What I risk is the ability to ever find another babysitter when I need one. But, I feel compelled to criticize the insultingly high babysitting rates that are now considered the norm.

At $10 to $12 an hour for two children, babysitter fees can exceed $60 an evening. That is often more expensive than the date itself. Needless to say, my husband and I rarely go out anymore.

How did we get to this inflationary rate? Is the presence of a 14-year-old truly that valuable? In 1975, when I began my babysitting career, I was delighted to earn 75 cents an hour. This was a flat rate that did not change with the number of children watched. Well, you say; "The cost of living has increased dramatically since then." This is true, but babysitting fees have outpaced the cost of most consumer goods by more than three fold.

And the inequity becomes glaringly apparent when examining the cost of necessary items in 1975 and today. For example, a loaf of bread once 35 cents is now $3, an increase of 660 percent. The great inflation indicator, gasoline, has gone from 50 cents to frequently more than $2 a gallon. An increase of more than 200 percent. Yet the minimum wage has increased only 62 percent, from $2.10 an hour to $5.50 an hour. Even the medium income has risen an astonishing 193 percent over the last 30 years. But none of those increases can hold a candle to babysitters' rates, which have gone up as astonishing 1,133 percent.

And although I was earning what now appears to be peanuts on the dollar, I took my sitting jobs very seriously. After feeding, bathing and putting the children to bed, I busied myself with the other part of the job's expectations-- picking up after the kids and myself. Yet apparently no such thought dares to enter into the mind of today's sitter. After the kids are put to bed, the sitter leaves all dishes and toys for the mother to pick up, and cozies up with the remote control for the next four hours. That's a pretty good deal for $10 an hour.

Since parents are certainly not getting more for the buck, why do we pay such a premium for a warm body? After mulling this over for a while I've realized it's not the babysitting we place such value on, but what the sitting frees us from. Computers in the home and cell phones on our hips increase our productivity while reducing our down time. Technological advancements are prodding us to be "on-call" 24 hours a day, making peace and quiet the elusive luxury we will pay top dollar for. So $10 an hour buys us a quiet meal that we didn't have to prepare ourselves and is void of power struggles over eating vegetables. It's the going rate for a conversation with our spouse without being interrupted by a 4-year-old asking you to put on his Peter Pan outfit. It's being able to watch a movie that involves a complex plot without animated characters. What we are paying $10 an hour for is our sanity.

But, I beseech you, the next time you hire a sitter, tell her that you have thought it over and consider $7 an hour a more appropriate rate for her services. Because, frankly, the cost of sanity is driving me insane.

Ana Whitlock has lived in Willow Glen for more than 10 years. She can be reached at awhitlocka2@cs.com.