Last week, I attended my first babysitting co-op meeting. It was quite an experience. Although I was the only new member and the other six people in attendance ostensibly knew each other, the group had a somewhat clinical feel to it. The entire meeting felt very forced, very prescribed. There was a chair and a secretary - the chair ran the meeting and the secretary documented everything. Had I been a member of the Babysitters’ Club (anyone? reference? did I just date myself?), I imagine Kristy Thomas would have conducted a similarly effective meeting. (On a side note, I always fancied myself more of a Claudia Kishi - artsy, creative, sporting fancy shoes. Though, I was much better at spelling. But, I digress…)

The meeting started by handing out a sheet of paper with each member’s points. Then, the chair read this sheet, line-by-line, aloud. She read each of the twenty-five members names and their respective points, while the rest of us followed along, as though we were somehow unable to read the sheet of paper for ourselves. After the reading of the points was complete, we discussed ideas for social events. Among the suggestions were: playgroup and get-together at the park. I had to wonder how many times these social events had been suggested before, as they seemed rather obvious. Didn’t the group already have such activities on a regular basis?

Then, the icing on the cake. The old secretary (who had completed her two-month term) handed The Book over to the new secretary. The Book was a 3-inch binder that contained all the sittings that had occurred in the co-op. When a member completed a sit, she/he called the secretary and reported it. Then, the secretary recorded the sit and the points in The Book. The Book was the official source of record.

I was flabbergasted that none of this -save coordinating sits, on occasion - occurred online. How antiquated and archaic the methods for what otherwise would be such a great idea. Granted, I have not yet coordinated a sit myself and I am looking forward to doing so and to finding out how this process works, firsthand.

Yes, that’s right - the Ex, G, and I are now members of a babysitting co-op. Sure, I haven’t sat for anyone else yet, and okay, no one has sat for me yet, either, but… I am SO excited. No more pricey babysitters! Hooray! The first co-op meeting is on Tuesday and I will have the chance to meet other parents in our neighborhood babysitting co-op. After that, I can start sitting.

I’m excited for many reasons:

1. We’ll save money. Instead of $50 for a sitter on a night out, we’ll pay $0. Not too shabby.

2. Our son will be cared for by parents we know and trust. Why pay for a teenage sitter when we can have experienced parents watch our child?

3. It’s fun for our son. He gets to play with other kids while in the care of another parent. Win-win.

4. We meet other parents in the community. A babysitting co-op is a nice way to become integrated into the community and meet others nearby with similarly aged children.

On a semi-related note: the Ex and I saw our regular babysitter while taking a walk last week. As we haven’t used her in a while, she was playing an avoidance game. So awkward. I kept waiting, trying to make eye contact with her, but to no avail. Finally, the Ex prodded me away, before I could accost her.

(Visit Sitting Around for more info: www.sittingaround.com)

The price of babysitting is staggering. When I babysat as a teen (barely a decade ago), I remember earning $4 per hour - sometimes $5 if the family was feeling generous. When I first started searching for a sitter for my son just a few years ago, I made the mistake of asking prospective sitters what their rates were.

“I don’t sit for less than $15 an hour,” a high school sophomore informed me. $15 an hour? For sitting on my couch while my baby slept, eating my food and watching my cable TV?

Finally, I found a reasonable grad student who was okay babysitting Gavin for $10 an hour - the max I felt comfortable paying. While she is great with him, the knowledge that dinner and a movie costs me an extra $60 or so when babysitting is included prevents me from having very many nights out.

Recently, I found myself griping to yet another mother about the prohibitive cost of hiring a babysitter. Her response? “You should join a babysitting co-op.” I had never heard of babysitting co-ops before, but once she explained the concept to me, I couldn’t believe I had spent so long without one.

A babysitting co-op is a group of parents in a community that trade babysitting services with one another. Rather than paying each other in money, co-op members pay each other in points. You earn points by watching your friends’ kids and - when you need a sitter - they earn points by watching yours. The idea of exchanging babysitting services with people you know and trust (and for free!) is beyond appealing to me.

I have just begun researching potential babysitting co-ops in my area, and no leads so far. If I can’t find a co-op in my area, I’m determined to start one myself. Though, I have to say, creating a co-op and managing it myself sounds like a good deal of work…