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closeFirst-rate training for interested baby sitters
Second year of Safe Sitter program expands and will be offered
Chris Albert
There is more to baby sitting than just showing up for the job and tweens are learning the tools of the trade through Safe Sitter classes throughout Pierce County.
“Basically it starts from the very beginning,” said Stephanie Glass, with Central Pierce Fire and Rescue’s Public Education Department.
Last year, Central Pierce began the program by offering four classes for ages 11 to 13; each filled to capacity.
It usually takes about three years to really build a following for a program, said Elaine Morse, Community Services volunteer coordinator for Central Pierce. But the baby sitting classes have taken off. This year, because of demand, classes were expanded to six and most are already filled.
Safe Sitters is a nationally accredited program that covers emergency preparedness, behavior awareness and action plans, parent-baby sitter communication and business knowledge.
“It was very impressive to the Safe Sitter headquarters,” Morse said, “just because we were so involved so quickly.”
The classes are taught by a group of community services volunteers who spend their time to train and teach young people how to be top-notch baby sitters.
“The class is very in-depth from the standpoint of teaching the younger kids about baby sitting,” Morse said. “We teach the kids they are responsible for a life.”
Much of the education is built around interactive lessons where students play out scenarios given to them and practice the medical knowledge they learn, like the Heimlich maneuver on an infant.
“It’s not just a lecture where they are sitting in a classroom all day,” Glass said. “It’s a busy day.”
The students learn how to assess situations and decide whether they can handle it themselves, when they need to call an adult or if it is necessary to call 911.
“We give them situations from the standpoint of the worse kind of injury that requires EMS to injuries they can handle themselves and everything in between,” Morse said.
The students follow along in a manual that they can take home after the day-long class and use as a reference.
“That is their bible to age appropriate information and situations,” Morse said.
The students learn acronyms so they can quickly reference a plan of action, like ASAP — am I Able, am I Safe, am I Available and do I have Permission.
“It’s amazing how much of that class they absorb,” Morse said.
The growth of the program is really a tribute to the communities’ desire to have it, Glass said. The volunteers want to be involved and look forward to the Saturday classes, she said.
“Our instructors are very involved with it because they want to be, not because they have to be,” Morse said. “We don’t want to miss out with the kids.”
As demand for the program continues, expansion is on the way. Some things that Glass and Morse are looking to add to the Safe Sitter’s classes is a CPR component. Firgrove Elementary school in Puyallup will lead a pilot program to have the Safe Sitter class offered as an after-school program.
“Which is truly truly phenomenal,” Morse said.
If it is successful the hope is to expand it to other area schools, she said.
With expansion, though, additional volunteers are needed, Morse said. They don’t have to be an expert in first aid or CPR or even baby sitting. That training they will receive.
“They just have to have a love for kids and they have to believe in the program,” Morse said. “I believe this Safe Sitter program is basically an investment into our future for these kids.”
The investment can’t be limited to only a certain group of people, she said. Cost will not be a barrier to participating in the class. There are scholarships available to cover the $20 cost, an interpreter is available for the hearing impaired and a Spanish component is being added to the program.
“Because that way it is truly a community program,” Morse said.
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Safe Sitter
The next Safe Sitter class will be offered from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 21 at Parkland Station 61, 100 S. 114th St. in Parkland. Additional classes will be offered Aug. 9, Sept. 27, Nov. 1. For more information or to register, call Central Pierce Fire and Rescue at 253-538-6491.