A few weeks ago, I received an email from a girl I hardly know, asking if I would like to drop my kid off at her house in exchange for her dropping hers off at mine every other week. The fact that I hardly know this girl never once went through my head. I said 'YES, YES, YES" and "Do we start today?".
She was actually suggesting a SAHM (Stay at home mom) co-op with her and myself, and five other girls (like how I keep calling us all girls?). Every other week, half of us will drop our kids off at one house while the other half goes out for a few hours to run errands, have lunch with friends, or use the bathroom without a child banging on the door screaming for "MO MUULK"!
Thursday I dropped baby #3 off at this glorious place. He was asleep when we arrived, and I felt a little guilty as I thought how awful and scared he might be to wake up in this unfamiliar place, but that twinge of guilt passed pretty quickly. I laid him gently down into a pack and play and hit the door running. Time was ticking. I would like to tell you that I ran off and did something exciting like finally saw The Help, or met my husband for a lunch date but instead I came home and did some uninterrupted sewing while simultaneously watching the last season of Grey's Anatomy. When I returned t pick him up, he was playing in the backyard and I'm told didn't cry once. One of the girls even mentioned if all kids were like him that she would have 10 more. Clearly the kid knows how to put on a good show in public.
So, now I encourage all of you to start co-oping your children. It doesn't have to be a SAHM co-op. It could be a working mom co-op that takes place on the weekend or a weeknight. It could be a babysitting co-op, so you can have a date night. It could be a bounce house co-op, so once a week you're the unfortunate soul stuck at Bounce Town with 6 screaming kids. Anyway, you get the point. It's good for the kids to be around other kids, and it will be good for you to 1. Meet new people or get to know them better 2. Get out of the house! 3. Use the bathroom without getting the "MO MUULK" demand.
I would settle for having a regular babysitter that I paid, really. I feel bad asking my in-laws to babysit, so we don't get out very often. But I don't know of any teenagers locally.
ReplyDeleteWe have that problem too, April. The last time the husband and I had a date was our anniversary in February and the in laws had to babysit. I don't like asking them. If the daytime co-op goes well, I may see if anyone is interested in doing a date night co-op.
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