On Monday and Wednesday nights, on a first-call, first-serve basis, the Parenting Place offers free child care for parents who just need a couple of hours to themselves.

The child care is available to anyone, but of course you can’t just drop your kid off unannounced. First you have to call (the number is 728-KIDS) and make an appointment to fill out the usual child-care paperwork and answer some basic questions about your kids and how you plan to use your time. You’ll also be asked to pledge not to spend your kid-free time to use drugs or alchohol.

That’s because the Parenting Place is a community-based nonprofit dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect. According to its Web site, it aims to “help families develop healthy parent-child relationships, to improve the futures of our children and ensure healthy families.”

It’s been filling this role in the community since 1981, and today offers parenting classes and children’s programs and more.

Child’s Play is its name for the free child care – plus dinner! – offered twice weekly. Once you’ve filled out the paperwork and gone through the interview, you’re good to go. However, Lindsay Davis, the children’s program coordinator, warns that the slots fill quickly.

“The kicker is, it fills up really really fast,” she says.

The Parenting Place can accept a maximum of only 15 kids per night. They have to be under the age of 12, and no more than three can be under the age of 18 months.

Davis says not to be discouraged if you can’t get in on the first try. The Parenting Place has an awesome office manager, she says, who can help you figure out how to make sure you can get your kids’ names on that list when you need that night out.

Most parents, she added, use the time to enjoy a kid-free dinner, or run errands. Sounds simple enough, but sometimes that’s all it takes to drastically reduce stress and recharge.

The Parenting Place is located at 1644 S. 8th St. Again, the number to call to find out more is 728-KIDS.

- MM