| A New Concept in Childcare: Group Babysitting |
By: Nicolette Zanzibar, Babysitting/Childcare Columnist
On 10/16/05
Memory has it that the idea for group babysitting came about during one of the poker games that my parents and their neighbors had. No one really knows for sure. What they do know is that life got a whole lot easier for a lot of parents after that poker game.
| "Be sure to schedule once a month follow-ups after the playgroup is started, so that everyone has a place to voice their thoughts..." |
As a child in Colorado, far before the term “play date” took over as the preferred terminology for a 6-year-old’s social engagements, I had a network that would put most children my age to shame. I had a 5-day a week, eight-hour a day neighborhood playgroup.
It worked like this: Each mom of the group was the babysitter for one day a week. As the babysitting rotated, so did the meeting place for all the kids. This playgroup concept continued, Monday through Friday, from before I could walk until I started preschool. The parents were elated -- they had three days “off,” then one day babysitting four kids, and a fourth day of care by our “second mom,” hired babysitter Maryanne.
There were four of us kids, all around the same age, two boys, two girls. We were four different personalities, and eventually we headed in very different directions. But to this day, I can tell you exactly what each and every one of their childhood bedrooms looked like, what their favorite outfits were, and whether they had fruit roll-ups in their pantries or not.
When I was away from my own house, my mother knew that I was just down the street, in a setting that she knew well, with a mom that she knew well. And we kids learned early how to share, to relate, to form close ties to kids our own age. It was the balancing point between a nanny and daycare, and it saved our parents a bundle.
In this day and age, the nanny is a common extended member of the family. But many parents cannot afford full-time help. Nannies can run between $450 - $700 a week in city markets. And, while today’s daycare programs offer every specialty and method of teaching imaginable, oftentimes parents can feel disconnected from their children, or find that they have little control over what their child’s day looks like and whether the child is getting the individual attention that they need.
Of course starting up a playgroup can be difficult, especially in a larger city where new mothers are less likely to know their neighbors. Still, there are lots of simple steps you can take to get yourself networking to start a playgroup.
Begin close to home. Put up fliers at neighborhood recreation centers, libraries or school bulletin boards. These are all places that can give you quick access to other parents. “E-trees” also work amazingly fast: sending a quick email to friends, even those without children, that they can then forward on to people who might be interested, who then, in turn, may know someone else. Neighborhood organizations, watch groups, even a local coffee shop, are all good places to find mothers with similarly aged children.
Stay at home moms or moms who work part time may be easier to find to do a share playgroup. Full-time working parents may have to pull some strings to make the schedule of playgroups fit into their busy lives. Some working moms can negotiate work schedules and ask for four 10-hour days per week; others may be able to work from home. Oftentimes, relatives or an additional sitter can fill the "mom" role for a sick day or vacation.
Once you have a core group of parents onboard, it’s important for the group to discuss parameters, expectations, and any fees involved, before bringing in a babysitter: How much is each parent willing to pay? Are there certain days of the week that one parent prefers or cannot accommodate? How much do families travel and what times of the year? What happens if a parent gets sick and can’t accommodate the playgroup? What rules and expectations do parents stand by, and can each of the other families live with those rules? Oftentimes a parent in the group will already have sitter resources in hand, but calling agencies can also be useful.
Be sure to schedule once a month follow-ups after the playgroup is started, so that everyone has a place to voice their thoughts, some with the hired babysitter, and some without. For the parents in my childhood play group this mostly consisted of dinner party get togethers that were fun and informative.
For more information on starting a playgroup, check out A Stay-At-Home Mom's
Complete Guide to Playgroups, by Carren W. Joye, and The Playgroup Handbook: The complete, practical guide to organizing a home playgroup--with more than 200 activities for children 2 and up, by Laura P. Broad, both available at Amazon.com.
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