My baby-sitter addiction

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I have already cuddled my 3-year-old daughter through a tantrum. I battled my son over homework. My husband is at a class that he attends twice a week. Tornado threats strangle the news, but my husband won’t be home until 10:30 p.m. (He’s in night school getting a degree in leadership; he’s also a New York City-based special education teacher and saving the world.) Downstairs, my baby sitter is making dinner for the kids and entertaining them. It is 5:30 p.m., probably past the time most parents hire a baby sitter unless they are going out for the night, which I am not.

But I am paying someone to watch my children so I can have the night off from the dinnertime power struggle. My best friend said, “I don’t understand. Why not get a sitter when the kids are asleep so you can go out for a drink? Blow off some steam.”

Oh, and I do that too. Hiring baby sitters while the kids are awake offers freedom from playing the role of miserable domestic goddess. I don’t want to fill the dishwasher yet another night. I don’t want to tidy up after their sweet little messes — all the Legos and Pokemon cards and miniature dogs and dolls. I am calm and not so frazzled because for $15 an hour — sometimes $7 an hour or $10 depending on which sitter I can secure — I pay someone to watch my children.

Salon.com > Babysitters

My baby-sitter addiction