Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Adventures in Babysitter Hunting

So, after having Johnny in our home for almost 10 months now, Terry and I are feeling like a babysitter is a great idea. Also many adult activities have come up in our near future.



So, why does getting a babysitter stress me out?

I had babysitters as a child, heck! I WAS a babysitter! I was a GREAT babysitter.

I know a few things about my relationship with Johnny and my "mama bear" attitude around him...
1.  Trust issues... who is this new person in my home and do I let her close to me?
2.  Abandonment issues... where are my parents going, will they come back?
3.  Unpredictable behaviors... like I said, we've been lucky enough to have Johnny for 10 months, but that's ONLY 10 months! We are brand new parents! Sometimes I have no clue how he will react to things.

I want Johnny to be happy.  I DON'T want him to worry about wether we are coming back, or to imagine we would let strangers in our home to care for him. I want him to know he is loved and that we will ALWAYS return.  

What I can say with confidence however, is that Terry and I need to "date." We need to flirt, we need to talk about adult subjects, watch adult movies, and just take a break from the oh-so-different world of parenting we have recently entered.

A happy couple are happy parents, and this is the base of a happy family.

And so the hunt continues.  Do I call the couple of girls who have offered as friends? Or do we interview and find a couple sitters that are strictly babysitters- I think I could keep more of a professional attitude towards this group. Hmmmm... any thoughts?  First babysitter stories? Please share!

2 comments:

  1. I think the first way to start off the babysitting adventures is to start off with leaving for short amounts of time. Find the person you feel comfortable with and leave Johnny with that person while you run to the store and leave for about a 1/2 hr. and assure him that you will be back soon. When you return reinforce the fact you that came back. That way he will establish that deep seeded trust that we all need, especially a little guy who hasn't had that until he joined you and your husband. Each time you can leave for longer periods of time, and hopefully you can have a full blown date night soon:)

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  2. I agree with Kris, and having him trust and communicate with other adults is a skill that he will need in the future for school and care settings where mama bear may not be. Start small and make it fun for them as sometimes they need a break too. We had a special treat for finn when we would return to motivate him to be excited because it was a little harder than leaving brody. Now they cannot wait for us to leave and are highly disappointed when we return. Use friends as much as possible but have a list of go to babysitters so you can enjoy friends on occasions too. It takes a village!

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