Babysitting Class

Last night for mutual we had a babysitting class. We only have 4 young women in our ward, so babysitters are scarce. We wanted to make sure that if the girls were asked to babysit, that they felt comfortable and knew how to do it. So we held this little class. Our YW president has a 2 month old, so he was our little guinea pig.

First thing, we went down to the kitchen and made him a bottle.

Next, we had a variety of snacks on the table and asked the girls which ones they shouldn't give to kids. We had things like yogurt, cheese, grapes, fruit snacks, pretzels, raisins, peanuts, strawberry applesauce squeeze, and a few others.  The girls did really well at identifying all of the choking hazards, and one girl even mentioned that peanuts could be dangerous as an allergy. But it was kind of a trick question. We reminded the girls about allergies: some kids are allergic to strawberries, so the applesauce in this case was questionable, and some kids are allergic to dairy also, so the yogurt and the cheese were out. We told them to always check with the parents on what things the kids can and cannot have while they are there.

Our YW president texted a few of her mom friends and asked for pet peeves and things they really like about babysitters. Things they don't like: coming home to a messy house, seeing the kids up past their bedtime. Things they like: the house as clean, if not cleaner than when they left, kids liked the babysitter, a recap of the night.

We printed up this babysitting kit list from Wendy's Activities and brought folders for each girl. Another night we will assemble the kits. Last night we just went over all the pages.

Next, we changed diapers. We brought stuffed animals and a few diapers and let each girl try. This was a good lesson for our girls.

Lastly, we learned how to swaddle a baby. This was also a good lesson, most girls didn't know anything about swaddles.

This was a great activity for our group. Our girls learned a lot and now when people in the ward ask if our YW babysit, we can say yes!