Neighborhood report
Oscawana: Babysitting co-op celebrates good idea
The Southside Safesit Babysitting Co-op is hosting a reunion for the families who have helped each other for 20 years.
By DENISE WATSON BATTS, Times Staff Writer
Published April 23, 2004
Sherry King was a new mom 21 years ago and wanted child care on her terms. She looked for a place with caring people, no toy guns and healthy food for her son.
She checked child care centers but couldn't find her ideal.
So she started her own. Sort of.
During a radio program, King solicited parents like herself and formed what would become the Southside Safesit Babysitting Co-op. After more than 20 years - and dozens of families - the co-op is still around.
Past and current members will have a reunion from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Rack on Platt Street. Organizers are expecting 50 to 75 people.
"It became a family, an extended family," said Denise Moore, one of the founding members. "It was wonderful because we teamed up with people with children of similar ages, and your children were going to a friend's house, not a babysitter's house."
This is how it works. Families join the co-op and agree to keep the children of other members in exchange for help when they need it. Members earn credits when they babysit and use those credits when they need a sitter. Members gain more credits if they babysit during busy times, such as the dinner hour.
Families also earn credits for holding positions within the group.
The chairwoman is in charge of verifying that members have homeowners insurance, organizing get-togethers and play groups, and scheduling home visits when prospective members are screened for membership.
The bookkeeper, who earns even more credits than the chair, arranges sitters and monitors credits.
The co-op grew quickly by word-of-mouth and concentrated mostly in the South Tampa area, hence the name. The group capped membership at 25, any more was too much to juggle. In its early days, when most of the members were stay-at-home moms, co-op members invited would-be members to play groups to see if they meshed with the group. Today, most members work and prospective members are invited to coffee talks before the group votes them in.
King got the idea after reading a book about babysitting cooperatives and spread the word during her women's show on WMNF. The group blossomed into what she'd envisioned. A collection of people with the same ideas on how to raise children. An arrangement that allowed parents to leave their children with friends, not strangers. The friendships have been the key.
Moore became involved in the group because she was a stay-at-home mom who didn't have any family members in the area to watch her kids when she needed a break. She joined when her kids were toddlers and stayed until they were 10 and 12. Years later, she still keeps in touch with members and her children are friends with their co-op playmates.
She looks forward to seeing friends at the reunion she hasn't seen in years. Many still live in the area.
"We were just a loving group of people who were committed to family," Moore said. "We trusted people. I don't know, it just worked."
- Denise Watson Batts can be reached at 226-3401 or dbatts@sptimes.com
[Last modified April 22, 2004, 12:44:07]
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