Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Giving or Taking-childcare

[Racheli&John (jnpalme]

** Reply to note from Elizabeth Stevenson <tamgoddess [at] home.com> Tue, 02 
Oct 2001 08:09:35 -0700

>From Racheli

I totally agree with the various points made in Liz's post.  

R.

>   
> I'm curious. How many other built coousing groups are out there that pay for
> childcare as a whole? It seems to me that this is a growing pain thing,
> since it's really not a big expense-a few bucks/month. It's a small price to
> pay for peace at meetings and attracting new members. It seems hypocritical
> to pay before, but not after, move-in.
>   
> There are lots of issues right when people move in, and this is one of many
> that push peoples' buttons. It involves money and other peoples' kids. There
> is also an adjustment for almost everyone who moves into cohousing around
> having to share. All of a sudden, you have to pay for lots of things you
> don't necessarily want, have to share space, have to make decisions as a
> group that affect you directly. People get really uptight about things like
> this that they will later look back on and laugh. Hell, we didn't have grass
> for months because we couldn't agree on what variety to buy. Parents like me
> had special mud clothes for the kids to wear on rainy days. What a bunch of
> idiots we were! 
>   
> But we got through that. And I think that the resentments melt away when the
> benefits start coming through. Think of all the things that parents pay for,
> and rarely use. Think of all the things that only a minority of people use,
> but the whole group pays for. Why is childcare any different? It actually
> benefits the whole group, unlike a workshop or hot tub that only some people
> use.
>   
> Giving and taking will get much easier, I promise.



_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l