Childcare

Need a night out?  Wouldn't it be fun to go out on a date?  Or just do a little shopping?
Many children’s facilities nowadays are offering fantastic drop-off programs, giving parents an opportunity to enjoy an evening out.  You can rest assured, knowing your child is in a safe, stimulating environment.  Many parents take advantage of "Parents' Night Out" to go out to dinner locally, but it is not unusual to hear of parents who use this time to clean or run errands.  Even families with children who are too young to attend, can drop off the older children in order to have some free time when the younger ones go to sleep.
 

"A live in nanny? How can you afford a live in Nanny?” That's what most people say when I tell them who watches my children. No we're not rich and we don't live in a sprawling 5 bedroom apartment, but we've found that for our family a live in nanny works best and the benefits outweigh the downfalls. If you've ever wondered how any normal person in NYC could have a live in nanny or if you've never even considered it as a possibility, read on to find out more about this surprisingly doable childcare alternative.

Finding good babysitters for an evening date night can be hard, but there's one solution that's a total no-brainer. Kids for a Cause hosts monthly date night drop-off evening childcare events run by NYU and Columbia University students to raise money for Baby's First Home, a charity that helps provide shelter for NYC homeless teen mothers. And they are Pay-What-you-Wish.

Talk about Win-Win! You get inexpensive, fun babysitting by great college sitters and get to help young mothers and their baby's at the same time.

Trying to save a few bucks by skipping out on a baby sitter doesn’t mean you have to be cooped up every Friday night, dreaming of sassy restaurants with plush furniture. Many places in New York City offer drop-off times, especially around Valentine’s Day, that allow you and your date to have some play time while the little guys are having a good (and safe ) time, too. Plus, drop-off services won’t leave your wallet as empty as that baby sitter of yours, you don't need to worry about paying for the car service home, and your kids will have so much fun they'll think it was their party night, not yours.

In honor of Cupid, skip the Netflix and try one of these happenin’ spots for a night on the town that’s fun for you and the kids. We've listed the Valentines Day event, but most of these places do a Parents' Night Out Event regularly, so check them out for now, or for later.

Private schools just had their Spring Break and public schools have theirs coming up and as we're waiting for the weather to warm up, we've got vacations on the brain.

Have you ever been stuck with a family vacation that actually seemed like more work than not being on vacation? If you are used to having childcare, a family vacation can be a shocking experience. It's not something that most people want to admit, and of course we all love spending lots of time with our kids, but hard-working parents need some real down-time too or they're going to have their own little melt-downs that no binky can fix.

Taking a babysitter on vacation with you might seem like a huge luxury, but sometimes luxuries are really necessities. But wanting to take a baby sitter on vacation with you and actually doing it are two different things, two things with lot of steps in between, like how much to pay and how to find a sitter who will travel with you, etc. The experts at Sittercity have shared some tips with us on how to make the fantasy a reality.

Last week we wrote about two terrific winter break vacation camps that are offering Mommy Poppins readers significant discounts on their normal fees. This week we have four more camps for the President's Week Winter Vacation perfect for kids as little as three years old through teenagers.

Having a grown up meal out in a restaurant isn't really a luxury. It can be a survival tactic for stressed out parents who have virtually forgotten that they share anything in common besides the DNA of their children and their inability to get The Wonder Pets theme song out of their head. But figuring out the whole babysitter thing can make going out to eat more a chore than a treat.

So when Brian Kaplan, founder of Parent Play, told me they were starting Drop and Dine it sounded like a great idea. Drop and Dine lets parents eat in peace and quiet in a nice restaurant while their children are entertained and fed just steps away in the private party room of the same restaurant.

In the series NYC Nanny 101: The finding and care of your nanny Parts 1 and 2 I've tried to lay out some basic tips on finding a caregiver in New York, the interview and salaries. But there are lots of different perspectives on this issue. And some of them will make you wet your pants. Enjoy:

Mommy Poppins reader, Robin, says she's found a few nannies to interview through other nannies, friends and craigslist (just as we suggested in part 1 of this series)...but, now what! As Robin plainly puts it, "My husband and I agree on one thing - we have no idea what we are doing."

So you've gotten some names, what next? How do you conduct a nanny interview?: What questions do you ask? How much should you offer to pay? What are you forgetting? In part two of our series on the finding and care of your nanny we will answer these and other pressing questions.

Nannies. They're all around you, and yet, somehow the perfect one seems so unattainable. How do you find a nanny in New York City? Where do you look? What do you look for? How do you know they're the right one? And what do you do once you get them? How much will you have to pay? And can you find someone to work the crazy hours you need? I don't have all the answers, but I'll give you my honest, hard-won, down-to-earth experience with this issue and you can add it to all the other junk you hear and make up your own mind.

This is going to be a several part series on childcare. Today's post is all about how to find a caregiver in NYC.