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Show c would you like to save $30fror How a year in g fees, enjoy the freedom of a fast trip to the supermarket within an hour. Because I couldn't give the required 24 hours baby-sittin- spur-of-the-mome- are in capable hands? You can by the same magic formula my husband and I have discovered: a baby-sittin- g Believe me, you'll find it the "greatest boon to parenthood since Dr. Spock! We joined, the sitter co-o- p in, our neighborhood soon after our daughter Jennie was born. At a general meeting, I was introduced to the other mothers. Then a committee of co-o- p officers Author Bonnie Remsberg butfds tip her "point" bank account as she sits with three neighborhood children. We Solved the visited our home to answer questions about the system and to give us a mimeographed list of the members, their addresses, and phone numbers. As" new members, we were also given a credit balance of 50 points. Irtthe points substitute for money. When "another member sits with Jennie, we pay her a specific" number of points an hour. When I sii, the person "hiring" me pays me from her point "bank ' account." secThe bookkeeping is handled by the p retary, and all the mothers take turns at this clearinghouse job. When a mother finishes a sitting assignment at our house, she telephones the secretary and reports how long she sat. The secretary translates the hours into points flips open her notebook of tally sheets, subtracts that amount from my balance,' and adds it to the other co-o- Problem When a busy mother needs help, the best place for her to turn is to other busy mothers! By BONNIE REMSBERG I ll':v'V:r:Ha.O''-'- f Jt" St" ft t .i tl i ' I a" h ' '? . I Points dwindle when Jennie Remsberg (center) stays with a sitter; Jennie, 2Vi always enjoys these occasions. COVER: - baby-sittin- co-o- co-o- p, N Baby-Sittin-g co-o- p nt social life, and know that while you're away from home your children secretary was not obliged to notice, the contact a sitter for me. But she did give me the names of several mothers whose point totals were low. Armed with this list, I did my own telephonJennie. ing until I found a place to leave In that first week alone, I figure we saved at fees. All it cost me were g least $13 in a few evenrjrgs away from home, during which I had a chance to read and watch tv in the peace and quiet of someone else's house. Jennie is 2V2 now, and the sum we've saved in that time is a tidy one. Only once, can I remember our p machinery breaking down. My husband and I planned a big party and, without thinking, invited more than half the couples on the sitter list. The secretary was frantic when she called the next day. "Bon-- , hie," .she said, "you can't do this. There's no one left to watch the kids!". ; mother's. . Our first week as co-o- p Co-o- Works p co-o- co-op- s. major holidays. If a sitter is unable to fulfill -- a sitting she must find a replacement. Ifasi(ting is cancelled after 6 p.m., a five-poipenalty is charged (except in the, case of nt 1 illness). If a member does not use the co-o- p for three months without ah excuse which the executive board considers valid (such as illness, a new baby, a vacation, etc.), her membership is automatically withdrawn. If a husband is to do the sitting, permission must be obtained from the member requesting the sitter: Husbands must escort sitters home from unless other arrangements are made. Husbands also vfi pick up sitters when a sitting begins after dark, if the sitfeY wishes it. Each member starts with 50 points. Points are subtracted from her total each time she uses a sitter, and points are added to her total each time she sits. Here are the point charges : Daytime: One child, five points per hour. One point is charged for each additional child under five years; no points for additional children over five years. Nights: After bedtime and before 1 a.m., regardless of number and ages of children, four points per hour; after 1 a.m., six points per hour. lf hour Children up for more than dicing the evening are charged at daytime rates for the amount of the time up. Minimum charge for evening sitting, 10 points. Extra charge for Saturday night sittings, five points. -- night-sittings my point balance was now down to. 25, anxious to raise it. Thursday night I sat with a neighbor's three children from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., adding 24 points to my account. As provided in the p rules, the children were fed, bathed, and in pajamas when I arrived; their father walkgd me home afterward. Friday afternoon a minor domestic crisis arose. Unexpected guests were arriving that evening for a weekend visit .with us, and I needed to make a co-o- , one-ha- September 30, 1962 v Photographed by Doris Pinney.this wide-eye- d little miss is surely a joy to her parents except perhaps when it comes to finding her a baby sitter. For a unique solution to this problem, see story above. Sitter The operating rules of .the author's baby-sittin- g in Chicago could serve as a guide to p other groups of parents who want to set up simHere are the major rules: ilar sitting between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. except . by special arrangement. No sitting on major holidays or the eve of , members was a typical one. On Monday morning, I telephoned the secretary and asked her to arrange for a sitter for the following afternoon. She called the mothers with the lowest point balances until she found one who could sit; their she called me and gave me the sitter's name. "Take Jennie to the sitter's home," the secretary reminded' me. "Only at night, when their husbands are home to watch their own children, can sitters come I dropped Jennie Off Tuesday and left for downtown. Five hours of baby sitting cost' me 25 points and they were carefree hours because my child was in thejiands of a woman prepared by experience to copeUvith anything. The sitter told me later: "With'four kids of my own around the house, one more was no trouble at all." Since How the LEONARD 5. DAVIOOW President and Publisher WALTER C. DREYFUS Vice President ' PATRICK E. O'ROURKE Advertising. Director MORTON FRANK Director of Publisher Relations Send all advertising communications to Family Weekly, 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago I, III. Address all communications about editorial features to Family Weekly, 60 E. 56th Sr.. New 'York22, N. Y. , 1962, FAMILY WEEKLY Board of Editors ERNEST V. HEYN Editor-in-Chie- f- . Executive Editor FITZGIBBON Managing Editor DYKSTR A Art Director BEN KARTMAN ROBERT PHILLIP ' MELANIE . - DE PRO FT Food Editor . Rosalyn Abrevoya, Arden Eidell, Hal London, Jack Ryan; Peer J. Oppenheimer, Hollywood. ' MAGAZINE, INC., 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 1, III. All riahts reserved. , |