Over the past two decades, many parents have relied on babysitting services when it comes to managing their childcare needs. Working parents who are too busy to care for their children are usually looking for a babysitter or babysitter to care for the children while they are away. Although this is widely accepted as practical and efficient, times are changing rapidly and new childcare alternatives are beginning to emerge. With today’s economy causing child care costs to rise uncontrollably, hiring a nanny to care for children is no longer a wise decision.
Unknown to many, there is a cost-effective alternative to hiring a nanny that parents can take advantage of. Known as child care cooperatives, these community child care groups are able to eliminate the cost of child care through a system of sharing seats. For those who are not yet familiar with childcare cooperatives, it is a term used to define a group made up of parents who exchange childcare with one another. Instead of hiring a babysitter, members of babysitter cooperatives manage their childcare needs through babysitter exchanges. This helps parents save thousands of dollars a year on child care expenses and can even help improve your relationship with the community.
Babysitter cooperatives operate under a “point exchange” system. Childcare points are awarded to members who perform childcare duties and points are deducted for those who request childcare services. For example, if Member A babysits Member B’s child, Member A will earn childcare points as a reward. If Member A decides to request a babysitting service in the future, she will be able to use the babysitting points she has acquired for a free babysitting service. Childcare Points cannot be purchased or traded and the only way to acquire them is by performing childcare tasks. This unique approach to babysitting has been very popular with parents due to the large amount of money they can save using this strategy.
Joining a child care cooperative is very easy. If you’re prepared, you can even start a childcare cooperative within your own community with close friends, neighbors, and relatives as initial members. Some websites like Sitting Around can make it easy for you to find a nearby childcare cooperative and even process the application to become a member. With a number of people beginning to embrace the idea of shared child care, this new cooperative child care trend could well be the accepted child care system in the near future.
