the baby sitting swap - 8pm framework

Here's my rec for free and fun (for everyone) baby sitting swaps. We switch off weekend nights with friends watching each other's kids, but the critical piece is no one does bedtime for other people's kids. The framework is this, generally:

• if you've got kids that go to bed before 8pm (little kids!) you put your kids to bed. Then your friend comes over and watches a movie in your house! They get a break from their own kid's bedtime (ha!) and you go out for a nightcap.

• If you've got kids that go to bed after 8pm (big kids!) you drop them off at your friends house to do a movie night with all the kids! You go to early dinner, pick them up at 9 or w/e, take them home.

This has worked really well for our friend/neighbor group. A bunch of us don't have family nearby to help, so it's a huge help, money saver, community builder.