Anyone Get a Regular Babysitter on Top of DayCare?

carrie4g · August 2009

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed for this one... I'm curious if any WMs have a regular weekend sitter so you can go out with DH. How does this work in terms of what hours and is it worth it? I'm hestitant to commit but DH wants to do this 2x per month on a regular schedule. It would be at night - not during the day. If you do this, how has it helped you?

madhatter2003 · August 2009

Yes, we have a friday or saturday night sitter 2x a month (more when we can afford it)....we use one of the teachers from our daycare who wants extra $$$. It works great for us since the kids already 'know' her and she knows us and what the kids like, etc.

Every marriage needs work/time, and you need to do what you need to do.

jlw2505 · August 2009

My ILs babysit my girls about once a month either for an evening from say after nap until we get home at around 9 or 10 or every so often they pick them up before lunch. We also use one of my DD's past teachers who is no longer working (has a baby and decided not to go back) and we have another sitter that we rarely use but is great for back-ups. We tend to use a sitter about once a month on average. We both work FT and the girls are in daycare FT> We do at home dates the other weekends.

qw23fv09ij87tf23 · August 2009

We have a college student that comes at least twice a month on Saturdays. We never know which Saturdays but she is always available when we call her. She is also a Nanny for another family during the week. This gives DH and I time together. I do not see anything wrong with it. More than likely the girls are sleeping by the time we go out.

duchess0727 · August 2009

Why would you get flamed for this?

We use two of the teachers at Andrew's daycare, a college student or my ILs to watch our kids on weekend nights. We try to do this at least every other week (doesn't always work) either just to get out ourselves and spend some kid-free, housework-free time together as a couple or to spend some kid-free time with our friends.

I would not be sane without this time .... do it! It's worth every penny.

Pesky · August 2009

We go out usually once a month. We have a sitter that we use regularly -- she is a college student who was one of DD's infant teachers at her DC. We just tell her when to show up and usually are not gone for too long simply because we know the kids will be up at 6 am regardless of when we got in. We pay her about $10-12/hr plus tip. It is actually terrific to have this one on one time with DH and I think has really helped our marriage adjust to having kids.

dope.fly.fresh · August 2009

I have a different person but I am working on finding a steady one.

MaestraMama · August 2009

We have started once a month (Saturday) date nights. We use one of DD's teachers from daycare, so she's familiar with her. I love getting out w/ DH once a month and since it's so infrequent, I don't really have any guilt about spending the evening out...she's asleep for most of the time anyway!

AlisaS · August 2009

Flamed? Hell no. DH and I need to get out more often. Planning ahead makes it happen. Otherwise, the weeks just get away from you.

We do use our regular teacher - she needs the extra cash - or my sister.

flyer23 · August 2009

Yeah, no flames here... heck, we just took our first kid-free vacation (we went to Vegas, MIL came up to stay with DD for 3 days) and it was WONDERFUL. Definitely a good thing for our marriage, just having time to talk and relax and have FUN with each other, without having to worry about getting home for naptime or not staying out too late for our sitter.

We used to have a regular sitter, but she just moved away Sad We're working on lining up another one. We don't always do stuff on weekends -- in fact, I would say it's more common for us to go out on a weeknight. It kinda sucks when DD gets home from preschool and I just get maybe 30 mins with her before leaving again, but she never seems to mind and again, it's such a positive thing for DH and me.

I figure happy mom + happy dad = happy marriage = happy kids. I wouldn't do it every night, but 1, 2, 3 nights a month... absolutely.

worleygirl · September 2009

I have one booked for Sept 11 and I can't wait! DH and I need some time away. Although I will still have to pump....

There is nothing wrong with wanting time with your husband!!!!!

dpdw · September 2009

I'd sooner flame the person who doesn't make time to spend with their husband! IMO a strong marriage is the foundation of a happy family.

We've gone through a few different sitters, but finally found one who is great & has the availabilty we need. We've used her twice last month & have another night scheduled this month. We can't commit to a specific # of times a month. It's whenever we need a night to ourselves or have an adults-only party to attend.

Our kids are 3.5 & 1.5. Up until this last time, we've put the kids to bed & the sitter is just there in case they wake up, which they've never done. This last time we put the 1.5 yo to bed & the sitter put the 3.5 yo to bed.

BoxTer · September 2009

No flames here! We have no local family so if we didn't use sitters, we'd never get to go out on our own. I have three sitters I use regularly. DD goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. and we usually don't go out until 7 or so. The sitters have a REALLY easy job when they come to my house. I joke that we're paying them to sit on our couch and watch TV. We try to do a date night, usually on a Saturday, at least twice a month. Looking forward to going out to watch football this Sat. night! It's so important to have couple time. Sometimes we also meet for lunch since we work near each other.

krub · September 2009

We usually have one of our parents watch our kids about 2 Sats a month b/c 1) we're cheap and 2) they're willing. When the kids were younger, we'd try to not leave until they were in bed b/c it was a little touchy to get them to sleep. Now, we drop them off early and enjoy some time at home alone before we go out.

IMO, it is just as important to spend time on your marriage as it is to spend time with your kids. You'd be doing them a great injustice by not having a healthy relationship with your DH.

Temp655608750006792 · September 2009

We have a sitter twice a week but it's because I leave for work (overnights) and my husband is still at work. Unfortunately it's not for pleasure. It's sucks because the money is flying right out the door. DD is sleeping the entire time and it's still 10/hour. Oh well, she is safe and I am comfortable with her.

mgfit1 · September 2009

We don't have a "reglular" time, but we do occasionally get sitters and go out. When DS was younger we use to go out later around 7pm so it was close to DS's bed time so we still got to spend time with him before we left. Now he stays up later and he loves our babysitter and can't wait to have her over to watch him so we go a bit earlier a lot of times. I think we should to a regular night.....it seems so sporadic that we get out anymore just the two of us!

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