Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in newark, NJ

Join a Co-op to Get Free Babysitting

by Vanessa Druckman

March 17, 2009

Have you ever considered joining a babysitting co-op? It's a great way to get some free babysitting and make some friends. Babysitting co-ops are groups of parents that band together to exchange babysitting services. Some co-ops are small with five to ten members. Other co-ops can be as large as 50 families. Members agree upon a currency - sometimes points, sometimes coupons, and sometimes even monopoly money. Each member gets a certain amount of the currency to start with. Each co-op usually has a set of by-laws that spell out how many points per hour and per child along with all the other aspects of babysitting exchange.

Then the next time you have a doctor's appointment, or want to duck out for a quick coffee with a friend, just get a mom from the co-op to cover. Daytime sits are like a playdate at a friend's house. You drop your child off at another member's home so they can play with their kids while you get your errands done. Your child will have fun and so will you, especially when you hand over no cash to pay for a few hours of peace. At night, the babysitting moms come to your house.

There are two active babysitting co-ops that I know about in Northern New Jersey:

1.  The Ridgewood Babysitting Co-op
2. The Randolph BABES co-op

The No Cry Nap Solution by Elizabeth Pantley - Review and Giveaway

by Vanessa Druckman

March 16, 2009

Elizabeth Pantley's newest book, The No Cry Nap Solution, is full of fascinating information about our children's sleep needs. I expected her book to be full of preachy dictates that I would feel guilty about not having followed, but I found her tone to be non-judgemental and flexible. Her method was more to arm you with information about the importance of sleep and then to provide you with a variety of solutions to teach your child to sleep.

Some of the key facts that I learned in this book were that:

1. Naps are critical, and although children generally conform to some age-related guidelines, every child has different sleep needs.
2. Lack of sleep leads to hormone imbalances and can lead to obesity and inability to learn.
3. Catnaps don't help. Naps shorter than 1 1/2 hours don't offer the physical and mental nourishment a longer nap provides.
4. Many techniques I'd thought would be taboo, like pacifiers and swings, are actually okay for babies to get them to develop good sleep habits.

Pantley lays out many options to deal with common sleep problems children have. She presents her solutions in a relaxed, non-dictatorial way. Some of the many issues she tackles include overcoming nap resistance, altering cat naps, how to change from one nap to two naps, and knowing when your child is ready to give up their nap.

I'm sure you'll find The No Cry Nap Solution is full of valuable information. I'm giving away my copy (warning, it is not pristinely new as I have read it and it is autographed to me) to share the wealth of information. If you're interested in being entered in the drawing, please email me at beingsavvynewark@savvysource.com by 3/31. I'll select the winner at random then.

Sittercity Giveaway

by Vanessa Druckman

October 27, 2008

I pride myself on being a pretty great babysitter finder. My children love our sitters. Jack proposed to one in May (he's four - we're very proud). He thought he had found the perfect solution to her never leaving us; he had even thought out the sleeping arrangements and offered her our guest room. I've learned over time that everyone likes different types of sitters. Some people prefer more  Read more...