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

[Jean V Reese (jeanreese]

At Westwood (in Asheville, NC) we had childcare as a regular part of the
budget during the start up phase, but not after we moved in because we
didn't have the kids who needed it.  Now we have a whole flock of
two-year-olds and we put child care back in the budget.  No one even
thinks about the cost because of its importance.  We had budgeted $500
for it for 2001 which turns out to be way too much, but while we were
having the big discussions about what to cut for this budget, no one
mentioned cutting the childcare line item.  

When we were thinking about putting it back in the budget, we did have
some thought about having community members take turns babysitting during
parts of the meeting, and even tried it once or twice.  It turns out that
we want the community members to be in the meeting (even if they have a
spouse who could represent them), and the kids were not terribly happy
about new people coming to be with them all the time.  (The kids were
pretty young then, they could probably handle change now.)

For Lynn at RoseWind:  About paying for babysitting and the government: 
I'm no expert, but I don't think you need to worry about social security,
withholding, etc.  However, you should have Worker's Comp anyway.  If you
have ever hired anyone to do anything, you should have worker's comp.  We
hired some college students to stain our decks, and we have a cleaning
team who cleans the common house, and because of this we needed worker's
comp.  Can I say it again?  You need worker's comp.  Your liability
insurance would cover your kids but not the babysitter.  Our worker's
comp policy costs $850 a year but it's worth it.

Jean
--
Jean Reese
43 Vermont Court E18
Asheville, NC 28806-3062
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