WE CAN'T GO OUT AT NIGHT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 95, 18 April 1941, Page 8

WE CAN'T GO OUT AT NIGHT

The Problem Of Baby-Minders

(By

K.

S.

Y wife and I agree on one point, anyway — that the great modern problem for young parents is getting someone to look after the children while they get out for an evening together. Take last week for example: we thought it would be nice to have Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell along for the evening, partly to meet our old friends the Freemans and partly because we had not yet invited’ these relatively new acquaintances to our home. When I broached the idea to Mr. Mitchell he said he would have to’consult his wife about a suitable date, and later said they could get someone in to look after their family on Friday (in other words Friday was chosen because it suited someone else). That night I rang the Freemans. Mrs. F. said she would be delighted to come but it depended on her father, as he was the one who looked after the house for them. That was duly fixed for Friday, when Mr. F. found he had an E.P.S. meeting that night, so it’s all off now until the following Friday, God willing and weather and baby-minders permitting. * * * E have the same bother when we want to go anywhere. We know a woman who, for 2/6 a night, will come in and look after the house and the children (who are always asleep long before she comes), but other people know about her too, so she is not always available, It is easy money for her, because she brings her knitting, and we leave the radio, a good fire, and supper on a tray. For us, it introduces a most important point-every entertainment is weighed in terms of: is it worth the extra half crown? To go to the pictures in the city costs my wife and me: 2 seats at 1/6, 3/-; tram fare each way at 5d each, 1/8; plus the woman, 2/6; total 7/2. The result is that we don’t go to the pictures together, as it costs too much, For a particularly good and specially recommended picture such as Mr. Chips I go one night and my another. We have other vices of course. We belong to an amateur dramatic society and one or two church organisations and to all of these we go on separate nights, always one of us remaining at home to look after the children, except in the case of something important such as an annual meeting. * * * OW this may be a humble point beneath the dignity of sociologists, but it is really a serious modern problem. Nowadays almost everyone is restless. Thousands of people won’t just sit at home at nights, but feel they must go to the pictures, to a dance, to a friend’s house, for a walk-go out somewhere. (I think this chasing about is more pronounced since the war started.) Married people are as unsettled as younger ones, but those who are married with no children have a much fuller and freer life. The State needs children, but the penalties for having children (readily shouldered by us and

thousands of others) seem to be becoming stiffer. Just look at the reception a woman gets if she boards a tram at a busy time and has to upset people with a baby and a pram! If the decay of the old home entertainments forces young married couples to enjoy their pleasures separately, the whole thing is bad. Now, don’t misunderstand me-my wife and I are as fond of our children as our grandparents were. We are not dancers, we never gamble on cards, nor are we picture fans, and we wouldn’t dream of shirking our responsibility to the children one jot; but there is a restless urge sweeping through the twentieth century, and we're caught in the vortex of it, When we were living in Auckland two or three years ago I advertised for "Woman to let young parents escape for one night a week. 2/6 a night. Ring ‘phone .’ Our phone rang from 3 o’clock in the afternoon when the paper came out and for the» next couple of days. We found someone we liked and could depend on, so we had every Thursday night off right through the. winter, But that was a bit of luck. Not everyone is so dependable. And anyway where is that extra half-crown these days?