Believe it or not, my husband and I hired our very first babysitter tonight. Yes, my kids are 8, 6, 4, and 1 1/2, and we had never hired a babysitter before. My family has always watched the kids, or they’ve been in childcare at church and the gym.
I’m certainly not opposed to hiring a babysitter, but we’ve never really had a need or want to do so. When hubby asked me if I wanted to go see a movie with him this weekend, I knew I had to figure something out. We were able to get a neighborhood babysitter that had availability so we could give it a go!
5 Things I Learned from Hiring a Babysitter
1. Date Night has never been so expensive!
We paid $50 for the sitter, $19 for two movie tickets, and $38 for dinner. WOWZA! I know many of you are laughing at this, but we have never paid for this before! If a family member has not been available, we just haven’t been on a date… period!
To be fair, our sitter was only $10 an hour, which is pretty darn cheap for watching 4 kiddos. The cost was reasonable, but we still have a little lingering sticker shock.
2. We’re left wondering what we missed out on.
Frankly, we have no idea what went down while we were gone. From what I understand, the kids played on the Wii U, ate sandwiches for dinner, and Grace got the sitter to do some Rainbow Loom (surprise!). She also brought some Oreo truffles for the kiddos to enjoy, which was a nice touch! Michael told me he pouted for a while, and showed me exactly how and where he did it, because I made him turn Minecraft off before I left.
3. The kids can survive, quite happily, parent-free.
Apparently there were no major meltdowns or crying spells while we were out. While they make it a point to scream and cry, at least briefly, every couple of hours for me, they were kind enough to hold it in while the babysitter was at our home.
4. It really is possible to go out without worrying about the kids.
I’m going to let the cat out of the bag. When we have family watching the kids, I actually think about the kids and that family member (or members) almost the whole time. I’m always worried about how they are acting and if we’re taking too long the whole time.
However, with a hired sitter, that pressure is pretty well gone. She knew our time frame, she knew she would be getting paid, we knew our budget and how much we were willing to pay (so we got home on time), and I didn’t have to worry too much about the kids being terrible. Sure, if they were naughty, it would be a little embarrassing and temporarily disappointing, but I wouldn’t have to hear about it at every family holiday, you know?
5. I am ready to do it again sometime!
I don’t know why we didn’t do this before now. Now that we’ve found a good sitter and know that the kids are comfortable with a non-family member watching them, I think we can prioritize date night more often.
How often do you go on a date night?
Do you hire a babysitter or use family and friends?
Emilee says
That is awesome that you took a chance and hired a sitter! We’ve done it before but not often because of the cost. Everyone we’ve asked charges $5-6/hour for the first child then an additional $3-4/hour for each additional child. So it just gets too costly. Maybe when we have a bigger budget again we can, but for now, it’s just family or friends – or no date night! You’re right, though. I worry far less and don’t feel rushed when we had a sitter!
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Cristin Frank says
It helps having your older kids who know and can communicate house rules. It’s impossible to tell the babysitter everything she might need to know.
Cristin Frank recently posted…What Happened to Moderation?
Rachel says
Good for you, having a night out! And you deserve it with 4 kids on board. I have 2 and I wouldn’t know how to manage 2 more 😀 We never hired a babysitter before, family members help us. If they are not available, we go out with the kids, if possible.
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