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As a full-time mother of three children, five years and under, life moves at a hectic pace. Going to the beauty salon solo, spending one-on-one time with my oldest, and dining out with my husband can provide much needed breaks. But, hiring a babysitter for these activities is expensive, with fees ranging up to $10 an hour. Living on a single-income budget, I felt it was a luxury to rely on outside help on a regular basis. Luckily, I discovered the joys of a babysitting co-op. For an exchange of time and energy, it offers me a guilt-free, and money-free break from my children. With a little planning and luck, anyone can get a similar co-op off the ground.
A baby sitting cooperative (co-op) consists of a group of parents that are willing to exchange “babysitting” duties with other parents. Instead of money, popsicle sticks, are often used as commerce. There are a few easy-to-follow factors that make the co-op truly successful. These include developing and maintaining a good relationship with the co-op families, using standardized commerce, and committing to regularly using the co-op.
Probably the trickiest part is finding a group of like minded individuals that are willing to embark on the co-op process. It is essential to develop the co-op with a group of individuals that you trust to watch your children and whose children you (and your children) enjoy being around. If you are not comfortable with either of the above, you will be less likely to use the system, shortening its life span.
Try to form a co-op with families that you already socialize with a lot. Using a baby group as the basis for the co-op is a natural. Baby groups often meet once a week. In this setting, you get to know not only potential babysitters, but you also get to see how their children interact with your children.
If you don’t belong to a mother’s group, other places to look for members would be at your child’s nursery school, your church, or from your birthing class. A group of 5 - 10 families is a good size. It is large enough to conveniently find a sitter and a small enough for you to stay in touch with all the members.
Although traditionally, mothers have most active in a babysitting co-op, it’s not unusual for both parents to share the responsibility. For this reason, it is helpful to set up a time for the entire families to meet. For example, our co-op found that an introductory Sunday brunch worked best. Follow-up invitations to summer bar-b-ques, and Holiday gatherings kept entire families connected.
Commerce:
The babysitting group I belong to uses popsicle sticks instead of money. Of course, any type of monetary substitute will work. An actual “accounting system” keeps the system fair for everyone involved. It is easier to track individual contributions and swap hours among a larger group of families.
The system works as follows:
One stick equals one hour.
One half stick (actually a popsicle stick with a black line at the end) equals 1/2 hour.
Each additional child costs 1/2 stick per hour.
Every family starts out with 10 hours worth of sticks. It is then up to each family to decide how to use the sticks. You can spend them all in one week, or spread their use out over a longer period of time. Each family knows that when they run low, they need to build up their supply. It’s not uncommon to get pleas from co-op moms to send babysitting hours their way. They want to rebuild their supply.
You may want to determine at the outset, if there are any paramaters to the childcare. For example, are there a limited number of hours per sitting, does your group prefer only daytime hours, are weekends off-limits? The better the groups understanding of limitations up-front, the fewer misunderstandings will occur once the co-op is underway.
Finally, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Be active! I’ve found that initially, new members can be hesitant to ask for your services(after all, we are all busy parents, and it can feel awkward to add to another parent’s workload). However, the more you use ask other people to watch your children, the more they seem to reciprocate. For this reason, it’s important to use as many different parents as possible. It is easy to get into a rut and ask just one or two parents to watch your children. However, since the plan is to get other people to ask you, you need to stay “top of mind” with as many parents as possible.
And now the final golden rule...
Have fun! This is your chance to be frivolous. Go to the grocery store by yourself, paint your bathroom, or better yet, spend a romantic evening with your spouse like you’ve been promising. After all, you’ve earned it(and you’ve got the popsicle sticks to prove it).
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