Babysitting

[MarkBarbieri]

For those of you that are married (or partnered, or cohabitating, or whatever) with kids that need babysitting, how often do you hire a babysitter (or get free babysitting from a friend or relative) so that you are your significant other can go out for fun? I'm not talking about getting a sitter so you can work or so that each of you can go off to do separate things. How often do you get a sitter so that you can go out together?

I'm just curious about what is typical and how varied the range is.

 

[dislal]

DH and I have never hired a babysitter, once in a while my mom would babysit for us, but that is maybe 3 or 4 times a year usually at christmas time so we can shop. Now that DD14 is old enough to babysit we still don't go out just the two of us.

 

[HelenePA]

Honestly? We've never hired a sitter. My family use to watch the kids for us.. Now that both my parents and grandmother are gone we dont really do much together. My brother will watch the 3 older ones since they are old enough to do everything for themself. We usually take turns doing stuff "alone" to get away from the kids.. everyone needs a break everynow and then.

 

[DMickey28]

I'd say it averages out to once a month but usually ends up being sporadic. Some months we will go out two or even three times and then spend a few months at home. We have one couple that watches DS for us and then when someone visits us we usually go out once while they are here.

We went out two weeks ago for an early V-Day dinner and my mom is visiting this week so we will probably go out this coming weekend alone.

We have also taken a vacation alone already ... well a few!! When DS was 6 months old we went to WDW for a few days, spent NYE alone when he was 8 months old, went to Aruba for President's Club alone for three days when he was 14 months and then on a cruise when he was 1.5 years old for a week!! We, along with my parents, really feel that it's important for the parents to have alone time. My mother flies down and watches DS for us quite a bit when we have things to do.

 

[connorlevismom]

We used to go out once every other week and hired a babysitter. Things have just gotten so busy that it has been MONTHS since we have gone out. But we are going on vacation in a few weeks, just the two of us. My sister will be watching him.

Kristine

 

[JVL1018]

I voted other because it's uusally not once a month, but deinitely more than 3 or 4 times a year..there are certain times of the year we go out more often without the kids-we went out 1/31 and 2/7 for dinners-but they were officer's installation dinners dances for the ambulance corp and fire dept here in town..this Saturday we are going out without the kids as well-for a fire dept fundraiser. All fun, but not "dates" really.

In the summer my kids go to Vacation Bible School and ours is from 6-8:30 in the evening, so my husband and I go out to dinner every night for that week, LOL.
Sometimes my kids go on sleepovers the same night and we go out then.

We go out with friends for dinner about once every 2-3 months..we go out to dinner just us maybe 3-4 times a year(besides VBS week).

We hire a babysitter about 3 times a year, the rest of the time my FIL or SIL watches the kids for us.

 

[glitterkittyy]

I voted never. My oldest is nearly 12 so I suppose she could stay home by herself, but we usually just take the kids with us if there's something we want to do. We don't go on dates alone. We both work fulltime so any available time is family time for all of us to be together (usually at Disney!).

 

[Mom2Nick]

Never for us - we just don't feel the need to go out for fun without the kids. We have plenty of alone time and date nights right in the comfort of our own home after the kids are all aleep and in their rooms.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It's very rare that we go out without the kids. What works for us is to have a good routine for getting the kids to bed. It starts at 8:00 PM with teeth brushing and going potty, then we read for about 15-45 minutes. Once that is done we use the remaing 1-2 hours as "us" time.

 

[momto2girls]

It used to be a few times a year for us, but our babysitter moved away. We have no one else to sit for our children, so we just never go out alone anymore. Luckily, our children are well-behaved so we can take them almost anywhere with us.

 

[JohnsonsLoveDisney]

I voted few times a year. DH is never home so its nearly impossible to find time to go out without kids. but if we really need to go to an appointment or something together, sometimes a yearly sams club run, we'll go together and leave the kids at home.

But its never to have "us" time.

 

[Frankiesmom]

It's about once a month-my DH tends to work 6-7 days a week; and a day off is rare. But we also have a DD 16-we only hire out if she is unavailable-plans with her friends.

 

[jax677]

From the time our second daughter was born we started having date nights on friday. We always seemed to find a teenager who was so happy to have a regular gig. Even if we just did errands, it was nice to hold hands, spend time at dinner and just think about us two. Now that the kids are grown we still do friday date night. Its become a tradition that we try never to miss.

We have always said we were a couple before the kids and we wanted to instill in our kids that it is a priority.

 

[mjkacmom]

When they were younger, probably once a week - we NEEDED to get out! Now that they're not babies/toddlers/preschoolers, probably once a month. My parents will watch them, but they (my parents) go to bed early, so I'd rather pay a teen $10 an hour. Dd is turning 13 this summer, so she watches them for an hour or so for us.

 

[Amy&Dan]

When my kids were younger, my dh and I went out twice a month. I budgeted an amount out of each paycheck for that very thing. Sometimes we'd just go to the mall food court have a cheap dinner, walk around the mall and then maybe go to a dollar movie. Other times we would go out for dinner and a movie. I was a SAHM and I NEEDED some adult things to look forward to!

Now that my kids are older (12 adn 14) our adult time has evolved. Dh and I will frequently go out for a few hours on a Saturday to run errands, have lunch etc just us. But our babysitting money has been replaced by braces and older kid expenses! Our kids are also old enough now to be left alone at night so we may try to do that coming up as well. Dinner out just us, its been awhile!

We also have a group of families we do things with. Just taking turns at each others houses to have a potluck dinner. The kids all head down to whoever's basement to play Wii or watch movies, we don't see them all night! But when they were little, that never worked. Now that they are self sufficient and don't want to spend time with us old folks, its perfect.

Also, now my kids can see better movies so dh and I can go to the movies with them so that helps.

 

[Justanopinion]

I voted a few times a year but that's not exactly true. I don't think we ever just plan a date night just to go out.

The last time we went out without her we did go to dinner but the main purpose of leaving her with someone was to do Christmas shopping.

The time before that, my mom took her in August so we could go to a family wedding. The only reason we didn't take her is because we didn't know if his mother was going to be there or not. We have another wedding coming up in June that if we decide to go, we will not take her because we know for sure his mother will be there. His mother will not see my child!!!!!

We do go out to eat about every other Friday and we call it Date Night with Daddy. Her and I both dress a little nicer and it's fun. We also do Special Movie Night every other week, we watch a movie with her and then she goes to bed and we watch a movie for us. We also do special food on movie night...not your typical dinner stuff.

 

[Amy]

Whew! I don't feel so bad voting "a few times a year".

Just about every woman's magazine says that you HAVE to get out as a couple for weekly date nights, and I've always felt guilty that we only went out on birthdays and our anniversary. Well, (a) it's tough to do when the kids are young (our boys are 22 months apart in age, so they were a handful when they were little) and (b) you have to pay a babysitter $12 an hour, which is what we paid our sitter to watch 2 young, active boys when they were little, on top of whatever dinner and movie "date" costs!

Our boys are 17 and 19 now (and DS19 is away at college), and they've been watching themselves for quite a few years, but we still don't go out that much just DH and I. We DO have more "alone" time at home now, though!

 

[Jenvenza]

I said once a month, but it might be like every 6 weeks or so. We are lucky enough to have my MIL close by, so she comes over and gets to hang out with her grandbaby and hubby and I go see a movie and out to eat!

 

[Minnesota!]

A few times a year. And when we do, its usually just for 2 - 3 hours. I just prefer to do things as a family vs. with just DH.

We do have a date next month - going to Let's Dish to make some food!

 

[mickeyboat]

We don't schedule it, but we get to go out together once a month or so. As the girls get older, it is a little easier leaving them with FIL for a couple of hours, meeting up for lunch during the day, or sending them to a friend's house for a playdate while we go out to dinner. It has been a long time since we hired a teen sitter, but we have done it before for special occasions or special events

Denae