Sometimes it seems like perfect parenting, to put your own life on hold for the sake of your kids, but in reality it is an extremely unhealthy parenting decision to make. A socially isolated, physically exhausted and mentally fatigued parent is more of a ticking time bomb to live. It is better to have help with parenting and maintain a healthy social life; this is why parenting co-op will save your day!

So, if you have decided to give yourself a break and spend a night out with your partner or friends, here are a few options you can try without breaking the bank. A comparatively new and highly economical option is the parenting co-op, a revolutionary idea of cooperative childcare. What started out as a simple idea based on community living has now turned into a phenomenal way of getting reliable babysitting services without paying through your nose.

Depending on the type of parents involved in this venture, each co-op is unique in how it is managed. It could either be highly organized with a proper rulebook and background checks or it could just be an added responsibility of a few house parents to keep things running smoothly. Whatever its modus-operandi, a parenting co-op can ensure a healthy lifestyle for financially challenged parents.

Here’s how it works, in a co-op, every time you babysit for another family, you acquire points, which you can then redeem the next time you want to have them babysit your kids. It’s more like “scratching each other’s back”. Parenting co-ops can be big enough to be spread over parts of the city or it could be a simple neighborhood network as well. However, whatever their size or reach, the fact of the matter is that it can be a lifesaver on a number of occasions which are either so sudden or so urgent that finding help on such short notice could be a mission impossible in their own right. And of course nothing can beat the benefits of a parenting co-op for even planned occasions with your friends or spouse.

And it’s not just you who will ultimately benefit from this arrangement. In a parenting co-op your children will get to hang out with families who have children of their own, which means more friends for them, and you never know, you too might end-up gaining a whole new circle of friends with the same lifestyle and priorities. Another big benefit of parenting co-op is that the parents responsible for babysitting your kids are well experienced in handling this responsibility due to their own kind.

However do remember that most co-ops don’t conduct in-depth background checks of the parents participating in this group, so get to meet as many parents as you can try to know them personally.