How to Prepare Your Teen for Babysitting

If you have a teenager who has younger siblings, you are one step ahead of everyone in preparing your teen for babysitting. They may have already changed diapers and clothes for babies, watched their siblings while you were aware, and know how to play with young siblings on their level. Just learning how to care for children to prepare your teen for babysitting is only one part of preparing them, there are things to prepare your teen with, including babysitting etiquette that would help them become a superior babysitter. Here are some ways to prepare your teen for babysitting.

Enroll Your Teen in a Super Sitter Babysitting Class

Enrolling your teen in a Super Sitter Babysitting Class is one of the best first steps you can do to prepare your teen for babysitting. You will have to search online or ask locally because there are many colleges, churches, and health care centers that offer these Supper Sitter Babysitting Classes. The classes are usually for ages 11 and up and usually have a fee involved. In a Super Sitter Babysitting class, they will focus on a variety of babysitting issues, including child safety, how to perform first aid, how to react in an emergency situation, such as a fire or an accident. The teen will learn infant child care tips, toddler child care tips, water safety, feeding, changing, and putting them to sleep. They will also teach the teen how to entertain the children with age appropriate games and ideas. Some classes even offer CPR. Normally the class are at least 6 hours and are well worth it.

Discuss the Super Sitter Babysitting Class with Teen

After your teen has taken the class, it is important to talk to them about what they learned and to make sure they really understand everything. You may want to have them print out a babysitter check list to take with them to the home they will be babysitting another parent's child. This way the parents can fill out all the emergency information and where they will be along with any other important information that is needed. A great babysitting checklist that is free to print out is the Blue's Clues Babysitter Checklist found on the Nick Jr. website.

Some other important things that you may want to mention to your teen to prepare them for babysitting is to ask them to talk to the parents to see if there will be anyone that they are expecting or any deliveries, or telephone calls that the teen should be aware of because they will not answer the door to anyone that they are not familiar with. Another things to point out to your teen is that they should never answer the telephone and say they are the babysitter and they don't know when the parents will be back. They should also never light a fireplace, a candle.

Babysitting Etiquette

The last part to prepare your teen for babysitting, is to talk to them about babysitting etiquette. The should never take or make any personal telephone calls while on the job, especially texting. Teens should never watch television, do homework, or any other personal stuff while the children are awake. Teens should never have friends over without the parents permission. These things will only distract the teen from what they are there to do and that is to watch the children and staying focused with the children and watching them at all times.