Last Friday, the Big Dubya and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss. We thought a quiet dinner out would be a nice way to mark the occasion -- but, we don't have a babysitter. We aren't from the area and our families are just shy of 3 hours away. I joked that we could celebrate by getting two toppings on the pizza instead of just one -- Dubya wasn't amused.
In fairness, Aunt P volunteered to come out and stay with the kids so we could go out for dinner or even away overnight (I'm just not ready for that yet). The problem with that very generous offer is..... if my sister drives the 3 hours to visit, I want to hang out with her -- not leave her at my house caring for my children.
Most of the time this is not an issue -- we take our kids almost everywhere and in general we enjoy spending time at home with them. However, once in a while even Moms and Dads need to go out on a date. I've considered asking one of the daycare teachers if they'd be interested in doing some babysitting for us from time-to-time, but I recently discovered that it's against the rules!!!
Our solution this time was to drive back to Boston and have my parents babysit while we went out for dinner and a show. Sadly, the Big Dubya got stuck in so much after-work traffic that we missed the show, but we did manage to go for a lovely dinner.
This is not the first time this issue has come up -- when we went to AZ with another family for Thanksgiving last year, they suggested we use the hotel babysitter so that we could do one adult-only dinner out. The 'lil man was only 5 months old and I just didn't like the idea of leaving him with strangers -- so, the Big Dubya and I stayed home with all the kids and let the other couple go take in a movie. Another time, we went to Disney... friends of ours wanted to call a highly recommended babysitting service (Fairy Godmothers or All About Kids) so that we could have one evening out -- again, I just wasn't sure I could leave him with strangers and we opted to stay home instead.
Am I alone?
8 comments:
No, you're not alone. Darren and I went out for the first time in 3 years this past weekend because the Y offered "Parents Night Out" for ages 5 - 10.
When Clare was younger, we lived about an hour away from my parents and MIL (although I'd never leave her with my MIL for any length of time anyway).
It's hard when the kids are as little as yours. If you need, give us a call - we can watch them for a while! I think I remember how to change diapers. LOL.
You are not alone at all. My husband is from the UK and I'm from Maine with family spread from there to Florida, but none near us in Pittsburgh. Any family wanting to sit would have to fly!
I think in my son's first year we escaped twice for dinner and a movie. Now that baby girl is due in a few weeks, I am determined to not let that happen again.
We are lucky that there are a few day care teachers who love to babysit, including Oliver's favorite. It's mostly the single women and they really appreciate the extra cash. (I over pay them -- we don't go out often and they don't make nearly what they are worth teaching.)
Not sure if you're near any schools of nursing but a good friend of mine has hired nursing students as sitters for years.
I have easy access to dozens of babysitters and still don't like going out unless I can leave Mags with my mom. Move back out here so we do childcare exchange!
This could be where going to church may help. You'd have access to other parents to ask about trustworthy teens.
No, you're definitely not alone. The only time we've gone out on a date since Abby was born has been when my in-laws visit. Even then we feel bad going out every time they visit, so we've only had 3 dates, I think, in over 2 years. I'm finally ready to find a reliable babysitter here, but I need to convince my husband that she'll be fine. I've been fortunate that I found a meetup.com group of moms and kids, so we've been making lots of friends but I haven't been with the group long enough to ask one of them to sit yet.
I'm lucky, I have two sets of parents within 20 minutes. If I didn't have them, would I use strangers. NO!
Do you have friends with kids that you could take turns dating/watching each other's kids? You gotta' have some adult time with your hubby!
Funny I'm reading this post today. Me and my husband are actually going out to dinner tonight! We are going with another couple, but still CHILDLESS!
It's been awhile. We spent Valentine's day (and both weekends surrounding it) watching tv after finally getting the little one in bed....yea...just like every other night! lol
Hey P.S. - Just found your blog from surfing. You and your husband should come check out a side blog I have www.dadsaidmomsaid.blogspot.com
You'd both be perfect for it!
We almost never go out away from Noodle. I am gone from her all week, the last thing I want to do is be away from her on a weekend. Although the pre-school has rules, the pre-school teachers may have trustworthy friends who are interested.
I've long believed that a cleaning woman is way cheaper than a divorce. I hate to clean, plus I am pathetic when I try. Seriously, you need to ask my husband about the time I used the wrong kind of scouring pad on all of our faucets and scratched them so much we had to replace every single one of them before we could sell our house. It's not economically sound for me to clean our house.
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