Like everything else in NYC, babysitters are expensive. We generally pay our sitters around $15.00/hour. We give them another $15 to order some dinner. And if we stay out past 11:00 pm, we usually hand them another $20 to take a taxi home. So, needless to say, sometimes just going out for a quick burger and a movie ends up costing us $120! Fucking insane, right?
Well, as it turns out, an increasing number of parents in cities, towns and suburbs are turning to baby-sitting co-operatives for free and reliable child care. A babysitting cooperative consists of a number of families in a community who decide to share babysitting among themselves without the exchange of money. Co-ops vary in size from a few families to 30 or more, with children ranging from infants to preteenagers. Larger co-ops tend to be more structured, with spreadsheets, screenings, referrals and references, house visits, written bylaws and secretaries to keep track of parent trades. They may have background checks, medical release forms, newsletters and internal Web sites with passwords, calendars and chats.
Intriguing idea. I'm not sure how I would feel about leaving my daughter with another family that I don't really know very well. I also like the idea of having my daughter sleep in her own bed as opposed to taking her over to a sitter's house (as is the practice in most co-ops.) But maybe these are small prices to pay instead of forking over money every week to a regular babysitter.
Any of you in babysitting co-ops? What's your take on them?
