Tips for starting a babysitting Co Op??

[rluey29]

I'm trying to start one of these but need advice on how to do it. I have a thread on the budget board:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2134774

It may have done better on this board, but I didn't think about it until it was already posted. If you have any tips or advice then please let me know.

 

[SLK1]

There is a pretty good article in a recent Family Fun magazine. Just go to their website and do a search. One thing that worked for us (many years ago...) was to have a "treasurer" who keeps track of hours - participants will call in or e-mail in how many hours they babysat, or how many hours they used. Also, when you start out, everyone gets some hours in their bank, like two or three hours per child. Lastly, do a questionnaire for each participant - not just on your child, but on your household, so people know if you have pets, guns, pools, etc. That eliminates any surprises.

 

[rluey29]

Thank You!! That was good advice and I'll look up the family fun article.

 

[HeatherC]

I did something like this when my kids were younger with 2 of my neighbors. If you want to "swap" babysitting with friends, this is what we did. There were 3 families involved and all the kids were the same ages.

1. Made up a schedule so that each couple got to go out every 3 weeks. We made up a calendar and filled it in so everyone knew when their turn was. We also made up a schedule on who's turn it was to watch the kids...worked out to about once every 4 weeks since there were 3 of us doing it.

2. We decided that based on our kids ages at the time that we would do 2pm to 9pm. We would drop the kids off at the friends and have seven hours alone. This way we could go see a movie and dinner, work around the house and grab a quick bite, etc.. Whoever watched the kids would feed them dinner at their house and then take them back to their own house and put them to bed. This way when mommy and daddy got home the kids were asleep!! Worked awesome.

3. We were very flexible. So if someone had plans and needed to switch their night out or their turn babysitting, we just looked at the calendar and made changes to keep it fair.

Saved all of us a ton of babysitting money, the kids had a blast and we got some well needed couple time.

Hope this helps give you some ideas!