Babysitting Co-op

I'm loving this babysitting co -op that I am part of and actually organized. It's not a job, it's freedom. Sure, I have to do my part, which is only to stay home 3 hours a week (Wednesday afternoons) and watch little kids for other moms who need a baby-sitter. I earn tickets- 1 per half hour, per child, which I can turn around and use whenever I need a sitter for Andrew and Jessica. We start off with 30 tickets, and the idea is to try and maintain about 30. You should spend your tickets at about the same rate you use them. It's awesome. The best part is that it's totally guilt free- as long as I have tickets I can drop my kids off, walk away and do whatever I want without feeling I am taking advantage of somebody who might have better things to do with their time besides watch my kid while I go shopping, get my hair done, etc. I generally hate asking other people to watch my kids, but there have been sooo many times- Dr.'s appointments, volunteering at school, that I have desperately needed help and so would ask then, but I still felt bad about it. But now, the guilt is all gone. It's liberating.

I don't know who the genius was that came up with this idea, but boy am I ever grateful that she had the idea, and it filtered down to my neck of the woods, and I now have it in my neighborhood.

I've used this babysitting co-op a ton already. On Monday I used it to clean my house. I took the kids over to a friends house who has Monday morning as her time slot, they had fun playing, and I was productive cleaning. The next day I took them to another friend's house (the Tuesday afternoon slot) and went out to lunch with a friend of mine. Then on Thursday I used it again while I went to traffic court. This is the best thing ever!

Just a side note- a friend of mine was telling me her husband was looking at the tickets and was like "I could totally make counterfeit tickets and sell them to the moms at church!"- which of course totally defeats the guilt-free, do your part, fair trade of service idea.