Help A Young Person By Giving the Gift of Babysitters Training

When a young person ages 11-15 needs money, babysitting is often their first job.Babysitter’s Training is a gift in this year’s American Red Cross Holiday Catalog and provides the knowledge and skills, and builds the confidence necessary to safely and responsibly give care to children and infants. This one-day class teaches basic child care, basic first aid and infant CPR.

Babysitter’s Training has been newly revised by the American Red Cross with input from youth. The course is fun and fast-paced with hands-on activities, exciting video, role-plays and lively discussions.

Students learn how to—

• Supervise children and infants.
• Perform basic child-care skills such as diapering and feeding.
• Choose safe, age-appropriate games and toys.
• Handle bedtime and discipline issues.
• Identify safety hazards and prevent injuries.
• Care for common injuries and emergencies such as choking, burns, cuts and bee stings.
• Communicate effectively with parents.
• Find and interview for babysitting jobs

A 2012 Red Cross poll found that parents want to entrust their children to babysitters trained in first aid, CPR and childcare. More than 80 percent of parents believe that teenage babysitters should be paid more if they have these skills. And parents say that good babysitters are hard to find. In fact, roughly one third of parents had rejected a sitter because of safety concerns, and more than half had ended up staying home because they could not find a babysitter.

There is a market for well-trained teen babysitters, and most parents believe teenage babysitters with childcare training should be paid more. Your gift of Infant CPR and Babysitting Classes will provide an underprivileged youth with the confidence to make smart decisions and stay safe in any babysitting situation, and the credentials to be the best babysitter on the block. To take a class visit www.redcross.org/swny or call 1800-REDCROSS.