Time where has it all gone?

[PapaE]

We have a young toddler 14 months old and it seems as she gets older we have less time. my wifes parents live in the same town as us but have only helped out baby sitting less than four times! i get so frustrated and don't know how to approach the subject with my wife without it being a big fight. then they call us out of the blue and want us to come over for dinner in thirty minutes and my dw is like sure will be right over. i am at my wits end. we have no other babysitters and i don't want to have to pay since i am the only one working and money is tight. i keep telling her she needs to go out and find play groups and friends with children our dd' s age but she comes up with excuses all the time. anyone else have this problem or a solution?

[Liz]

I guess I'm guilty of the same thing as your wife and it pisses my dh off too. My son is 2 yrs old and we have no babysitters. We rarely go out together. We used to go out with my son all the time but now that he is mobile that is very difficult. I am worried about leaving him with someone new but don't want to take advantage of my parents by asking them to do it all the time (okay we've only asked them a few times). I'll tell you what I wish though. I wish my husband would take care of finding a babysitter if it's so damn important to him. Oops, did I say that out loud? Seriously, why do I have to organise everything? Maybe if you set up a babysitter for just a few hours to ease her into it she would be more open to it in the future. I wish my husband would do that for me.

[zevulon]

I don't understand...dw's parents invite you over but don't include
your 14-month old in the invitation? You don't want to bring your
14-month old over to their house? Or do you need the sitter for other times besides the presto-promto dinner invitations?