[speaker001:] um um
[speaker002:] so child care do you have any children
[speaker001:] no no I don't
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh do you
[speaker002:] yeah we have two we have uh a four year old and a two year old at least they will be in April I'm getting used to calling them that since they're all prepared for their birthdays
[speaker001:] um-hum  are they are they in any sort of child care
[speaker002:] uh yes and no uh and my four uh three almost four year old is been in a preschool half a day uh since September it's a Montessori school
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] and in a sense that's a day care although we don't use it for day care we chose it because of the educational features of the school
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] uh prior to that we had a woman come over uh one or two afternoons a week
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh provide in home day care uh more or less to give my wife you know a break in the afternoons to uh go out and run errands and do things um but care for us the the problematic time is in the evening uh just finding babysitters because of the ages we don't really
[speaker001:] um-hum right
[speaker002:] um but care for us the the problematic time is in the evening uh just finding babysitters because of the ages we don't really
[speaker001:] um-hum right
[speaker002:] it's not that we don't trust but we just don't feel comfortable with uh uh younger kids uh early teens
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] uh we've been pretty fortunate we've had babysitters that tend to be in their late teens they drive over in their own cars
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] uh the older woman who watches the the kids during the day sometimes comes over in the evening so
[speaker001:] oh that's nice
[speaker002:] I I've been saved I've only had to take babysitters home twice I guess which isn't bad but we have uh all all of our families lives in Saint Louis so the normal family infrastructure that uh a lot of people have just isn't there for us
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] all all of our families lives in Saint Louis so the normal family infrastructure that uh a lot of people have just isn't there for us
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum right right
[speaker002:] we don't have uh I mean my my wife has a younger sister who's ten years younger but has children the same age as
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and we were asking Denise one time well how much do you pay for babysitters she goes I don't know I've only paid one once
[speaker001:] oh really
[speaker002:] yeah and that was you know after three years but she just has in-laws and siblings and
[speaker001:] wow oh okay I see
[speaker002:] uh you know parents that that watch and neighbors she lives in a neighborhood that has a lot of uh young families and our neighbors seem to be mostly retired
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] plus it's harder to to impose on uh you know neighbors uh they're willing to take the kids but it's it feels difficult to impose when they don't have kids themselves
[speaker001:] right yeah right my
[speaker002:] do you ever do any babysitting yourself
[speaker001:] oh yeah I I uh my my job pretty much my junior year in high school was sitting uh for two boys that lived uh right next door to me they uh and I did I did that everyday until uh their mother got home
[speaker002:] um-hum it's a it's a great job
[speaker001:] uh it is
[speaker002:] uh you know for the most part uh especially you know in our house it's
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] it's clean and neat and the refrigerator's stocked and most the time when they come over in the evening it's you know an hours worth of of real care and then the rest is just taking responsibility for sleeping children
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] we did have uh one occurrence that was kind of interesting we had two women that came alternatively uh when our daughter was about one year old and uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] it wasn't a problem situation but it was one that just made my wife somewhat nervous the woman wasn't quite together she was easily distracted
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] she was nice enough the kids uh you know my my daughter liked her but we ended up uh choosing not to to have her on a regular basis making a conscious decision and
[speaker001:] um-hum right um-hum
[speaker002:] it was a tough one because it was convenient for us she was dependable in in that she would show up but we just didn't feel comfortable and we see our friends who have kids the same age making more easy decisions uh
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum um
[speaker002:] meaning that uh they're they seem to be pretty lax in in who comes in and who watches them
[speaker001:] right right
[speaker002:] we have a friend who has a large house and they have uh three kids under four years old they have twins and they're in they have a live-in housekeeper and it just isn't a person that we would have even to our home on a a regular basis much less on a
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] uh live-in basis just different value systems and uh different
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] different attitude towards child rearing
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah my my father's girlfriend um she's she's a lawyer and so she works you know everyday nine to five and uh she keeps really long hours at the office and uh she's got a little two year old boy and she now has a live in
[speaker002:] um-hum