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Babysitter etiquette

Categories: Just for dads, Childcare

You might remember that I was faced with the dilemma of choosing between taking the kids to the Railroad museum and going to a dinner party with some folks I used to work with. Well, Rachel pointed out that Monday the 31st of March is Cesar Chavez day and both she and the kids have a day off from school. So we decided to take the three-day weekend to go to the museum and go to the dinner party this weekend. That, of course, meant a babysitter.

Unfortunately, of our two regular babysitters, one was busy and the other was in Paris -- as in Paris, France. By the time we'd heard from them both, those on our fall-back list of friends and family members we would feel comfortable asking to watch the kids were already booked up. Since Rachel was coming off a stomach bug anyway, she decided to stay home with the kids so I could still go.

I had a grand time, of course, and Rachel was sorely missed, but that's not my point here. How would others have handled this? I called the babysitters sequentially -- one after the other -- because I didn't want them both to say yes and then have to tell one we didn't need her. Should I have called them both right away? And do you have more than two babysitters on call, or is that generally enough? Or does it depend on whether or not they're globe-trotting honor students?

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