Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to take your GD out all the time. I looked after three GC, one after the other, and we used to entertain them at home. We had a good supply of toys and books (charity shops and car boots) and we did lots of painting / crafts with them as well as cooking. We took them out if we needed to go out shopping or sometimes for a walk. We did take them to classes such as Monkey Music if the parents had booked them. We have a wonderful relationship with all three GC who now ask to visit us, often to paint or cook. However, we always followed the parents’ rules to the letter no matter how tiresome these were.