I’ve been married for almost five years and when we got
engaged I remember everyone giving me the same advice, “make time for date
night each week”. Well, that was so incredibly easy! We went to dinner, the
movies, golfing, bowling… and then we had a baby, and it got hard. My daughter
didn’t take a bottle, so every week went by without a date. Soon, it wasn’t
even a thought; it was just known that we didn’t have dates. It was easier to
take our daughter with us on our “dates” rather than deal with finding a
babysitter that we could trust and figuring out how much to pay them.
Until last month, my husband and I had gone on a total of
two dates in the last 21 months. Last month, we joined a babysitting co-op and
our lives have changed for the better. There are many ways to set up a
babysitting co-op, but ours includes four couples that switch off watching each
other’s children each week. Each couple watches all the kids one night a month
and in return, we all get to go on three dates a month. How fantastic is that?
Date night is so important! You get to be alone with your
spouse and you don’t have to talk about sippy cups, diaper changes, or Sesame
Street. You don’t have to cut the crust off of sandwiches or ask the server to
bring the chocolate milk out last. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love being
a mom, but I also really love being an adult. It’s nice to order a delicious
dinner and not have little hands reaching for my food. It’s nice to have an
uninterrupted conversation with my spouse. It’s also nice to have an excuse to
get dressed up and go out.
I highly encourage others to start their own babysitting
co-op. Not only does it give you one-on-one time with your spouse, but you and
your kids get to make new friends, plus it’s free! There are so many reasons
that I love living in this small town, but one big reason is because it is so
easy to find people that I can trust to babysit my daughter. It’s nice to be
able to know that she’s being taken care of while I’m out enjoying myself. If
you’re interested in joining a babysitting co-op just throw the idea out to a
group of friends. Odds are that they’ll be on board for a free babysitter and
some date nights too.
Published in the Tremonton Leader in September 2017
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