Pet Sitting International

What is a babysitting co-op? A babysitting co-op, sometimes called babysitting club or cooperative, is just a group of families in a community who decide to share the task of babysitting by swapping time with each other rather than charging money. In that way the members of the coop can get access to occasional child care services without having to be concerned about the high cost of or risk of using a paid babysitter.

Benefits

There are many benefits to this approach to childcare. For starters it is easier and less expensive than regular babysitting. Also, rather than relying on one or two carers that may or may not be available you have access to perhaps as many as 10 or 20 families, which can make it much easier to find someone in a hurry.

For those without close family nearby, a coop can be a very valuable way to get away for a few hours without the children to spend with their partner or on a “date night” without the added cost of child care.

Lastly, with the cost of day care spiraling up, some people are using babysitting coops to provide regular day care for a day or two a week. Getting a child into day care for just a day a week or for occasional days can be very difficult but sharing the task amongst several families can make it much easier.

Drawbacks

There are very few drawbacks to babysitting coops and perhaps the only one is the task of managing the process. For instance the role of the secretary can be .