As a teenager, you may be constantly looking for ways to make money, and with good reason. First of all, it’s hard to get a job without experience and it’s nearly impossible for you if you are too young. Also, even when you do get a job, you can only work part-time while you are in school and the pay is never what you would like to be.

Sure, you can make money if you have a job, but there are other options as well such as starting your own business. You may have heard of teenagers starting businesses and being incredibly successful, maybe eve starting corporations. You don’t have to make a multimillion dollar corporation in order to be successful with your own business. The most obvious ideas for a business for teenagers are babysitting, lawn mowing, and others similar to these. They aren’t often thought of as businesses, but that is exactly what they are. If you treat them like a business you will be able to be more profitable. Promote your business as a business to friends and family. Tell everyone that you are now available for babysitting or to mow a lawn and use set fees, flyers, and other ideas to make yourself look professional.

Other ideas for business are selling candy, snacks, and/or drinks in busy neighborhoods and parks. When people are outside, they get hot, thirsty, and hungry, and you can be there to provide what they need.

You can also try tutoring other students in subjects you do well in. You may even decide to tutor for classes you’ve already completed. You may want to talk to your guidance counselor to find out if there is any special way of doing it or for promotion ideas.

What is a babysitting co-op?

A babysitting co-op, sometimes called babysitting club or cooperative, is just a group of families in a community who decide to share the task of babysitting by swapping time with each other rather than charging money. In that way the members of the coop can get access to occasional child care services without having to be concerned about the high cost of or risk of using a paid babysitter.

Benefits

There are many benefits to this approach to childcare. For starters it is easier and less expensive than regular babysitting. Also, rather than relying on one or two carers that may or may not be available you have access to perhaps as many as 10 or 20 families, which can make it much easier to find someone in a hurry.

For those without close family nearby, a coop can be a very valuable way to get away for a few hours without the children to spend with their partner or on a “date night” without the added cost of child care.

Lastly, with the cost of day care spiraling up, some people are using babysitting coops to provide regular day care for a day or two a week. Getting a child into day care for just a day a week or for occasional days can be very difficult but sharing the task amongst several families can make it much easier.

Drawbacks

There are very few drawbacks to babysitting coops and perhaps the only one is the task of managing the process. For instance the role of the secretary can be quite demanding. There are however some new ways round this issue, see below for more information.

Approaches

There are two basic approaches to running a co-op. The first uses paper based “babysitting money.” Each unit equates to a fixed unit of time. Families then contact each other directly to arrange and pay for the sit.

The second types swaps points, say 4 points for each hour of sitting. A secretary books the sits and keeps track of the point transactions. Both systems can function well but most groups opt for the points approach.

Co-ops often elect a rotating secretary. If a member requires babysitting, the secretary is phoned requesting a sitter for a certain time and date. The secretary calls members and locates a sitter as close to the member’s house as possible, attempting to find a sitter who owes points. The secretary then calls the member and sets up the sitting arrangement.

After the care has been provided, both member and sitter agree on the number of points and these are reported to the secretary who records them. Points are earned by being a sitter and providing care. Points are spent by using a sitter to care for your children.

Starting your coop

There are two main success factors in starting a new coop

1. When starting your coop you need to make sure you have a clear set of rules so that everyone knows how the process will work. Rules to consider include:
   • How small/large can the co-op can become: a minimum of five and maximum of 25 are generally judged to be the best.
   • How will new members be introduced?
   • Starting points for each family.
   • How many hours is each point worth?
   • Minimum points below which a family is not allowed to request a sit.
   • How will the booking process operate?

   You will probably also want to have medical authorization forms available so that families can formally authorize the sitting family to undertake emergency medical treatment if required.

2. Make sure that you have regular (perhaps quarterly or six monthly) meetings so that everyone can introduce themselves and get to know each other. Normally these are held at one member’s house or in a park so that the children can come along.

Finding members

When looking for members of your co-op it is best to find other families that have similar parenting practices and life values to yourself. There a lots of places to look including your local playgroup, school/pre-school, child care center, parents and citizens clubs, church, neighbors, and the child’s sporting or activities clubs.

Closing thoughts

One last thing to consider when setting up your co-op is the idea of using it for swapping more than just babysitting. Perhaps you can also use it for car pooling to children’s activities or looking after your pets when you go away. Once you’ve got the people and process together there are lots of other time and money saving uses for your coop.