How to manage your babysitting co-op, with
one hand tied behind your back (or just holding a latte).
Guest Contributor
Steve Ingkavet, creator of the
uSit iSit Babysitting Co-op Swap app
The benefits of a babysitting co-op are wonderful, but let’s bring up the possible
problems of exchanging sits — and how to fix them!
Complications and Concerns of a Babysitting
Swap:
• How do I easily contact everyone in my group when I need
sitting (and skip the chit-chat when I’m really busy)?
• How do we track the points/credits exchanged as the currency of
the group?
• How do we keep track of sitting schedules?
• Do we need to schedule and attend regular meetings? And are
these fun or too much of a hassle?
• How do we add to the membership? Referrals, applications,
votes? And should we limit the number of members?
• What about dues and fees? And how do we collect them or pay
them?
• What if I don’t even know or trust the other parents?
For these reasons, I created
uSit iSit, the first and only app for
babysitting swaps. (For a 90 second video demo, visit
http://usitisit.com
)
Now, with just a tap you can send an automated request to your
whole group, letting them know you need a sitter. They respond with a tap too,
sending a message back to you, accepting or declining your request.
After the sit, you simply transfer the appropriate number of
points to your friend, in exchange for her sitting service, right from your
app, on the spot. She instantly receives them in her app.
So now, the hassles of point tracking, scheduling and
communications are all automated, all out of your way. But the story gets
better…
The biggest innovation isn’t a technological
one
In the highly flexible uSit iSit system, each user essentially
has her own, personal co-op. She’s the center of her own circle of trusted
friends that she invited in. She only swaps with these friends.
Now, these friends don’t necessarily even know about each other.
Because, each friend, in turn, has her
own distinct circle of trusted friends with whom she exchanges sitting. Two friends’ circles may overlap completely,
or barely at all, with the two friends being the only members in common.
What this means is that a uSit iSit parent doesn’t need to join
or start an “organized” co-op, let alone apply for membership. She can just
start swapping with one friend! And the app tracks everything. No meetings, no
administration. Just friends sharing sitting duties, kept fair and square.
But this also means…
No swapping with strangers in your co-op!
For many parents, this can be a major concern with a traditional
babysitting co-op. But with uSit iSit, there’s never the risk of swapping with
a family she doesn’t know, like or trust, because she would never invite them
into her circle in the first place. It is her personal co-op, after all.
How traditional co-ops could also benefit
uSit iSit can also work for organized, neighborhood-based co-ops.
All members would just have the exact same people in their uSit iSit circles,
and not invite in any outsiders until the co-op accepts a new member. All
established rules can still remain in effect.
But instead of using Excel spreadsheets or some other web-based
record-keeping service, they could enjoy the greater convenience of mobility,
simplicity and usability.
So there you have it. An innovative reinvention of a time-honored
system, updated for mobile mom. Modern life just got a little bit more
manageable.
And all this with just one hand.
Steve Ingkavet is an “appreneur,”
a freelance advertising creative director, and the creator of uSit iSit. uSit iSit Babysitting Co-op Swap is available
FREE for iPhone, and soon for all smartphones as a mobile web-app. (Sign up to
be notified.)
