Savvy and entrepreneurial babysitters may have already mentioned this great idea to you, but just in case your sitter hasn't, consider asking them if they'd be willing to sell you a gift certificate for their services, which you can then give to a friend.
Parents with children know how much friendships can suffer when children enter their lives.
Phone calls between friends, which used to be leisurely affairs full of blow-by-blow descriptions of dates and work disasters, are now hurried and constantly interrupted by the demands of the children who do not want Mommy paying any attention to anyone else but THEM.
Working women rush from home to the daycare center, to the job, then back to the daycare center, the grocery store, and back home again, all in one day.
And then they repeat this grinding routine five days a week, month after month, and for years on end.
Along with the fatigue that comes from an exhausting schedule is also the certain amount of deprivation that presents itself when children enter the scene.
Money that would have been spent on vacations and nights out with the girls are now going into college funds, orthodontists, home remodeling and retirement accounts.
So between working like crazy, and neither having the time nor the money to have any adult fun, it's no wonder many working women become depressed, overwhelmed, and isolated.
As a friend, wouldn't it be nice of you to just let them have a day to themselves, with a sitter at home taking care of the kids? You could take your friend out to dinner and the movies, to a spa for massages and makeovers, or just over to your place to drink wine, watch movies, and laugh your heads off the way you used to do.
Or you could just let her get in the car and take a peaceful, solitary drive in the country, or take a walk in the woods or the botanic gardens-or even just an indoor shopping mall for some pleasant window-shopping.
Whatever she does, with you or without you, it will be a welcome break for her.
You will be remembered for giving her something that money normally cannot buy: time.
But in this case, you can buy something that will give her not time itself, but time alone-time to be her unique person, time to hear her own thoughts, time to hear the beating of her own heart, and time to hear the song of her own soul.
If you don't think your friend would be comfortable having a brand-new, untried sitter at her house, see if you can wheedle out the name and number of her favorite sitter, and then contact the sitter privately.
You can arrange with the sitter the date and the arrangements for a "full" surprise, or you can just pay the sitter for how every many hours you want to "gift" your friend, and have her do up a handmade gift certificate.
You can then present it to your friend, and she can redeem whenever she wants to.
Once you try this terrific way of giving your friend, sister, aunt, cousin, or co-worker the true gift of time to herself (or quality time with you), you'll find yourself doing it again and again!
Parents with children know how much friendships can suffer when children enter their lives.
Phone calls between friends, which used to be leisurely affairs full of blow-by-blow descriptions of dates and work disasters, are now hurried and constantly interrupted by the demands of the children who do not want Mommy paying any attention to anyone else but THEM.
Working women rush from home to the daycare center, to the job, then back to the daycare center, the grocery store, and back home again, all in one day.
And then they repeat this grinding routine five days a week, month after month, and for years on end.
Along with the fatigue that comes from an exhausting schedule is also the certain amount of deprivation that presents itself when children enter the scene.
Money that would have been spent on vacations and nights out with the girls are now going into college funds, orthodontists, home remodeling and retirement accounts.
So between working like crazy, and neither having the time nor the money to have any adult fun, it's no wonder many working women become depressed, overwhelmed, and isolated.
As a friend, wouldn't it be nice of you to just let them have a day to themselves, with a sitter at home taking care of the kids? You could take your friend out to dinner and the movies, to a spa for massages and makeovers, or just over to your place to drink wine, watch movies, and laugh your heads off the way you used to do.
Or you could just let her get in the car and take a peaceful, solitary drive in the country, or take a walk in the woods or the botanic gardens-or even just an indoor shopping mall for some pleasant window-shopping.
Whatever she does, with you or without you, it will be a welcome break for her.
You will be remembered for giving her something that money normally cannot buy: time.
But in this case, you can buy something that will give her not time itself, but time alone-time to be her unique person, time to hear her own thoughts, time to hear the beating of her own heart, and time to hear the song of her own soul.
If you don't think your friend would be comfortable having a brand-new, untried sitter at her house, see if you can wheedle out the name and number of her favorite sitter, and then contact the sitter privately.
You can arrange with the sitter the date and the arrangements for a "full" surprise, or you can just pay the sitter for how every many hours you want to "gift" your friend, and have her do up a handmade gift certificate.
You can then present it to your friend, and she can redeem whenever she wants to.
Once you try this terrific way of giving your friend, sister, aunt, cousin, or co-worker the true gift of time to herself (or quality time with you), you'll find yourself doing it again and again!
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