Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Babysitting Swap Article


I'm famous!!! I never knew how much I would like public attention until Rodrique Ngowi from the Associated Press contacted me in the process of writing this article about babysitting swaps. Now I know -- my name is all over the newspapers, and I'm feeling very important! I know the article showed up at least in the Deseret News and the Standard Examiner in Utah, and it's in the Boston Globe here. Unfortunately, we missed the photo-op because we were in Utah at the time, so are kids are not yet famous. :(

The article is about the babysitting swap we have been doing and loving for the past 6 months. I got the idea from Ben's sisters Katie and Kara, and I feel I owe them my life because it has been so nice! Our group has 5 families and a total of 8 kids. Every Saturday night, from 5:00 - 8:30, one lucky family gets to host and watch all the kids. The other 4 couples get to go on a date or do whatever they want. We love having 4 free nights of babysitting for the price of one. It's especially nice to just be able to count on it each week without having to plan anything. The kids also have a great time; we have been surprised at how easy it is to let the kids just run around, watch a movie, eat snacks, etc. Henry loves it and calls it a "Babysitting Party!" He is now good friends with all of the kids, and they are all comfortable with each other and play together well. It's a win-win situation all around.

7 comments:

alisquire said...

Congrats! I just started participating in a babysitting co-op in my ward. We each started with 10 coupons (1/kid/hour) and we e-mail everyone when we want a sitter. The first to reply watches the kids and get the coupons. It's usually just for during the day, but we're trying to start something for date nights too. Great idea!

Katie said...

Glad it's working so well for you! I just want to know how many reporters you called before you got one to write your story up! :)

Reno 411 said...

You are so cool. You are famous.

We did a babysitting co-op in Spokane when Dallin was a baby. It was WONDERFUL. I really enjoyed it. We also did it last year here in Reno, but it made things harder when I had Avery and we had 10 kids 7 and under.

Shaun - Jillian said...

That is very cool! I have to admit that this is the first time I have ever heard of something like this but then again, we don't have kids, so maybe that is why. It is definitely a great idea!! Congrats on your fame!! :)

Mel said...

That's so cool Jenn. How nice that you have FIVE whole families with 8 kids- we did one for awhile that had only 3 families with 8 kids. It would've been more worth it to have 4 date nights in a row. Wow, that'd be nice.

Paul and Shug said...

Oh just think...I knew you before this all happened. I do these co-ops all the time and they're wonderful. Our kids just love them. I'm pretty sure that's because our kids are hellions and they love running over other kids. The other parents in the groups are about ready to kick us out, I think. "Just not worth it" is usually what they say when handing us back our children. Personally, I think our kids are angels. Just because they have a little pizazz...come on. Pizazz never hurt anybody. Very much. Babies heal.

Brittany said...

I mostly just think it's funny that Ben got relegated to "Jenny Iverson's husband" in the article. But those Rigg kids sure are hellions.