One of the toughest things as a parent...

... is finding a babysitter that you can count on. Either you're lucky and you find some sweet old lady who just has all the free time in the world (which we haven't) or you have to rely on teenagers in your neighborhood. If you get them when they're like 13 or 14, that's a good age. Any older and you run the risk of losing them to real jobs and boyfriends. Any younger and they're really not old enough to be responsible. If you find someone who is in their 30s and does babysitting on the side, you sort of feel like you have to pay them to par with what a 30 year old working in a daycare might earn. The younger girls will take whatever, but they don't have to have a reason to cancel. I had a meeting tomorrow and now I must cancel it. Why? Because my babysitter decided she'd rather hang out by the pool with her friends. I'm not sure when she was planning on telling me either, because I called her to confirm and she broke the news then. Ah, to be young again and to get away with such a lack of priority and responsibility...