susan1

My husband and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary next year. We will be taking our one year old with us. Does anyone know of a reputable resort, where we can trust their baby sitting services?

We are quite leary about this, and are thinking about asking our parents to watch our little tike while we go away.

Thank you very much!

JCE

Trust your parents,not strangers. You will have a better vacation also not worrying about your child. Its great bonding for your parents as well.

GoTravel

From the sound of things, you would feel better taking your parents.

susan1

My parents live near by, but when I mentioned to my Mom about watching our child in the future, she said "We would be happy to watch him/her for a few days so you can get away"

Hmmmm I heard a few days...not seven. I said it would be hard to get people to keep taking turns, my sister two nights, three nights with you, and then 2 nights with my sister in law.

My Mom said something about the kid would be fine if they know all of the relatives.

So a week vacation is out of the question it sounds like to me.

And my Mother in law lives in TN on a mountain top. I certainly would NOT trust her to watch our child in case of an emergency. Who in the heck could get up that mountain.

Thanks for your replies.

Does anyone else know of a reputable place?

GoTravel

susan, you are confusing. From your caribbean posts, you just found out you were pregnant in Feb or March and now the baby is a year old?

Anyway, most hotels have the baby sitters bonded and use activities staff. Go with higher end hotels such as The Breakers, Ritz Carlton Naples, South Beach, Amelia Island, Palm Beach, or Miami, Boca Raton Resort & Club, The Registry Resort, and The Lago Mar should get you started. Good luck.

LN

Have you ever considered hiring one of your relatives to care for your child while you are on holiday?

Your parents might consider a week's sitting if you "make it worth their while." Or your sister and brother-in-law could also consider it "for the right persuasion." If you hired someone at an upscale resort you could pay quite a bit in fees. So hiring a relative, or inquiring of a relative's monetary needs could work.

Another possibility is to offer to do something for the aforementioned relative that they can't afford right now. Theatre tickets, help painting a bedroom, or getting some plumbing work done, or something that YOU'RE very good at.

I'm certain someone is going to FLAME me for suggesting that I wouldn't want to keep little grandbaby because of my utmost love and, while that is definitely true, I also do not like to tie myself up for seven (7) whole days.

I've cared for my children myself and, in general, taken them with me on vacations. It has only been recent times that couples feel the need to leave children to re-establish the romance in their lives by being alone in a very expensive resort.

Loki

Go to the Carib board and read about the folks who's children were molested at the reputable and trustworthy child care services of a major hotel chain, I think it was Wyndham or Westin? Maybe your 5 year anniversary vacation is less important???

gojacks

If your parents said they would watch the child for a few days,then just go for a few days. Seven days is too long to leave a 1 year old anyway.

For what it's worth,my spouse and I celebrate our 5 year anniversary with a night out on the town,not a weeks vacation to a pricey resort. Especially when we had our small children. Going away with a one year old is work,not relaxing vacation.

wow

To GoTravel: One plausible explanation for what appears to be an inconsistency here: The baby has not been born yet! If Susan1 learned she was pregnant in Mar/03 she may have been 1 or 2 mos pregnant @ that time. Baby is not due until Oct, Nov or Dec. Her child wld be 1 year old when she travels next year to celebrate her 5th Anniversary. This reasoning wld. also explain why she refers to the baby as "him/her"...she does not know if her baby is a boy or a girl!

Now to Susan's question: I like Gojacks suggestion. Go somehwre like The Sheraton Bal Harbour or Marriott Harbour Beach in FLL. You can fly into Miami or FLL. Go on a Friday & come back early Monday. Leave your child w/ your mother b/c I sense that that is the person w/ whom you are most comfortable.

susan1

Thank you everyone for your replies. And to answer a previous question, my child will be born later this month, and we are planning or wanting to plan a 5 year anniversary trip for NEXT year.

Boy, that is really scary to hear that children have been molested at reputable resorts.

LN - I agree that paying the person who watches your child is a definite. I would have it no other way. My parents love their other grandchildren, and I know they will love mine too. I don't want to take advantage of them, so I will definitely pay them so that it is worth it for them.

Even though they are grandparents and love their grandchildren, they have done their job raising their children, and should not have to raise their grandchildren now. So I agree fullheartedly with you.

Thanks everyone so much for your replies.

If I can only do 3-5 days, than that is what we will do.

Take care!

andy

Susan= I don't know where you live, but myu sis used a company called Grandmother's Inc...She started out using the lady for regular babysitting...and then graduated to overnites and then to a week...

The company is licensed and bonded and the ladies are in their 40's- 50's and are quite helpful with small children..

Where do you live? They may have a service like this in your area...My sis used these people all the time until her kids were old enough to be left alone ==and she is VERY particular with her sitters...

KathyK

Susan, Once you become a mother you may find that you won't want to leave your baby for an entire week and that a few days is just the right amount of time for both you and your baby to be seperated from one another.

MFNYC

I think at this point it would be hard to plan such a trip. Your attitude towards childcare and even leaving your child can change completely once you become a parent. Even leaving the baby with grandma for a few days might be more than you can stand. We never had the luxury of a grandparent to care for our kids for any amount of time more than maybe a day. To be honest, we never had the urge to leave them in any case. When they were younger we did stay at some family-friendly resorts in Jamaica and MExico that had childcare and children's programs but we rarely used those services.

threehearts

The St. Thomas Source has a new story on the child sexual assaults at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Kid's Club. It is titled- "Resort sued for the third time over ex-employee." The Associated Press released some details on these latest charges in the St. Thomas paper also, dated Oct. 2nd. Just an update. Threehearts

DebitNM

The kid is already in middle school, Cheryl. This was from 10 years ago.