Sturbridge Restaurant Offers Child Care Night, Parents Go Bonkers

STURBRIDGE, MA—A local restaurant is giving moms and dads a date night, and parents are going wild.

Baba Sushi in Sturbridge announced recently that it is offering childcare every Thursday night from 5-9 p.m. while parents enjoy dinner (yeah, the kids eat, too).

During that time, the kids eat with and are supervised by CPR-certified babysitters and a registered nurse on staff. Also during that time, Baba Sushi hosts kid-friendly activities in the karaoke room such as movies and games. When you order food for your kids, they bring it upstairs so they can eat while you do. The cost is $6 an hour, and the total is added to your dinner bill. Plus, you don't have to worry about your babysitter inviting her boyfriend over to your house while you're out at dinner.

"This is awesome!!! I’ve never heard of a restaurant doing something like this... they need to come to our town!!!" - Facebook fan.

Sara Gallant, general manager at Baba Sushi and Momokasai Hospitality, explained to Patch that the idea came about because lots of employees at Baba have their kids at work sometimes already.

"We are a very family-oriented restaurant," said Gallant. My son Niko comes to work with me once a week, our part-owner Sam's son and wife, and also, the infamous Wilson's kids have been known to romp around and ride a tricycle or two through the lounge area. People don't realize it from our fancy appearance, but we absolutely love having kids here, and do our best to ensure they have as much fun as the grown-ups, by treating them with one of Sam's specially-made sushi Pikachus or teaching them how to cook Hot Pot with their parents."

Gallant said that they've also got a lot of room to play with, being in a 7,000 square-foot building. Gallant earned her RN license but chose to remain at the restaurant out of "love for Baba."

"I thought, 'Maybe we can do something unique and cool to fill up these rooms with fun and laughter,'" she said.

When living in Asheville, NC, Gallant noticed that there were some breweries that offered babysitting services, which "seemed kind of dangerous if grown ups didn't limit their drinking, but it was also kind of unique. Similarly, we all know of the services offered at gyms so parents can work out while their kids play. Nothing like babysitting services in a restaurant has ever been heard of in Massachusetts. So I spent about six months communicating back and fourth with our insurance company and the Springfield office of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, in the meantime, hiring girls with experience as nannies for all ages, current CPR certification, and completion of babysitting courses. Some thought it was crazy, some, genius."

She filed documents through the EEC to become exempt from having to get a license as a child care facility, and jumped through several other legal hoops, to finally get approval.

"The most awesome part so far, aside from qualification, was buying all of the toys, games, art supplies, and getting cable setup in the room we will have the kids," said Gallant. "The 'karaoke room' has a capacity of 50 and also a private bathroom for the kiddos to use. We are so excited to offer this program to our community. As parents, it is really hard to get out sometimes. If we don't have good friends or family in the area, it is so challenging to find people we can trust to watch our most prized possessions. Goodness, I didn't even leave my son with my parents for an overnight until he was almost 2 years old. Never having time to go out together and sit down for a quiet evening meal can be pretty detrimental to marriages."

At any point during dinner, parents are welcome to head on upstairs and check in on the kids.

"Now we can only hope that the kids have some of the greatest times of their lives at Baba and never forget those memories as they grow up," said Gallant.

Photo via Shutterstock