Community

Parent’s Night Out…on us:

Our Story of Getting Involved in Our Community


     Nearly five years ago Matt & I found ourselves in a bit of a predicament. We had just given birth to our first son Dean, and not even three months later we found out we were pregnant with our second child. We had both migrated here and didn’t have any family in the area. We had also just begun to attend a new church and didn’t really know many people yet. You could say that our babysitter list was nonexistent. In addition to that, I had worked at a few daycares and preschools and had seen more than enough to make me want to be very discerning in who I left my babies with.


     During this time I had one good friend Jessica. We had become pretty close friends while my husband was out to sea. I had also gone to church with her and her mother for years. Anyhow, one day I remember Jess mentioning to me that her mom would be a great person to ask if I ever needed a babysitter. Glad I stored that one in the memory bank.


     I ended up taking her mother, Fran, up on that offer so that I could spend some time with Jess before she made a big cross country move to New York. Geesh, I still miss that lady! I felt very comfortable with leaving my baby with her mother. She was a very kind lady, lived right around the corner, had been a elementary school teacher for many years, had three grown kids who all still loved her very much, and she had a respect for our wishes and routines with our little guy.


     Over the years what began as a wonderfully helpful option for occasional childcare has blossomed into an amazing friendship. And not just between Fran and myself, but between Fran and my husband, and my children. She has become a huge part of our lives. A mother like figure and friend to both Matt and myself and a beautiful Grandmother to our children. They without any encouragement fell into the habit of calling her Grandma Fran. She has graciously obliged this role for several years now. Fran is the most amazingly generous woman I have had the blessing of being in community with and I will always be thankful for her place in our lives.


     Three boys and nearly five years later, and Fran is still holding strong, still making a weekly commitment to our family to spend time loving on our boys so that Matt & I can have the opportunity to have a night off and reconnect. I can only pray that I have her energy and strength when I am a grandma. Many of our friends have asked about how she graced our lives because they find themselves in a very similar situation. Having babies, not having any family near by, and at a lost for childcare, even more so free or affordable childcare.


     With that in mind and a full realization of the blessings we have in Fran, we decided to pull our resources and start offering families in our communities a night off. We call it Parent’s Night Out…on us. We offer the Parent’s in our community a night of free childcare in our home (which pretty child friendly being as though we have a few of them.) We make the kiddos dinner, do an activity with them, watch a movie, and just basically try to have somewhat organized chaos in their parents absence.


     We also try to go a bit further and offer a little treat to the parents to enjoy on their night out. In December we handed out little gift cards to Starbucks for the Parents. With the guest list growing we decided to reach out to some local businesses to see if they wanted to make any contributions to these families. All it took was a few phone calls to some local businesses and their managers and I am happy to say that the two managers that I have reached out to thus far have both made commitments to provide these families with some special treats. Free desserts, appetizers, or even entrees. This may not be a big deal to some, but to consider the cost of the average date night can be insane to comprehend to most parents. The average babysitter ran $8-12 an hour in 2011, and don’t forget to add more to that if you have multiple children. The average dinner out costs anywhere between $30-50 for a couple in addition to the childcare costs. So for a three hour date with your spouse on average you are looking at spending $54-$86. I don’t know about you, but that is insane to me! I am so thankful that Matt and I have been blessed with free, loving childcare, and would want nothing less for my friends. So I would like to thank ChocMo: Chocolate Bistro and the Bremerton Bar & Grill for making contributions to the families in our community.


     It is so exciting to see local businesses in Kitsap County get excited about helping local families!  If you or any local business you know would like to participate in this please contact me at
chroniclesfromthetrenches@gmail.com or message me on our Facebook page Chronicles From The Trenches.