Mothers Morning Out – Our local YMCA offers a Mothers Morning Out program for $5 and the workers at our local YMCA are so wonderful! My friend and I take our kids there. They are sweet and so loving there. They love seeing our kids come through that door! Plus, they take the kids to the playground, the gymnastics room (to do the balance beam, trampoline, etc…), they do crafts (usually painting), and they have a snack. It is for four hours in the mornings, so for $20, you can’t beat it! Plus, it is an open-door policy, so you can just go without making an appointment.

Create your own Mother’s Morning Out. Get a group of friends with kids together, find a common place (a church works well) or swap houses. Each week, one or two parents watches the kids while the rest of us have three hours to run errands or do whatever we need to do. I participated in a group like this for two years.

Friends- offer to swap with your friends. I have done this before and will continue to do this. I will watch my friend’s children for a few hours and then the next week or month, she will watch our kids. It works out perfectly and it gives our kids an extra play date!

Family- My Mom is so great about helping us with our kids. She watches our kids for us one day a week already (and she watches my brother’s kids on a different day) while I work as a My Mom is so great about helping us with our kids. She watches our kids for us one day a week already (and she watches my brother’s kids on a different day) while I work as a Play Therapist . She and my Dad will watch the kids for us if we go out, too. My in-laws will also watch them when they come to visit, so that we can go out on a date. My brother and I will swap kids, too.

Churches “parents night out” – I know a lot of local churches that will offer a 3 hour “night out”. You donate the amount that you feel would be helpful for them (normally they are raising money for a cause). You can find these by asking around, for the most part.

Your Gym- Our gym has a free two-hour childcare. I normally just stay for an hour, but it is worth it. If I have to do reports for work (I have to write up reports for play therapy) or if i want to just run around the track or work out & then take a kid-free shower, I will use this child-care. Our kids don’t love it, but I take them swimming for 30 minutes afterwards (they have an indoor pool) and they don’t complain about going anymore. My husband works late, so he doesn’t go to the gym with me, but if he did, I would consider this to be a date. Walking around the track or playing racket ball or whatever … just having time with the two of us is a date.