Getting Our Co-op On

This is a tip I am super excited to share with friends, but it's a long post, so beware! When we moved to our new home we signed up for a babysitting co-op with a group of moms from our church. A darling mom, Lisa, started the swap and said I could share all of the details because we are loving it, and I know you will too. Not only has it provided a little free time for me to get some unpacking done, but Eric and I have already been on a date (which rarely happens sans Audette) and we have loved having little ones at our house to play. There is nothing better than watching kids interact together. Audette learns so much from other little people her size.

Participants

You don't need a large group of moms interested to get it started. The co-op would run smoothly with as few as five moms. Our group has ten, but maybe only seven or eight opt in every month. Each of our moms have one to four kids, ranging in ages five months to 10 years. That is a pretty big spread! You can keep it simple and only invite moms who have the same number of kids as you and same ages, or open it up to anyone and everyone.

We use Google docs and calendars to keep everything organized. Participating moms update an excel spreadsheet that is shared on the Google drive with their names, kids names and ages, contact information for both spouses, address, pediatrician name and phone number, emergency contact and any other special information (allergies, potty training info, etc.).

Tickets

This is one of the greatest parts of the co-op. Rather than spending a ton of money on babysitting (I would have been a rich little girl if I was paid what we pay for babysitters these days) or constantly feeling like you owe people, this allows you to "pay" for the time you use. That way you feel comfortable having people watch your kids whether you are a mom working part-time, need to run some "child free" errands or just want to go get a pedicure. Every mom deserves a pedicure every so often!

Upon opting in to the group, you are given 15 hours worth of tickets per child. Some are 60 minute tickets and some are 30 minute tickets. Every time you use the co-op you give the sitter tickets for the time you use, per child. Always round up on your time. Example: You drop off two children for 2.5 hours. You give 5 hours worth of tickets; 2.5 hours per child.

Scheduling

To avoid a ton of work for one person, ask different moms to volunteer to coordinate the schedule on a quarterly basis. That mom gets reimbursed for her efforts. If you want to be a part of the schedule for those three months, you give the coordinator a 30 minute ticket, per child. That person is then responsible for emailing the participants at the beginning of the month. Each participant replies with their availability for the month. The time slots we chose to use for our co-op are weekdays at 9am and 1pm, and weekend evenings at 6pm. Each mom in our group only signs up for two times a month. If you have less moms involved, you can choose to have participants sign up for as many times as you would like. Not every day on the calendar is filled in our co-op, we typically fill 3-5 slots per week. You determine how often you want the co-op to be available by how many days you ask moms to sign up for.

Once the coordinator gets all of the different availability dates, she creates the schedule by selection the best dates and inputs them into a Google calendar. Then she shares it with the participants. When a mom wants to sign up for a specific day, she emails or calls the mom assigned to that day and reserves a spot for her child(ren). Sometimes you won't have anyone sign up for your time slot, other times you have to set a limit on the kids you take in.

Guidelines

You can come up with your own, but here is our list of guidelines we use, that may help you get started. Make sure to email each participant this list emailed once they sign up, so they understand all of the details up front.

1. Make sure you give each participant adequate time to prepare for your child's arrival. Call or email at least an hour before the co-op time slot begins.

2. Each participant will determine the number of children they can safely and responsibly watch, but no more than five children at a time.

3. Limit of two babies under one year.

4. If no one schedules with you, you are off the hook 30 minutes in to your scheduled time slot.

5. One ticket per hour per child. Round up when pick up is over the 30 minute margin.

6. Sitters should provide meals/snacks during time slots, just make sure you follow allergy guidelines. If your child does have special needs, please provide for them upon drop off.

7. Alert sitter if your child is potty trained or in the potty training process.

8. Sitter must keep children in her own home or yard, unless previously discussed with the parents at drop off.

9. Children can only be watched by the co-op member. Spouses, other family or friends can not act as a substitute.

10. If something comes up and you are unable to sit on your day, swap with another member of the co-op. You must inform all of the members of the co-op of the change.

11. If you are running low on tickets, you can recruit for people to sign up for your day or call other participants to see if you can take their scheduled days.

12. Co-op tickets are only to be used on co-op days, but swapping with co-op participants on non co-op is encouraged.

13. Please do not bring sick children to the co-op. We do not want other kids to get sick because of our carelessness.

14. If you choose to leave the co-op, please return the same number of tickets you were given upon entering the co-op (15 tickets for one child, 30 tickets for two children, etc.). Any additional tickets collected can be gifted to other members of the co-op.

15. Co-op administrative tasks is rotated each quarter amongst interested participants. Compensation for these tasks is a 30 minute ticket per child.

Get Started!

If you are a first time mom or a veteran, don't hesitate to get started right away. You will be surprised how quickly word will spread and how many people will be interested. I heard about it the first week I went to church and was sure to sign up the next month they started the new schedule. And not only will it allow you and your child to grow and develop, but you will most likely make some new friends in the process.

Have you had any positive or negative experiences with co-ops before? Please share and help us moms work out the kinks as we start our own groups!