To be clear, I do have a babysitter. One that watches Peanut expertly during the days while we are at work.
What just dawned on me is that I don't have a babysitter to watch her if the husband and I want to have a grown up night. We usually rely on my parents who live an hour away or my sister who lives about 20 minutes away. And while both are generous, they have their own things to do and lives to lead.
We don't have someone in town that we can call up, have come over and stay with Peanut for an evening.
I remember babysitting the neighbor kids very early on when I was probably no older than 13. I can't even fathom leaving Peanut with a 13 year old. Or a 17 year old for that matter.
I don't feel like we are missing out on a bunch by not going out but it would be nice to know that there is someone we can call so we can have a dinner out just the two of us.
Do you have a neighborhood teen that you count on?
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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7 comments:
We don't have a teenager we trust around here, but we do have several friends with kids -- including one couple who live just around the corner -- with whom we have a standing agreement to swap babysitting.
Since my husband works in a school we have a handful of "his kids" that watch Sophie. Some live closer than others (one lives nearly an hour away) but since these kids are in Phillip's classes and he advises some of them it is very comforting knowing that a kind, trusting, intelligent teenager is watching over our child while we are out. I just wish we had the reliable neighborhood kid (like I used to be;) here in the neighborhood kid.
Sadly, we are without the neighborhood teen babysitter. We the neighborhood grandparent babysitters, but like you--they have their own things going on. We have poached a few of Ezra's daycare teachers for an afternoon here and there, but that's about it. Oh, and I guess friends who have kids Ezra's age who have offered to babysit.
If we did have someone in the neighborhood, I fear T and I would be tempted to slip out all the time, so perhaps it's best we don't.
My oldest son will be 5 next month and a few weeks ago we hired a babysitter for the FIRST time. We'd only left them with friends or family before - and our fam is all FAR away so we rarely left them at all.
She's 20 and we've used her 3 times already. I wouldn't leave my kids with a 12 or 13 yr old although *I* babysat at that age and think I was pretty good at it.
Nope, no teen. Maybe when they're older - like the age when they could just order pizza & watch a movie with a 14 year old for company - I'd be OK with a teenager. But with kids this little, nope, can't do it. Our daytime nanny sometimes watches our boys at night, or we have my folks or a coworkers crazy responsible college-age daughter.
But then again, I don't even know any teenagers in our neighborhood. The oldest kid on our block is seven.
Besides that, we go out maybe once a month, because it's just so expensive to pay a sitter and to pay for whatever we're going to do.
Yeah, I think I'm going to wait until Peanut is older and can tell us, "Yeah, Suzy made out with her boyfriend the entire time she was here."
I might try to work out an arrangement though with a couple other moms I know. It would be nice to go out but also be great for Peanut to have someone else to play with.
I totally understand how you feel. We mostly rely on family and adult friends, but we have had a trusted teenager come over and babysit Little Man a couple times. He loves playing with her and is enamored with her red hair. She's the daughter of one of my friends, so I trust her. If we weren't teachers with a vast knowledge of parents and teenagers, we'd be out of luck.
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