I don't understand this. If parents live together as husband and wife, and one of them goes out, the other one will just stay at home, and perhaps tell friends that their partner is out for the evening. The children will be in bed, and one assumes that routine runs itself.

If people split up (but still temporarily live in the same house), and one of them is out for the evening, the person who is left at home with the children may describe their time at home as "babysitting". The children are the same. Their sleeping patterns and routine is the same. Parents are the same.

However, the perception of each individual's action is different.

I never thought I'd feel like this, and it always amused me when people referred to their staying at home with their own children as 'babysitting', but....

I am babysitting tonight. I love my boys just as much as I have always done. I will feed them, do their homework with them, bathe them, read them their bedtime story, and put them to bed just as I have always done.

I am still 'babysitting'. It definitely feels like it. Bizarre.

Oh well. More blogging later, whilst 'on duty'.