Free Childcare? Maybe, if You Co-Operate…
The recession that’s caused unemployment to hover near 10 percent has also forced us to return to the thrifty ways of our not-too-distant forebears.
The latest thing we’ve managed to cut costs on is childcare.
The High Cost of a Night Out
Babysitters have an important job – so it’s no wonder they often charge around $10 per hour for watching your children.
But if you’re trying to pinch pennies, a night out may be financially beyond your reach.
After all, you may have to pay for dinner, parking, tickets of some kind, gas and, of course, babysitting.
Working Together to Save Some Green
Babysitting co-ops are not new, but they have surged in popularity recently. Here’s how they work:
- A group of parents gets together. Once you have the initial desire for a co-op, you can visit sites like babysittingcoop.com or babysitterexchange.com to get idea for how to establish yourselves as a group.
- You determine your own rules. It’s important to decide what you want in co-op members: think in terms of safety (does the family have a swimming pool?) and convenience (will you have to drive miles to pick your kids up?).
- You invite or accept new members. Once you know what you’re looking for, you can actively recruit members (on craigslist.org or elsewhere, or by word of mouth) and expand your support network.
- You take turns going out (and watching kids). Depending on the size and atmosphere of your co-op, you and your spouse may find yourselves spending more time together than you ever thought possible on a tight budget.
Keep Track of Duties
Of course, no two families are alike, and caring for three kids under the age of five is very different from caring for two older than eight.
Many babysitting co-operatives have hashed out point systems that allow members to “earn” and “spend” points based on how many kids they have, the ages of their kids, when they go out and how long they stay.
This can help prevent resentment from building up and keep people from taking advantage of the nature of the co-operative system.
Additional Resources
Babysitting Co-Op Startup Guide (PDF)
I approve of parent coops and offshifting each other since parents are good judges of safe environments, good friends and like-minded values. However I would urge anyone using such an arrangement to have the courage to recognize the work being done, and its value. You are not finding ‘free childcare’ since there is no such animal. Any person taking care of a child, even if unpaid, has costs of such care. The costs are for food, shelter, toys but also and this is bigger, for the loss of income of what you could be doing elsewhere. Too many parents undervalue the huge ‘cost’ they incur when they are home with the child and I think tax systems should realize that the skills the parents give, for care of the next generation, are a gift to the nation. The parent incurs a loss of income and the state gets the work done free. So when parents take turns doing this sacrifice for each other, the one who gets the work done ‘free’ still is the state, and the parents still are out a lot of recognition and money. I am part of a movement to get government to value the work of taking care of children, to fund all children when it funds any, and to not favor any care location or style. In that way the cost of 3rd party childcare and daycare would be seen to be only one style of cost and those who incur the cost of at-home care and salary loss would also be recognized.