Safe Sitter ® for Adolescents:
Is your child starting to ask to stay home alone while you run errands? Do you want your daughter to occasionally watch her younger siblings for a few hours? Are your neighbors asking when your son can babysit for them? Then maybe it’s time for Safe Sitter®.
There is no magic number for parents to use to determine when is the right time to let their young adolescents go without adult supervision and/or begin to babysit. But there is a program that will prepare them!
Safe Sitter® was founded by pediatrician Patricia A. Keener, M.D. Our Medical Director Sara Ross, M.D., is also a pediatrician. So we know kids! We know and respect the developmental realities of young adolescents. We can take the most recent and reliable scientific knowledge and put it together in a way that kids can understand.
We don’t overwhelm them with data. We empower them with wisdom. We foster success. Our entire not-for-profit organization is solely focused on the Safe Sitter® program and we take great pride in making it a positive experience for each and every child.
At Safe Sitter® students learn how to:
- Rescue a choking child or infant plus ways to prevent choking in the first place.
- Evaluate an injury to determine how to handle it– including how to get help.
- Prevent problem behavior plus how to manage problem behavior situations.
- Keep themselves safe in threatening situations from power failures to prowlers.
- Care for a child’s basic needs including feeding, entertaining, and toileting.
- Establish their own babysitting business.
The class culminates in a ceremony where parents come to celebrate all the students have learned. And to learn their role as the parent of a child who has just taken a huge step towards self-reliance. Students leave a Safe Sitter® class confident of their new skills. Parents leave the ceremony proud and reassured.
Safe Sitter® for Expectant Parents:
**Safe Sitter® classes are also ideal for parents who are expecting their first child. Expectant parents will not participate in the same classes as the pre-teens or teens. They will be scheduled into a separate class that is dedicated entirely to new parents.
For more information about Safe Sitter ® or to enroll in a Safe Sitter ® course, please contact Anna Powell at 870-722-8102 or email her at .
The website for the Safe Sitter ® organization is www.safesitter.org.
