Babysitting Clubs - is introducing money a good or a bad idea?

[AndreaGmail]

Hi - we know a lot of other parents that live locally, and I am thinking to set-up a babysitting club... but it seems that many that tried before failed because you always have parents that need it more often that they can return the favours, and so they end up paying for a babysitter external to the club.
One idea could be to introduce a tokens system, but with the possibility to buy extra tokens.
But as I think more and more about it, wouldn't it be simpler to agree a discounted hourly rate between the club and then pay each other?
At the end of the day if you give and get in equal proportion you still end up even, but if you babysit more (or less) the payment can ensure the system remains fair.
Has anyone been part of a babysitting club?
What do you think?
Many thanks.
Andrea

I know someone who tried to set it up, and the major problem was that people didn't want to end up with another commitment on their time on a regular basis. Most parents are happy to have kids over when they are free (not even always expecting a favour in return), but doing it regularly is more like a job and a bit off-putting. If you wanted to have a job of a babysitter, you'd just become one, no?

I would personally resent money in this context - I wouldn't accept it, but that's just me.

We have a babysitting swap amongst (5) ante-natal friends. We don't trade any money - just 'hours' We've setup a FB page to request nights off and I manage a very simple google sheet / excel to keep track. We only babysit at night, so after kids are in bed 7:30 - 12midnight.

I've never known such an arrangement to be necessary. I have a number of friends who occasionally ask me to babysit and that's fine. If I'm free and it's not so often that it impacts on my own family life, I'm happy to. I have willing GPs nearby so I don't need the returned favour, but see it as paying it forward for all the help I receive from GPs.

I wouldn't want to be in an arrangement where scores are kept.

If people want very regular babysitters I think they need to pay for that but I don't think asking friends to do it, paid or unpaid is the answer.

The mums in our group are either: 1- don't have GP / close family nearby or 2- have GP who do regular childcare and so feel 'bad' asking for them to do additional sitting.

Among 5 of us, it works out that I tend to babysit about every 6 weeks, and I go out about as much. Works well for us.

Some folks tend to use it more than others, but thats why tracking works well for us.

There are some apps / sites, like Sit4Sit etc but we found them overly complex.