Date Night Swap

Last week I overheard a conversation about babysitters while waiting for Kenzie's dance lesson to wrap up. One girl babysat for many dance families and charged $9 - $10 an hour for two children. When I babysat in middle school, I remember making $3 an hour for up to three kids and was thrilled to have the extra spending money. Granted, gas cost just less than a dollar then too, and minimum wage was far lower. So, while I realize $3 would be unheard of today, I do wonder, what is the going rate? If $10 for two kids, what about three?

Brien and I are fortunate that we haven't had to pay for babysitting yet with both sets of grandparents and the kids' aunts and uncles who are willing to help out when needed. Though, I must admit we could certainly use more time together, and we don't want to go to the well too often with family or pay someone when we're trying to spend less now that I'm staying home.

Our solution? A date night swap with our neighbors, Jennifer and Landon Lucas, and their children, Nate (3) and Grant (2). Not quite an even trade since we have three, and one is a 9 month old, but we are grateful our neighbors are on board and we love their kids too. Each Tuesday we trade off watching kids so the other couple can go out for the evening. We chose Tuesday nights because the Cinemark Cinema 8 Theater in Broken Arrow shows new release movies for $2 all day. It's not exactly nice, but definitely the best value. Brien and I usually go eat a quick dinner somewhere like Schlotzsky's and when we don't catch a movie we do something active like play tennis or hit driving range balls - interests we shared before starting a family. Our whole family looks forward to Tuesday nights and we are thrilled to have neighbors we love and trust who also see value in our date night arrangement.