Maria Bott Martin started what she calls the Grandma Babysitting Club, a group of six older women who provide in-home child care.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
At the trampoline club that Maria Bott Martin ran for 25 years in Kitchener, Ont., she turned one of the rooms into a toddler play area. Every morning, after being dropped off by their parents, the children would put on their costumes, play with their toys, read books and then go on bouncing.
Ms. Martin retired from the Airborne Trampoline Club four years ago, but the memories of the toddler playroom lingered in her mind. She wanted to open a daycare to work with children again, though her preparations fell through because of the pandemic.
“I don’t want to start all over again,” she said. “What is it that parents and families need now? And I thought they need somebody if they can’t get into daycare because they’re full and if they can’t get into camps because they’re too expensive and too full.”
Earlier this year, Ms. Martin started what she calls the Grandma Babysitting Club, a group of six older women who provide in-home child care.
The grandmas charge $20 an hour and mainly offer part-time care, which means they are no substitute for the federal program that has a goal of $10 a day.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
The club has already served dozens of families in Kitchener and nearby Waterloo and Cambridge. It’s one pop-up solution to Ontario’s daycare shortage, which has become even more acute with the recent introduction of the federal government’s low-cost child-care program. The supply of spaces isn’t growing fast enough to meet rising demand.
Ms. Martin felt she was born to love children and notes that she shares the same first name as Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori.
“I feel that children are little persons eager to learn and just looking around the world, which is all strange to them, and they need this one-on-one that only a person that has a love and understanding for children can give them. And I thought this would be perfect to do this as a grandma.”
Ms. Martin interviews each grandma and parent separately to make sure they are a good match. Most of the club’s caregivers are retired, grandmothers themselves and help out several times a week. They come into parents’ houses, feed the children, sing to them and take them on outdoor adventures.
Martin also wants to open an emergency drop-off location, where parents can leave their children at the last minute if needed, and expand the club into other communities in the Greater Toronto Area.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
The grandmas charge $20 an hour and mainly offer part-time care, which means they are no substitute for the federal program that has a goal of $10 a day. In the future, Ms. Martin also wants to open an emergency drop-off location, where parents can leave their children at the last minute if needed, and expand the club into other communities in the Greater Toronto Area.
Child-care wait-lists have ballooned across Canada as the federal and provincial governments have ramped up the national child-care program. The increased demand has outstripped a limited supply and a staffing shortage has made it difficult for providers to create new spaces. Some operators complain that the current funding model is not enough to cover the true cost of operating child care. In the Region of Waterloo, for example, there are more than 10,000 children on the wait-list, and 6,000 of them need immediate care, as reported in August.
Andrea Hannen, executive director of the Association of Day Care Operators of Ontario, said the Grandma Babysitting Club is an example of how families are finding ways to access child care in the face of a national program that is failing to meet their needs.
Martin interviews each grandma and parent separately to make sure they are a good match.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
“The federal government’s failure to deliver on the promise of universal, $10-a-day child care has placed tremendous pressure on families, so in some cases, we’re seeing informal solutions pop up to meet community needs,” Ms. Hannen said.
Christa Patterson, 51, joined the Grandma Babysitting Club three months ago and has been taking care of three children since. As a music teacher with 35 years of experience in piano and vocal teaching, Ms. Patterson said she is very active and enjoys not only watching children play but also playing with them – hosting dance parties, playing tag and doing crafts.
“I don’t drive and I don’t get to see my grandkids as much as I would like to see them,” she said. “And so I was filling a hole. I was filling a void that I found I wanted more cute contact.”
Being a stay-at-home mom for four children when they grew up, Ms. Patterson understands that moms all need a stopgap when they have to do something – an appointment or a few hours of focused work – and can’t drag their children along.
Most of the club’s caregivers are retired, grandmothers themselves, and help out several times a week. They come into parents’ homes, feed the children, sing to them and take them on outdoor adventures.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
The child-care need is particularly acute in the Waterloo region, where many immigrants have settled, including Thao Tran, who moved to Canada from Vietnam three years ago with her husband and newborn.
“While my schedule is a bit flexible – I can work from home a few days a week – I also need time to concentrate, and I don’t want my daughter to stay home the entire day,” said Ms. Tran, who hired Ms. Martin when her daughter’s home daycare centre was closed for five weeks during the summer.
Aimee McMillan contacted Ms. Martin through a Facebook group because she needed care for her one-year-old daughter, Alice, before putting her into daycare.
Both her children bonded quickly with Ms. Martin.
The Grandma Babysitting Club is one pop-up solution to Ontario’s daycare shortage, which has become even more acute with the recent introduction of the federal government’s low-cost child care program.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
“I think that having these community grandmas who are involved like a grandma, the kids get a different set of people,” she said. “It’s not just adults my age and kids their age. It’s also adults with different life experiences, to share different ways of going about things. That’s invaluable.”
Deborah Lashbrook, a member of the Grandma Babysitting Club, is one of many baby boomers in Canada who are adjusting to a new retirement normal that their children choose not to procreate.
Ms. Lashbrook retired six years ago and structured her days around tai-chi, ballroom dancing and yoga.
Now she is looking after a little girl who did not adapt to the daycare settings and hence her family looked for alternative care.
“What it does for me, it’s the beauty of watching a family helping a family, and seeing the child grow. Like the little girl gave me a big hug today, and I actually felt like her grandmother,” Ms. Lashbrook said.