Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Giving or Taking

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> At the meeting they would pass around a donation box and anyone who
> voluntarily wanted to contribute to the child care could.  The parents of
> the kids would split the balance owed after the donations.

As a parent, I would feel very odd having to split the leavings. And as a
contributor, I'm one of those people who feels obligated to contribute so I
prefer some standardized way of dealing with this.

Paying a sitter before move in is important because you want everyone to be
able to focus on the orientation/meeting and there will be new people there
who would feel more welcomed if they knew that child care was available.

After move-in, there are more alternatives and a permanent solution can be
set up. We have a room with a window that is visible from the dining room
and we face it as we are meeting. This way we don't need child care, at
least until we have babies. But for the most part the children play well
together and everyone can focus on the meeting and tend children as well.

To have childcare as a permanent part of the budget would be resented by
some of our members who feel that they have raised their children with no
help from anyone so now do not want the responsibility. Childcare for a
special event, would be used differently.

We also at one point had voluteers for child care who each did an hour
rather than the whole time. Then they could choose which part of the meeting
they were interested in attending.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org


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