My neighbor's husband is being deployed for 6 months to Iraq. (I've known her for about 5 months.)She has a son who is about 6 weeks older than Connor and I have offered to watch him one time for free so that she can have some alone time with her husband. So, I watched her son (he's SUCH a doll!) on Tuesday for about 1 1/2 hours. I definitely had my hands full...how do mothers of twins do it?

She asked me, and not with any assumptions, if I could watch her DS 3-4 days a week so she can have some time for herself at Curves. (She hasn't become a member yet.) Curves apparently doesn't have child care. Plus, I think she would be very hesitant about people at a gym watching him anyway. He needs to be held a lot.
She told me she would pay me and that she just wanted me to think about it. She didn't offer to watch Connor in return, which is fine...some people don't want to watch other people's kids. (Especially when you're home alone a lot.)

I would love to do it, but I just don't know how much is reasonable...it would only be for an hour. I feel bad taking her money when her DH is serving our country....ack! But, I know she won't let me do it for free. Thinking...

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 08:43 pm:

I don't think it matters what her dh does, but that's JMO. $20/mth????

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 09:24 pm:

An hour or 90 minutes at a time, 3-4 days a week, sounds like it could be manageable, but you'd have to have a trial period. As for charging her, if you don't charge her, then you are giving her charity, and she may not want to be an object of charity. Some people (I'm one of them) have a hard time accepting favors without some kind of trade-off, so that they don't feel indebted.

I'd suggest trying it for a couple of weeks to see how it works out, at a rate that she thinks is reasonable. Then, if you are comfortable with doing this, but still not comfortable about taking the money, maybe you can discuss some tradeoffs - like once a month her coming over with her son to watch Connor for an evening so you and hubby can have some time out. If she's not comfortable with that, and you are still comfortable with watching her son on that schedule, I'd say just put the money in a piggy bank and use it for Christmas presents for Connor - since, after all, he is the one sharing his mommy.

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 09:40 pm:

Hhhmmm... a trial period is good. Both ideas...good! I know our gym charges $3 per kid, per visit. Maybe I could do it on a per visit thing, just in case she gets sick or if we get sick and we're not confusing the $ or feeling guilty one way or the other.
I'm thinking 3 days a week at 2$, unless she agrees to watch Connor as a trade off. I can ask her sometime this weekend. Her DH leaves tomorrow.
And, Ginny, good idea about Christmas $. A little bit can go a long way!

By Jann on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 10:01 pm:

Most Curves don't offer child care cause the work out is so short. I like Ginny's idea.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 10:06 pm:

I like Ginny's idea, too.

By Mommmie on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 10:09 pm:

I would charge $5/hour. If the amount is too low, she'll be gone longer than an hour running other errands and start to take advantage of you. Also, I would make her pay at pick up each time and not monthly or weekly. And like most women, she'll probably stop working out shortly. She probably won't tell you she's not going to Curves while you're babysitting, but you'll find out.

By Missmudd on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 10:43 pm:

Just as devils advocate here, for a very small amount of $ you will be tied to being sure that you are there and available to watch her child when she goes to Curves. Now if you can arrange it at a time that you would always be home anyway than that is fine, but I have been in this sort of situation b4 and it ends up putting in a big monkey wrench into your day.

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 06:43 am:

Kristen raises a good point. I suggest you agree in advance with your neighbor that if something comes up - a doctor's appointment, a must-do time limited errand, etc. - that you give her as much notice as you reasonably can but you won't be available that day After all, it is not her job, it's a workout program. If she misses a session because you are not available, there's no real penalty to her.

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 06:45 am:

Oh, and if your gym charges $3, so should you. Why are you giving a discount for what will be more time and will be practically one-on-one (really one-on-two) child care, which is a much, much better ratio than the gym has, I'm sure.

And definitely, if her baby has a cold or is sick, you don't watch him. Ditto if Connor is sick. No point in sharing germs just to be a good neighbor.

By Vicki on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 07:53 am:

I agree with Kristen. Unless you are normally a home body and stay home, this could get really old really fast. I would not want to be tied to the house so I could watch a child for an hour three times a week. Aren't the work outs like 30 minutes?? I also agree that it "could" lead to her running her errands during that time too. I could see her very easily thinking, Oh I will just pop into the store or the bank or the post office since I am out anyway and it will be faster since I don't have the baby with me. If that doesn't bother you than I guess it would be ok, but it would bother me. One good thing is that I think they open pretty early, so she could get a work out in early enough in the day that it wouldn't really mess up your day. If I were going to do this, I think I would want to do it from 8 to 9 am. Get up, get it done and still have my whole day free.....

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 01:10 pm:

Good ideas...thanks ladies! And Vickie, I like the 8am-9am idea. I do want to help her though. I am at home without family nearby when DH is gone on his weekly business trips and it would be nice to be "sans child", even for an hour.
I might even recommend my gym to her...not sure if she would be opposed to working out around men.