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Free Wicker Park Babysitting Co-Op Now Recruiting New Members

By Alisa Hauser | March 29, 2017 2:07pm
 Valerie Bhatt and her then 7-month-old daughter, Isabella.
Valerie Bhatt and her then 7-month-old daughter, Isabella.
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DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser

WICKER PARK — The outrageous cost to leave her child with a sitter during Riot Fest prompted a Wicker Park mom to launch a babysitting co-op in fall of 2014.

More than two years later, the parent-fueled labor pool that's grown to 15 families is still going strong,  founder Valerie Bhatt says, although the group has made some changes.

Bhatt and her husband, Tapan, an emergency room physician for a Cook County hospital, are parents of a 3-year-old girl and a 17-month-old boy.

They started the Wicker Park Babysitting Co-op before their son was born.

"Several of the members have also just recently had their second child, so the group is growing organically!" Bhatt said.

Currently there are 12 families participating in the co-op after three families moved away, creating three spots. The group's children currently range in age from newborn to six.

"We originally were going to cap it at 30 families, but we very quickly realized that having an informal rough cap at 15 families made more sense, so that everyone knows each other well," Bhatt said.

The members are holding two recruitment sessions at 10:30 a.m. this Saturday and Sunday at the playground in Wicker Park's namesake park, 1425 N. Damen Ave, according to a flier.

The co-op works by requiring members to participate in a minimum of two babysitting sessions each month and attend at least one of three scheduled monthly meet-ups —  always at free spots such as parks or museums.

The members get "points" each time they babysit and can spend those points, or currency, on when they are in need of a babysitter.

"We have found that having a detailed point system, leaving very little room for ambiguity, has been one of the keys to our success," Bhatt said.

Lately, the group has been experimenting with an availability spreadsheet.

"Essentially, if you know you'll be available at a certain time on a given day, you post it. Quite often, members are flexible because they just need a break. ... The last thing any of us need is another obligation. Instead, it frees parents’ time up, allowing them to earn points by watching movies or getting work done while their charges are asleep, or earning points by giving their own children a play date," Bhatt said.

Bhatt said she did a lot of research before launching the co-op.

"I wanted it to be easy to participate, but just a bit cumbersome to join, creating a vetting process, stacking our group with only members who are passionate about participating and functional in using our very simple record-keeping system," she said.

Joining the co-op is free except for a $20 criminal background check.

Active participation is also required. 

"We want to know who is watching our children and we want our children to know the other members well, so we’re pretty strict about our participation rules," Bhatt said.

An unexpected benefit outside of the no-cost babysitting is "alleviation of parental fears" as Bhatt puts it.

"Because we have a whole test group of children growing up alongside ours, when our children reach a certain stage, hitting, for example, we have a group of parents to turn to and ask, 'Is your child doing this, too?' And pretty soon you find out that everyone else's child went through that stage and a bit of stress is lifted off of your shoulders," she said.

Meg Cooch, a Wicker Park mom who joined the co-op when it formed, said, "It can be work but the benefit far exceeds the work you put in."

Cooch also said she found her daycare provider through the group and some of her oldest child's main friendships were formed through the co-op's monthy events.

For more info, visit the co-op's Google site.