This month's meeting (our second)will be our first time offering sitting service. We have a parent volunteer. We did not want the children running around so we purchased inexpensive crafts from Oriental Trading to keep the kids busy and quiet during our meeting. We got crafts pertaining to the monthly holidays. We are hoping this will bring in more parents to our meetings. Will let you know how it goes.
A couple of years ago our Senior Girl Scout troop provided babysitting at the local elementary school PTA meetings. They required 2 adults present, plus the scouts. While I understood the reasoning, these girls were 14 and 15 years old and did the babysitting while we, the leaders, sat and talked. There were never more then 4 kids, all children of the board members. They did give a donation to the troop at the end of the year. We decided not to do it the following year because it was too much time for us adults to give up. It was also not the school that our kids had gone to either. It didn't seem to increase attendance. However, sounds like it's working for lot's of other groups!
We offer child care and were able to call a local high school to get their Red Cross youth group to volunteer. The parents were told before hand that the sitters would take donations for their community project (painting older homes). It worked out well for everyone involved. This is our first year with the babysitters and our one experience was great!
I'm not sure what the negatives would be besides liability. All I know that since we started offering child care, more parents came. It also opened up a another whole area where we found more board members to nominate because they could bring their kids to the meetings. I would strongly suggest trying it and see how it goes. If no one brings their kids, then stop providing it.
Another avenue to look for child care volunteers would be a local girl scout troop. They provide community service and may be willing to donate some time to your PTO. Check with your local council for the nearest Service Unit Manager in your town.
I'm not seeing many (any) people speaking of bad experiences, downsides, or negatives. I would also like to hear of someone discussing what happens to attendance when the childcare option goes away. In order to institute this with my PTO, I need to be able to provide more reasons why and be able to address the naysayers.
Hi, we provide childcare for our meetings. Our 8th grade class has 4 kids sign up to babysit and we have an adult supervise. (In our school the 8th graders are making money towards the end of the year class trip.) We use a pre-k room, with permission from the teacher, so the kids have plenty to do. Many parents use this, especially for our afternoon meetings.
