Member Blogs

there are advantages and disadvantages to both age groups. when younger you can still do things in between taking care of the infiants. as they become toddlers they start wanting to help, find little easy things you can let them help you do, licking envalopes, the 20 pages of paper you went threw trying to write that letter for snail mail, etc for example. makes them feel like they are a big helper. then preschool they want to help more but also want to play more be creative at this stage and you can get it to work out for your self. as they get older they want to help less and do more of their own thing. i found that letting my kids visit their friends, with check in calls to me, gave me extra free time to work, at job sites without the cost of hireing a babysitter. you have to know the people your child is visiting and be comfortable leaving them there. the older they get the more places you can drop them off at with friends (not too many 2 or 3) movies, mall, yes this may cost a few dollars and driving to get the friends and your time with all this but in the end you may snag an hour or two here or there. again get creative with it. maybe one of the friend's mom will hang at the mall or movies to keep an eye that things are not getting out of hand. sometimes one of the other parents will help with transporting. maybe there is a ball game they can go to, etc. make sure that your child has a few quarters to call you if any thing comes up. i always had my kids call every hour. if they didn't i would be there looking for them. then there was the consiquences if they did not call. they did not get to go next time they wanted to. i was always carefull and had more than just one plan when dropping off 3 kids at a mall, movies, ball game, park, etc. also keep in mind the age group you are dealing with and the maturity of the child or children when you are dropping kids off in public places. hope this helps. have a good day!