Open Letter to Babysitters Everywhere

Dear Babysitters Everywhere,

All the Moms and I just talked.

We're so grateful that you're keeping our kids safe while we're away. We know that brushing a tired toddler's teeth can be harder than riding an angry bull and that you did your best with the carrots at dinner. Taking care of kids isn't easy. Guess why we sprint out the door when you arrive, hairbrush and shoes in hand? All Moms everywhere need a break sometimes, and we're thankful to you for providing one.

That said, we wanted to share a few things that bring us to angels-singing-on-high-ecstatic levels of gratitude:

1. Coming home to find the kitchen/playroom/entire house in a reasonable state of order (or at least, no worse than we left it). If you fed the kids, please clear the table. Load or unload the dishwasher. We're talking 10 minutes of tidying up. Fold a load of laundry after they're asleep. You have no idea how much these efforts mean to us.

2. Try, try, try for the usual bedtime. We know our kids can put up a good fight, but don't give up. A bunch of little ones watching the late show when we get home puts us in a slump. We'll be taming cranky zombies the next day.

3. If the kids are awake, limit their screen time. Read to them, do a puzzle, pull out the crayons, kick the soccer ball around, have a dance party. It makes our children feel special and they'll be excited to have you come back again.

4. Don't over-text us. Let us know if something is really going down. We want to know if someone is bleeding, injured or locked inside a large cabinet. We don't need to know that one daughter has stolen another's doll and is running around the house with it (unless it culminates in someone bleeding, injured or locked inside a large cabinet.)

5. No Mom likes to get a terrible report of all the injustices you've suffered while babysitting our kids. If they were awful, you've got to let us know, of course. We won't let them get away with it. But if they were standard issue 5-year-olds at bedtime, consider letting it go.

You're the best. Are you free next Saturday night?