Going to Winn Dixie for Milk, Beer, Pepsi and a Baby Sitter!

I’ve just got to post today about a memory that came up recently for me; it’s about going through the super market with your kids–looking for babysitters.

Our youngest had very curly, very red hair and people noticed him when we were out in public. In those days, there obviously was no craigslist, so if you needed sitters–which we did for our brood of three–church was option one but the grocery store was option two! (And, yes, sons one and two were terribly cute, as well!)

Here’s how that worked: once we were in the check out line, the cashier would, without fail, notice little Benji sitting in the cart and say “oh, that little guy is sooooo cute!” And I would say “he sure is! How would you like to baby sit him?” And we got three different sitters for Benji and his two big bros that way, including Traci, who was with us for almost a year. She didn’t stop sitting for us until she got a job interning for then Florida Senator Paula Hawkins.

Back in the ’80s, grocery stores pretty much filled cashier jobs with young women who were of baby sitting age. This technique would probably not work so well these days. I go back to when many young men made money by mowing lawns and their sisters often baby sat. There are many, many more ways to make part-time money now, but back in the ’80s when our kids were small, the local supermarket was a great place to find new–and good–sitters for those darling kids at home.

With this little walk down memory lane, I am,

Bulldog Ben Basile

© 2017 Ben Lawrence Basile

Photo credit Benjamin Lawrence Basile