I am a fan of Matt Gross. He’s got those frugal good looks. He grills extremely well. He was courageous to tell his regular readers at the Times that he wallows in the fetid swamp that is DadWagon. But man, he sure came back from Slovakia in rare form. Granted, I am too late for the first or even second swipe at his recent work, but let me add what I’ve got.
First off, he posts on his Frugal Traveler blog about finding a babysitter while away. It was, as usual, full of clever advice. I, too, used sittercity.com to find our full-time babysitter. His idea to look for exchange students to babysit in Italy was inspired. But I have to draw the line at this suggestion:
Wherever you’re going, simply contact the local branch of your religion and explain the situation, and they can often put you in touch with someone who can help. Who knows — maybe you’ll even find someone whose sense of faith is strong enough that they’ll do it free?
Matt: even if they are drooling Branch Davidians who believe that watching your baby will get them to the next level of Christendom, you should still pay them something. These are people who are performing a service, for god’s sake, a non-essential luxury service at that. If you want to go to that art opening, then bravo! But looking for people to help this happen without offering money is, to my mind, crossing the line between frugal and cheap. Just my two cents.
Ah, but before I finish plowing your frugal fields with salt, let me add a concern about your brown fat post. Our loyal commenters said it far better, but it’s worth repeating: fat baby = happy baby. Those four-year-olds with double chins and cankles? They’ve got problems. Sasha could not have those problems at this age, particularly not off of dairy products.
Now, I did have a similar conversation with two young moms (former models!) who, when I mentioned how fat and chubbers my two-year-old is, immediately rushed to comfort me saying, ‘don’t worry, your baby will lose that fat!’, totally misunderstanding that I actually like that my baby is chunky. To them, fat is ugly, I guess, at any age. But that conversation, Matt, was in Miami Beach, where people come from all over the world to hate on fat people and even fat babies. I expect more out of Brooklyn.
Alrighty! That’s it. I can now return to my usual fawning and loving tenderness toward the inimitable Matt G.
Hesitant as I am to defend myself, let me add a word or two here:
• On not paying babysitters: Actually, it’s not some inherent cheapness at work here. It’s more an intense dislike of religiosity combined with a willingness to take advantage of other people’s faith. If those Koreshites really believe that watching my kid will let them level-up in God’s eyes, who am I to sully their epiphanic moment with my filthy lucre?
• On fat babies: Fat babies are awesome. I just happen to be married to someone who worries about such things. And (in case she’s reading today) whose worries are very, very important and need to be addressed patiently and sympathetically.
Wow Matt–there’s no way a critic can make you sound more unnattractive than you already make yourself sound. You dislike religion, and are willing to take advantage of it. Only religion, presumably, would move someone to watch someone else’s kid for free, and you happily accept that–while intensely disliking the thing that got you the free baby-sitter in the first place? This is pathetic. As for frugal traveller, good riddence.