Family Magazine reports that 76% of middle school age youth are babysitting either family members or other’s children. According to a new American Red Cross poll, parents say that good babysitters are hard to find, and they want to entrust their children to babysitters trained in first aid, CPR and childcare skills. Childcare training provides life skills in parenting. Babysitting is often a youth’s first gainful employment experience. Henderson County 4-H hosted a babysitting clinic the first day of summer break in May. A recruitment flyer was shared across Facebook and monthly newsletters. 

Twelve middle school youth  learned about child development and milestones, toys and activities for children, basic care of infants, toddlers and children, and the business basics of being a self-employed babysitter. Youth were also Red Cross certified in first aid and CPR by health professionals. 

Evaluation included written pre-tests and post-tests and daily discussions on lessons from the previous day. A comparison of the pre-post test scores showed an overall average increase of 10% in scores indicating that knowledge was gained by participants during the clinic. On the post self-assessment, at least ninety percent of the participants indicated an increase of the following skills: ability to take on more responsibility, the ability to be more creative, the ability to communicate in front of a group, solve problems or conflicts better, achieving individually set goals, use of safety practices, participating in more community service, and feeling more confident in caring for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Participants also shared that they had developed the following important skills and that they will definitely use them or already have in between the two-day clinic: CPR, first aid, handling emergencies, diaper changing, burping, bottle feeding, more playtime activities, hand washing, and more confidence in nap time. Fifty percent of participants reassessed the hourly wage they were charging prior to the babysitting clinic and chose to raise their rates.