To get a babysitter?

[arielmanto]

We’ve been to a handful of parties this summer (weddings, “big” birthdays) that ran into the evening. At all of them that had a daytime portion we took DD 22mo for the early part and then one or both of us took her home for dinner/bath/bed routine followed by a babysitter. At all of them without fail we were accosted during the evening and asked Where Has DD Gone? Umm.. to bed?
It seems like my siblings / cousins / rest of world had just brought their toddler with them and let them nap in prams, or wander about with ear defenders on. Some of the kids were fine with it, most were sleeping wherever they could, but I just have no idea when leaving your kid at home in bed became not-the-norm? The idea of dealing with DD at 11pm and then the next day overtired fills me with horror..
did / do you take your tiny people to evening parties? How do they cope?

We took them with us if suitable or declined the invite if not. Sometimes just one of us will go if it's something we want to do.

I don't like using babysitters so don't, plenty feel that way.

Don’t like using them from a trust POV?

No, I just don't like leaving the children other than for work. They are only little for a tiny period, plenty of time for adult only events again once they are adults themselves. We prefer to do things as a family.

We had a few family weddings the summer when dd2 was 20 months old. Geographically it wasn't really possible to take her home so did the staying up option! I've got pictures of her dancing on the discofloor at 10.30pm with four grown up relatives. Very sweet memories which kind of made up for next few grizzly days.

We have done a mixture of both depending where the event was and whose event it was.

Ive done exactly the same and taken mine home from a family wedding, (18 mths) they just get tired and cranky and it gives you a chance to enjoy a bit of the event.

The above about only leaving children for work makes me 😮

I would only be leaving her when she’s already asleep.. but I do get the hanging out with them whilst they’re little thing. FWIW she’s not in nursery yet and one of us is a SAHM so we do see plenty of her!!

OP do whatever works for you, people on here are so critical I wouldn't even bother asking! Just do what works for your family xx

OP do whatever works for you, people on here are so critical I wouldn't even bother asking! Just do what works for your family xx

I'd take mine home to bed. There's pretty much nothing worth the fall out of distrupting her sleep routine.

I don't use babysitters so that wouldn't of been an option for me.

I probaly would of just kept her up and let her crash on a chair or if I really wanted adult time on the evening then I would of asked a family/close friend to have her overnight, but more then likely just kept her with me.

But I don't think you have done anything wrong.

My kids have always been pretty easy regarding bed time so keeping them up etc has never been a problem.

I would do the same as you. I don’t see how they would even know if you’re asleep?

We do sometimes give them late nights for things but they really struggle the next day and it’s not fun!

Do what works for you!

I mean they’re asleep! You’re probably having a wine thinking you’re cool dancing to little mix. No? Just me then

Do whatever works for you. I used to take mine out late, but SIL takes my nephew and niece home at bedtime and either gets a baby sitter or they just all go home. No one minds. Just do whatever is best for you and your child.

Every family is different. I would personally use a babysitter from now on, as it just gets very tricky when ds is over tired. I did the mistake of doing what everyone else were doing - bringing their lil ones to evening wedding party. Luckily all the kids eventually fell asleep in their pram except for mine who ended up being over hyper. I had to leave the party earlier (half way through dinner) just to calm and put ds to bed. It ruined my night!