I have to say, that one of the single most important things that Hubby and I do is have a regular date night. And when we don't get out for awhile, I can definitely feel it. In the daily grind, you can get in the habit of relating to each other as roommates, parents, and servants instead of what you really are - lovers.
Conversations fall into one of these:
You wouldn't believe what Hayden did today! He totally peed in the McDs playscape. You need to talk to him about "Nature calls".
Or
I think we should plant a garden, go to Lowes, buy plants from the nursery, clean the garage, blah blah.
Or
I'm tired, cranky, (fill in the blank).
Pretty soon you're each doing your own things each night and only talking about home logistics and complaints! The smiles are few and far in between - and affection is running low! (By the way, who's doing the Kissing Experiment!?! I admit, I'm shamefully behind...I guess I'll just have to go maul Hubby and catch up...hehe)
And that's where Date Night comes to the rescue. I remember the first time we went out on a real date after the kids were born and it was like finding an old friend! We had completely forgotten how much fun we have together and why we're together in the first place! Oh yeah, I really love this guy!! (I do!).
So if you have kids - how do you do this?? Babysitter? If you can find one and can afford one, maybe. We're not always that lucky. But we have found a great solution that has been such a blessing to us:
Find another couple in your same season of child-life and trade babysitting! We actually do "couch-sitting", hehe. Meaning, we watch each other kids after they've already gone down for the night so really we're just chilling out on the sofa watching Netflix for the evening. We both get to have date nights without the cost and hassle of finding a paid babysitter! Plus, we never have to feel guilty about asking for babysitting because we both enjoy getting a date night. It's an awesome solution.
I bet if you ask around there is someone who desperately needs this same arrangement too! I actually started this with one friend (who ended up moving out of state), and then found another friend who thought it was a great idea too! I mean, seriously - who couldn't use another date night, free of charge?
8 comments:
When Uncle Mikey is in town, I'd be up to babysit for ya! Only if I can teach the little guys accordion lessons while I'm there.... of course.
I think I need to have a date night once a week ha! How often do you guys trade couch sitting?
Really it's whatever our calendar that month allows. Sometimes it's once a month, this month was more open and we got to get out two weekends in a row! Typically, we take Fri and Sat nights and pick which night we want to go out and which night works to babysit. So my friend got Fri night out, and we got Sat. It's awesome! :)
Even if it only works out every couple of months - it's still nice to have a night out!
@Mikey: Sweet - accordion lessons here we come!
So.... do you just take your kids over to their house and hope they sleep there?? How does this work if you both have kids?
Nope not at all. On Friday, I head to her house and when I get there the kids are already in bed. I watch TV on the couch and they go out for a date.
On Saturday we do the same, except this time her husband comes over and WE go out for a date!
So kids are in their own beds, already asleep, and everyone is happy. :)
This assumes that one parent is at home with your own kids, and one parent is babysitting. Make sense?
That's a really cool deal you have going on! Definitely works out well for both of you.
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