What Is The Baby-sitting Co-op Handbook For?
Where Did The Baby-sitting Co-op Idea Come From?
What Is It Like To Be a Sitter?
When you read the Smart Mom's Baby-sitting Co-op Handbook, you will learn that a Co-op is a group of moms who agree to trade baby-sitting hours on a point basis. The cooperating moms take turns leading a few meetings and serving as Secretary to provide the simple bookkeeping needed. It is a long time between turns. The Smart Mom's Baby-sitting Co-op Handbook will help you and your friends do your own thing. You can use your Baby-sitting Co-op as much as you want, or as little as you want. It’s always a fair trade. You get out of it what you put into it. When you request a sitter, you spend points. When you sit for another mom, you earn points. Don’t worry about points! Just make a deal with yourself to call for a sitter whenever you want. The points will work out—the secretary keeps track of everything for you.What is the Smart Mom’s Coop Handbook for?
This Smart Mom’s Baby-sitting Co-op Handbook is a rule book for being a participant in an existing Baby-sitting Co-op. The Handbook is also the instruction book for those who are thinking about starting a new Co-op with a few other moms.A Smart Mom’s Baby-sitting Co-op is designed to be started by any mom and three friends, or by any program director that serves a group of moms who have preschoolers.
Look inside this Smart Mom’s Baby-sitting Co-op Handbook to discover how the Co-op can work for you. Baby-sitting coverage will adapt to your needs and your schedule—not the other way around. See for yourself how easy it is to do a Co-op from scratch. All the nuts and bolts are provided.
Where did this Baby-sitting Co-op Idea come from?
The Smart Mom’s Baby-sitting Co-op System is based on the University Place Baby-sitting Co-op near Seattle Washington. The University Place Co-op has been passed from mom to mom for nearly twenty years. Dozens of moms have participated in their Co-op over the years. The original University Place Baby-sitting Co-op was started by Mary Chapman, Judy Phillups, Teresa Christenson and a few others in the early 1980’s. The University Place Baby-sitting Co-op continues today with new moms replacing the moms whose children have grown-up.How many moms does it take? A home-based Co-op can be any size. Most Co-ops start with just four moms. Some groups like to start recruiting immediately, other groups are happy to limit it to a few close friends until another good mom happens to cross someone’s path. The most important thing is to be comfortable with those who will be watching your children. After awhile, moms usually see the advantage of having more sitter. The idea is to get enough moms so that someone is always available. Home based Co-ops become too big with more than twenty moms. With fewer than ten moms, Co-ops may eventually sputter to a stop.
A Co-op can also work for a large group or church. A large group can have one big Co-op or lots of small Co-ops. The Handbook has a special start-up tips for large groups.
What do I need to do this? Each participant needs a Smart Mom's Baby-sitting Co-op Handbook and each Co-op group needs the Leader Workbook and the Secretary Workbook. Workbooks can be downloaded free from this web site. If you follow the steps, four Co-op handbooks are needed for the four moms who do the start-up.
Smart Mom’s Shopping List For Start-up
 | Four Co-op Handbooks |
| One Leader Workbook and One Secretary Workbook |
| Two 3-ring binders |
| One pencil pouch |
How much does it cost? Mom's usually see the need for come petty cash for their Co-op. Mom's pay Twelve dollars each September--that’s all. Sanity is a bargain at any price--especially at only one dollar per month! The fee is for get-well cards, stamps, envelopes, cookies. The Baby-sitting trades are free. Each mom must buy her own Smart Moms Baby-sitting Co-op Handbook.
As you will learn when you read the Handbook, the Co-op is designed to thrive without you. No need for extra work. No pleas for help. No guilt. Each participant serves a turn as Co-op Secretary or Co-op Leader. When you’re done with your turn--you’re done. Learn to let go. Move on. The Secretary’s term is one month. The Leader’s term is six months. Depending on the size of your group, you will be Leader once every seven years and Secretary once every year or two and you earn points for these jobs.When it’s your turn, you will be given the workbook that goes with the job. The paperwork is well organized. The workbooks have everything you need. This Co-op Handbook explains what to do. (No worries--it is a piece-of-cake.)
The moms of the University Place Baby-sitting Co-op can teach a new participant all there is to know in just a few minutes. As for the Co-op Handbook, just keep it handy for easy reference. Most of the answers are in the Handbook.
The six meetings a year are a good excuse for a night out with other moms. Meetings have just the right amount of formality to keep things running smoothly. Moms enjoy bringing a touch of professionalism into their work-lives. Volunteers host the meetings at home to earn extra points. If a large group starts a Co-op, Co-op business can be tacked-on to the end of the groups’ existing meetings. Just make one call any time you want.What is it like to be a sitter? If you have ever volunteered to watch a friend’s kids at your home, you already know what to expect. Since there will be lots of moms in your Co-op, someone will always be available to do a sit. This allows you considerable flexibility to do baby-sitting at a time when it works for you.
With the Co-op, best friends can be more than your only hope for a baby-sitter--they can be someone you can take to lunch.
