Special Training Prepares Potential Baby Sitters For Different Situations

When you hire a baby sitter for your children, you would like to know they are prepared for any emergency. That is the idea behind a special kind of training offered in Raleigh.

Rex Hospital's Safe-Sitter teacher Deborah Wood guides future baby sitters through situations that may require a call to the parents or even 911. They learn how to help a choking infant or older child.

"It covers situations that are very unlikely to ever come across, but if they do come across, they're prepared," she said. "I have to find a balance where I'm not scaring the children. I'm not making them feel like everything is dangerous."

Harrison Lentz, who is taking part in the class, has never cared for someone else's kids.

"My parents won't let me do it until I took this class," he said.

Many parents will not hire sitters without the training and participant Jake Hyman said he understands why.

"You're not only taking responsibility for yourself, but you're also taking responsibility for the kid and the kid's life," he said.

The Safe-Sitter program was started by a man whose child died after choking while in the care of a sitter. The two-day course at Rex Hospital costs $50 per child. Officials said they are booked for the summer, but mark your calendar early to sign up next year.