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What’s a Child-Care Co-op?

A child care co-op is when a group of families make committed arrangements to care for one another’s children.  These arrangements can be to supplement regular care or school, support independent time for regular caregivers, or to provide substantial care for working parents.

 

Why would you want to start one?

Child care co-ops expand the number of adults who know, care, and support a child in their life.  They expand the number of children for you to be connected to in your life. They provide interconnection and interdependence between families, deepening community.  They provide an economically viable childcare option.

 

What will the workshop be like?

I will share the story of our childcare co-op:  the needs and wants of its members, the structures we created to support them, and how these changed over time.  I will discuss the benefits and challenges of this type of living, and set you up with considerations and first steps in order to move forward with your own Child-Care Co-op.  Expect the workshop to take up to two hours in length.

 

How do you set up a workshop?

To set up a workshop, contact Sam to set up a date and arrange details.  

Typically you would find a space (your living room?), invite some families (friends? people in your community? people from a Facebook group?), hire a competent young person to do childcare support, and arrange for me to be there.  The host family provides some refreshments. Visiting families provide some money to Sam and to the child care support person.

 

Who I am?

I am an educator who has a specialty in democratic and co-created learning structures.  I live and work in collaborative community. When it came to my own daughter, and providing a supported life for our family, I turned to people in our lives who I was connected to and had small children. Through talk and planning, we started Bright Eyes Child Care Co-op.  That was 2013, since then, the needs and concerns have changed and we have adapted. Our child-care co-op has become a most significant part of our lives. I developed this workshop in response to the many people asking us how we do it.