Babysitting
When my husband and I were newlyweds, we lived in married student housing in Provo, Utah while attending BYU. We were in that new phase of life where we had to make couple friends and with people who going to school and working too. We made a few friends but I quickly realized that a lot of the people I thought were really great and wanted to get to know had babies, toddlers or both. They tended to hang out with other people that had little kids.
So I formulated a plan that once or twice a month we would offer to babysit for one of these families so they could have an evening out. That would also give us time to interact with them a bit and hopefully get to know them better. The first family we offered to help out was the Strom family. They had a boy who was about 3 at the time and a baby girl, just eight months old. I had lots of experience babysitting from when I was a teenager and also with my many nephews, but my husband had never really been around other people's kids before. We got the boy down for bed with no problem but that girl would not go to sleep and we had no idea what to do with her. My husband ended up walking back and forth across their little apartment for an hour until she finally fell asleep. He was so proud of himself and felt a special bond with that baby girl for awhile thereafter. The Stroms quickly became some of our closest friends and we ended up spending a lot of time in their home both to babysit but also for dinner and games.
We watched one family that we admired a lot. Their boys were so well-behaved and sweet and we were happy to spend an evening with them. I remember having a discussion about parenting tactics and laughing at the creative and somewhat crazy ideas they used to keep their boys in line. It was eye-opening and educational. It wasn't always easy though and I remember one friend's little girl crying and crying and crying and I couldn't wait for them to get home.
There were about six families I can remember now babysitting for and we became good friends with all of them. It was a special gift we could give them at that time in our lives and everyone was always so grateful, which made us happy and we appreciated that they trusted us with their kids. That was also the beginning of my infertility struggle and it helped me to focus on helping others with their children, as well as appreciate the simplicity of our life at the time.
Now as a parent of four, I know there isn't anything nicer that someone can do for us than to watch our children so I can go to the dentist, out on a date, have a quiet lunch with a friend, get housework done or help out at school. Raising children is my greatest blessing and burden and when someone helps me out with it, my heart swells with great gratitude for their time and for providing a safe and happy place for my children to be when they're not with me. I'm still happy to give that gift to my friends now and appreciate that they have such great kids that it makes it easy to help each other. I'm grateful for the experience I had in Provo that blessed me with friends, an opportunity to help that made me feel good at a time I really needed it, and a greater appreciation for those that help me now that I am in that stage of life.
So I formulated a plan that once or twice a month we would offer to babysit for one of these families so they could have an evening out. That would also give us time to interact with them a bit and hopefully get to know them better. The first family we offered to help out was the Strom family. They had a boy who was about 3 at the time and a baby girl, just eight months old. I had lots of experience babysitting from when I was a teenager and also with my many nephews, but my husband had never really been around other people's kids before. We got the boy down for bed with no problem but that girl would not go to sleep and we had no idea what to do with her. My husband ended up walking back and forth across their little apartment for an hour until she finally fell asleep. He was so proud of himself and felt a special bond with that baby girl for awhile thereafter. The Stroms quickly became some of our closest friends and we ended up spending a lot of time in their home both to babysit but also for dinner and games.
We watched one family that we admired a lot. Their boys were so well-behaved and sweet and we were happy to spend an evening with them. I remember having a discussion about parenting tactics and laughing at the creative and somewhat crazy ideas they used to keep their boys in line. It was eye-opening and educational. It wasn't always easy though and I remember one friend's little girl crying and crying and crying and I couldn't wait for them to get home.
There were about six families I can remember now babysitting for and we became good friends with all of them. It was a special gift we could give them at that time in our lives and everyone was always so grateful, which made us happy and we appreciated that they trusted us with their kids. That was also the beginning of my infertility struggle and it helped me to focus on helping others with their children, as well as appreciate the simplicity of our life at the time.
Now as a parent of four, I know there isn't anything nicer that someone can do for us than to watch our children so I can go to the dentist, out on a date, have a quiet lunch with a friend, get housework done or help out at school. Raising children is my greatest blessing and burden and when someone helps me out with it, my heart swells with great gratitude for their time and for providing a safe and happy place for my children to be when they're not with me. I'm still happy to give that gift to my friends now and appreciate that they have such great kids that it makes it easy to help each other. I'm grateful for the experience I had in Provo that blessed me with friends, an opportunity to help that made me feel good at a time I really needed it, and a greater appreciation for those that help me now that I am in that stage of life.
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