So I thought, what a great thing it would be to offer Marisol's "babysitting" services to a mom with a baby or young child at a really, reasonable rate. And then I would feel really great about helping out another mother too.
The idea sat in my mind for a while, and when we went to a homeschooling park day there were several moms there with babies that I thought about asking if this might be something they would be interested in.
Alas, we haven't made it back to park day since. (We're fried by Friday AND there was that whole "government shut-down" thing - which apparently included Jones Point Park). But then something even better came up. We made friends with someone new in the neighborhood who has a little boy (Lawrence, he will be 3 years old in January) and a newborn (baby Lucy - she shares my birthday!) I hit it off with their mom right away - she's almost 10 years younger than me, as sweet as can be, and always so upbeat about life.
And the best part? Lawrence almost immediately fell in love with Marisol after playing with her in the park a couple of times.
So after talking it over with Marisol we presented our proposal to our new friends. And we've now had 3 babysitting gigs.
And, like I told this new mama-friend - the point of it was for it to be a total win-win for everyone, including myself! (so make that a win-win-WIN!) I love helping out a mama with 2 littles (because oh boy would I have loved to have had that myself!) and my kids are actually more occupied with another little person thrown in the mix. Marisol is learning so much and she gets a nice little addition to her weekly allowance.
This is definitely one of my favorite things yet about homeschooling - there is so much to love about this arrangement - the fact that we have the freedom to help a young mother on a weekday morning, that Marisol has her first "paying job", and I love that Lawrence loves playing at our house. It shows how we can build up our tribe and really support each other. It's something so small... and yet so BIG.
Or if you know you're ready to buy (you keep meaning to, then forgetting, then I remind you but then you forget again... I know how it goes!) Go ahead and click the Buy Now button below! They're only $15 and it's a great cause.