Forget all the other lists. When it comes to being a new mum, this is all you need.
THIS it the one thing all parents need.
It astounds me that even after hours and hours…and hours, of pregnancy and parenting advice from friends, books and strangers, I was still grossly under-prepared for what being a mother really entailed. I had no clue how hard it would be, or that my bundle of joy would rock the hell out of my joyful marriage.
I was not prepared for the constant fear, worry and endless sleepless nights for one reason or another. Most of all, I had no clue how important it was to have a dependable person to watch my son periodically to save me from the non-stop 24/7/365 life of a parent.
The majority of the advice focused on parenting and how to rock my baby to sleep or to change a nappy without getting peed on. It was not to make sure I ran from mummying a couple of times a month to maintain my sanity.
Not once did anyone tell me to make sure my husband and I had at least one date night a month to reconnect and decompress from parenthood, starting the very first month. Not once did anyone tell me how hard it would be to find that one person, so start looking early.
Yes. THE one thing a new parent needs is a babysitter.
When it became apparent that we desperately needed one, I started asking around and quickly learned finding someone was not going to be cheap or easy. It turns out, if someone has a great babysitter they are apprehensive to share their name, or worse, every parent in the suburb has the sitter on speed dial.
Another option I entertained was a nanny/babysitter services that has a large group of well-screened and qualified sitters. The issue is that the service has a $100 minimum, which is astronomical when you are talking about looking after one kid for three or four hours! Plus, you are not even guaranteed to get the same sitter every time, so while the sitter is qualified on paper, their personality may not be right for your family.
