Thursday, August 25, 2011

Would you do it?

So, when I was in Vegas last weekend with my sister (awesome), I was actually quite shocked at how many people bring children, very small children to Vegas.  We stayed at the MGM and strollers were a common sight.  In a place where you can smoke and drink 24 hours a day, anywhere you want... I will be honest, I totally judged what I deemed to be ridiculously neglectful parents.   Vegas is no place for children.  And then I wondered... What do they do with their kids at night?  Do they stay in the hotel with them? Or do they take them out into the smoky casinos hoping that they will catch some sleep in their buggies?

Unfortunately we saw a lot of the latter.

On Saturday morning, when I was flipping through the hotel guide in our room, I saw an ad for something I have never heard of before.  An in room nanny service offered/arranged by the hotel.  Nannies & Housekeepers USA - properly licensed, bonded and fully insured.

  • All nannies are at least 20 years old with a minimum of two years of experience with verifiable references.
  • Every nanny is meticulously screened (Social Security check, drug test, criminal check).
  • All nannies must have current CPR and First Aid certification.
  • Nannies must successfully complete Nannies & Housekeepers U.S.A. training.
I kind of scoffed at the idea because it was Vegas and then something interesting happened...

On my way home, I was actually on the same flight as my old friend Rob from Molson.  He was married at around the same time as Peter and I, and they have a 16 month old daughter. He told me about their plans to go to Montreal on vacation, and that they had arranged an in-room nanny so that him and his wife could go out after their daughter had gone to sleep to some nice restaurants.  Hmmm.  Not so crazy when the idea is coming from a friend that I respect. From other good parents that I know.

So... We’re thinking of taking a family trip to New York before Christmas. New York before the holidays is supposed to be incredible and something I have always wanted to do.  Given this is the first Christmas Rory will really understand, or we will be able to see him get excited about... How much fun would it be to take him skating at the Rockefeller Center, see his face light up at the trees and lights in Central Park, to take him shopping for a toy at FAO Schwarz? Alright, let’s be honest, this is stuff that we really want to do, but we think he would like it too.

So my point is... I never really have considered being able to go out at night if we brought Rory with us. Which we would... But now that I know about this nanny idea, we’re considering it.

Would you do it?


 

3 comments:

  1. i want to say yes, but i'm nervous...:)

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  2. i dunno if I could do it.
    we have taken my son to NYC once, and Paris once and we just end up staying in during the evenings.

    of course, we don't even leave him with a babysitter here in Toronto!

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  3. To be honest... we're the same. We don't leave our son very often in Toronto either! It sounds like a great idea, but in actual reality, I could never leave my child with a stranger in a hotel room.

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