Starting a Babysitting Co-op

 
I have had a few local friends express interest in the babysitting co-op that I started last year and I have a few friends wondering how to start their own in different areas so I thought now would be a good time to write a blog post about it :)

I first heard about babysitting co-ops because my friend, Julie, started one in her area. When she came to visit me last summer, she convinced me that I needed to start my own and I'm so glad that she did :) I based mine off of hers but we made a few tweaks in the first beginning months to better fit our needs and it has been a life savor over this past year! I don't know how I survived without a babysitting co-op when we lived in Birmingham, and I am sadly missing our co-op again lately as most of our co-op moms have moved away :( 


Why I love babysitting co-ops:

• Zero Cost - no explanation needed :)
• Zero Guilt - while I use the co-op mostly to go out with Spencer, I occasionally use it clean my house, take a nap, run errands, go to my track workouts, or go to an appointment in peace. I don't feel guilty because I'm not spending money and I know that the mom watching my kids is being compensated fairly.
  
• It's Fair and Equal - we pay per child per hour and babies under one are double (because they require more effort). This is one of the reasons I like the co-op better than just a trade. For example, two moms trading babysitting hour-for-hour doesn't seem fair if one mom has one child and the other mom has 4 children and a baby. 
• You Are Never in Babysitting Debt To Anybody - Thanks to the co-op cash, you can earn cash from one mom but use the cash to redeem babysitting from other moms.
• High Chances of Finding a Babysitter When You Need One - you have a pool of moms to ask, and they are usually motivated to babysit so they can earn co-op cash themselves!
• Zero Hard Feelings - our co-op is set up so that you don't have to babysit children you're uncomfortable with and you don't have to send your children to homes you are not comfortable sending them to without anyone finding out and without any awkwardness or hard feelings. (However, the goal is that you create a co-op where everyone feels comfortable!) I'll explain more about this later.  

How Our Babysitting Co-op Works:

There are different ways to set up a babysitting co-op. I based mine off of my friend, Julie's, whose co-op was larger than ours and they signed up for set shifts each month with google calendar. (Let me know if you want more info about it!) It has worked great for them, but didn't work great for us when we tried it. Here is what we ended up doing with our group of 4-7 moms:

When scheduling a babysitter: send a group text to the people in the co-op saying when you need a babysitter (you don't have to send the text to the entire co-op group if you don't want to, just the people you are comfortable with watching your children, but again, the hope and goal of the co-op is that you are comfortable with everyone in the group :) Respond to every individual text that you get an offer from, and once you have found/chosen a babysitter, text back in the group text saying that you have it covered so that you won't get anymore texts.

When responding to a text if you are available to babysit: be sure to send a separate and individual text saying that you are available to avoid any awkwardness and to allow the mom to choose which of the offers will work best for her. (If someone responds to the group text, then it makes it awkward for others to respond later because it would become more of a "pick me! pick me!" type situation so the mom looking for a babysitter feels obligated to choose the first responder) If you are not available to babysit you do not need to respond to the text. 

That the gist of it! It's that simple!

Some common sense rules and some random rules:

(I copied these from Julie :)

• Co-op members need to agree to babysit at least once a month and to use babysitting at least once a month. This keeps the co-op cash moving, but obviously you can be way more active than that!
• The "cost" is a one co-op cash hour, per child, per hour. There is 1 hour co-op cash and 1/2 hour co-op cash, and always be sure to round up. Children under the age of 1 are 2 hrs per hour (they require more effort)
•  PICK UP YOUR KIDS ON TIME!!! If you drop your kids off late, please pay for the time you reserved. If you are late picking them up, the charge will be double the time you were late. However, many of us are very easy going on this since we are often late ourselves ;) ALWAYS offer your late fee, it is just good manners. Just remember to be respectful of people’s time.
•  Bring your child a snack, don't bring hungry kids unless you bring food to feed them. And always bring some sort of a snack, or lunch depending on the time. It is no fun to try to find food to feed 6 kids at once and be left with no snacks for the rest of the week.
•  When babysitting, keep children in your own home and yard unless otherwise arranged by the parents. 
•  Babysitting is to be done only by a co-op member (please do not leave kids with husbands, neighbors, etc without clearing it with the parents of the children you have in your care)
• Pay your co-op cash to the mom when you pick up your children to ensure appropriate payment for the time utilized. Let the mom know how long you will be. Remember treat others time as valuable as your own.
•  DO NOT drop off sick children!
• If you are concerned that people don’t like taking your kids for some reason, or they don’t like bringing them to your house, consider the following: paying extra if you child is difficult, offer fun activities, pay more for when the shift holder goes above and beyond, or offer to babysit kids at more unpopular times  (usually this is evenings and weekends) or offer to watch them at their house (so they can go out on a later date)
• There are plenty of areas for dishonesty and "situations" to arise (although we haven't had any major issues). Always communicate needs, problems, issues, "situations" immediately. DO NOT let them continue to happen and fester. If you feel uncomfortable communicating with another mom please inform your coordinator ASAP and they will address the issue. 
•  If you don't feel comfortable sending your kids to someone's home, you don't have to send them there. If the reason is something easily remedied please let them know or your coordinator (pool, safety issue, etc). We want a good co-op where everyone feels comfortable.
• If you wish to withdraw or if you are moving, please return at least 20 hrs to the coordinator (if you have more, feel free to gift them to other moms). If you do not have enough it is your responsibility to earn enough to reach 20 hrs. Just like participation is required to keep the co-op successful, honesty and leaving by returning your hours keeps the co-op friendly and a happy group. This way people can withdraw and join the group as desired. (Obviously we are all very nice people, if you are short a few, you are moving and really need co-op etc we can make arrangements. Honestly we aren’t super strict on this, we just want you to know that we wouldn’t appreciate it if you joined, used all your hours, and dropped out.)  (Another possible option for this to insure that co-op bucks are returned is to have a small deposit for the co-op bucks and to join the co-op. When the mom leaves the co-op and returns her 20 hours, she can have her deposit back.)

Starting Your Own Co-op:

•  I highly recommend holding a meeting to explain how the co-op works and to get everyone on the same page. You can also distribute the co-op cash at this time. 
•  For co-op cash, I used these co-op printables. I used one color for the one hour co-op bucks and another color for the half-hour co-op bucks and laminated them so that they would last longer. Each mom starts with 20 co-op hours. (I gave 15 one-hour cash and 10 half-hour cash to each mom). 
• Emphasize that the co-op is more for dates, time to ourselves, appts/working etc. We chuck co-op cash out the window when someone has a baby, when someone is getting ready to move, family crisis, etc. We don't want the co-op to make moms feel guilty for asking for help when they need help!
• I personally think that you need at least 4 moms to make the co-op work but the more the better! Ours worked best and most efficiently when we had 7 moms participating. 

I love babysitting co-ops! It really takes away the guilt of asking for someone to babysit and it keeps everything fair and equal. Sometimes I just use it when I want to clean my house or get a break from my kids (which I would never do without the co-op cash!) and Spencer and I have been on so many more dates since the co-op started!