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If you use care.com or sittercity or whatever, let me tell you, you MUST call the references.
There are a lot of crazies out there.
You should do that with anyone you don't know. Hire a stranger to sit for your kids? Really?? That was my first reaction to the church suggestion. Churches have crazies and pervs in their congregation, too. I assume/hope the OP is smarter than that.
Um, based on what you've posted, you haven't had an outing as a couple without your child in tow in over 6 months. Yeah, that's a huge glaring flag about your marriage.
Call your pediatrician's office. They might be able to help.
Does your area have a drop in day care? Our town had a Right Time Kids that many parents used for date nights and doing errands. They were open from 9 am until 11 pm. They weren't a school....it was more like a organized play date for the kids.
Thank you for the comments. Mostly it's confirming what I already guessed, which is that we're kind of screwed unless I can find someone at work who lives in my area, has small kids, and can refer a babysitter. Sigh. Our new area is really spread out, not a huge population center, so people live fairly far flung. I work with bachelor guys and 50+ women with college aged kids, all of whom live a good 45-60 min+ away from me even if they did have a referral.
We've been staying away from sittercity/ care.com because I really don't feel good about hiring someone I've found on the internet. I checked for my area and most of the people listed do not even have references.
In the evening (if before 8 PM or so) we would need someone to come to our house. LO is only four and he's pretty much incapable of being awake past 8:30 or so. Today he skipped his nap, and promptly fell asleep in the car around 5:30 PM when we went out to eat. Really we just need someone to sit in our house while he sleeps...
You should do that with anyone you don't know. Hire a stranger to sit for your kids? Really?? That was my first reaction to the church suggestion. Churches have crazies and pervs in their congregation, too. I assume/hope the OP is smarter than that.
I mean there are reviews on there.
But there are some people with good comments, etc, who got them from families who just wanted them to go away.
But when we called the actual families, they were like, "OH, HELL, NO. Stay away from so-and-so."
So don't put too much weight on the reviews was my only point.
Um, based on what you've posted, you haven't had an outing as a couple without your child in tow in over 6 months. Yeah, that's a huge glaring flag about your marriage.
Call your pediatrician's office. They might be able to help.
Naw.
My wife and I didn't go OUT much before our kids.
It actually pretty much takes an act of god to get me excited about going out.
We have the evenings together when they're both in bed...at 7...
There are no teenagers in my neighborhood (that I know of, we've been here less than a year, and barely know our next door neighbors). Mostly families w/kids and empty nesters. I know of one drop-in childcare place, but that's during the day only, which doesn't help us. We need evening hours due to inflexible work hours.
Cant you go knock on a few of the neighbors with kids doors, introduce yourself and ask them if they can recommend a babysitter?
The other alternative might be online counseling. Not sure how effective that would be, but its out there.
Cant you go knock on a few of the neighbors with kids doors, introduce yourself and ask them if they can recommend a babysitter?
The other alternative might be online counseling. Not sure how effective that would be, but its out there.
This would be a great way to meet the neighbors!
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That was my first reaction to the church suggestion. Churches have crazies and pervs in their congregation, too. I assume/hope the OP is smarter than that.
