagious Don't Go to California

Because their government is losing their minds.

"Under AB 889, household “employers” (aka “parents”) who hire a babysitter on a Friday night will be legally obligated to pay at least minimum wage to any sitter over the age of 18 (unless it is a family member), provide a substitute caregiver every two hours to cover rest and meal breaks, in addition to workers' compensation coverage, overtime pay, and a meticulously calculated timecard/paycheck."

Seriously!?! At what point do we as citizens rise up and tell government busy bodies to back the "F" off? So if my best friend came over and was going to baby sit my son for four hour while hubby and I went on a date...if I lived in California I'd be required to follow this insane law.

Lovely. First of all, our nanny who watches Marshal every single day doesn't even make minimum wage. We can't afford to pay her minimum wage and we've increased her pay twice in the nearly two years she's watched him. We started paying her what we were paying the previous licensed provider. And trust me, when you break it down to hourly she's getting slave wages.

Thankfully, and blessedly, she is an amazing woman who is like Marshal's grandma. She adores and loves him and gives me all the one to one attention he needs.

But if we were in California, the government would require me to track her time with a time card and pay worker's comp and overtime and...and...and. I wouldn't be able to do it. Nor would I. We ADULTS entered into an agreed upon arrangement. We didn't need the government to dictate how our system worked.

I agree with the premise of the linked article...the goal of this bill is clearly to force parents to utilize institutionalized daycare. I hated having Marshal in daycare. It was horrible for him and he hated it too. He LOVES his nanny and we're paying less than we would to the institutional daycare. He gets the attention he needs and isn't around all the other germ factories. She gets some extra cash to supplement her social security and the company of a darling little boy. It's a win/win.

Marshal at "Miss Anne's" 

Whatever happened to responsibility? Free markets? Why does the government need to dictate how much someone pays a college gal to baby sit? Or a little old lady (she's not that old) to watch my little boy?