Going out!

We're steppin' out.   My husband and I are going to a romantic Valentine's event at La Table Exquise, and I have been looking forward to it for a few weeks.   I am not going to lie.... most of my excitement comes from the fact that my sweet beautiful child that I love with all my heart will not be in attendance.  And no matter how many experts say that regular time alone with your spouse is crucial to a happy marriage, I still feel guilty being excited about time away from her.

But this post is not about that guilt really.  That subject has been written about...and I suspect that my feelings (both the guilt and the excitement) are shared by many. No, this post is about finding a babysitter.  Because when you get beyond the guilt, you still want to go out.

The little one will for the first time have a babysitter that is not related to her.  This happened by chance, but the idea of having a plan B for when grandparents can't make it has been on my mind for awhile.

I don't know if you've noticed, but the world has changed a lot since we were the kiddies.  When I was a kid, my parents had a steady stream of dependable, if goofy, teenagers to watch the four of us.  Everyone in the neighborhood knew each other, and when you hired the local teenager, you knew the parent was just a phone call away.

My husband's mother, who grew up in NYC had a different but equally simple solution for finding someone to watch the kids.  She just called a family member who lived on the same street.  And when the family member needed to go someplace,  my mother-in-law would watch their kids.

Now life is different, or at least appears different.  We don't have a family member that lives on the block, and we don't know any of the teenagers (or their parents) on our block.  Every week, parents hear stories of bad babysitters.  Even our previously relaxed parents wondered how we could trust a "total stranger" to watch the little one.  So, now to feel like a responsible parent, modern parents feel the need to use a referral service that screens the sitters. 

My husband and I have decided this isn't necessary for us.  Before we even started to explore the referral services, we met our new babysitter by chance.  We had a chance to see her act responsibly, we met her mother, and we are friends with the gentleman she works for part time.  The little one loves her...so we are going out, and trusting this young woman. 

How do you all find babysitters? I might be able to share mine...I'll let you know :)