I work for a local Fire Department and the education division has been teaching this class for over 15 years. SafeSitters is a well thought out, well lesson planned, easy program to teach young teens on how to be safe, earn some money, and understand business skills. We currently have 3 instructors and teach several classes during the summer when the students are out of school. The basics and mostly the safety aspects of how to card for babies and young children are important - and the students are respectful and listen. The videos made for instruction are also valuable. SafeSitters is a wonderful non profit saving lives and enhancing the youth in our communities by education and understanding.
I am a registered nurse. I am also AHA certified and have been a safe-sitter instructor for over 10 years. Safe sitter offers so much practical advice for our youth! I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching students how to "stay safe, stay calm and provide comfort". Students learn behavior management tips, how to screen an employer, how to preform basis first aid, how to decide if they can handle a problem or if they need to contact a back up adult or call 911. We also teach life saving skill such as, how to preform the choking maneuver and CPR on both infants and children. It is such a wonderful experience to empower students! To watch them demonstrate the skills they have learned on a manikin and to see the confidence in their faces when asked "do you think you could do this in real life"? Safe-sitter is a must, not only for future babysitters, but also if your child is old enough to stay at home alone.
I have been teaching Safe-Sitter at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio for about five years.
I work in the Lab and I also have my Bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education. Safe sitter does a great job of teaching young people how to care for young children using methods that are developmentally appropriate. It teaches them how to be responsible for themselves and the children they care for. It is an excellent way to help these young people be more self reliant and confident that they can handle any situation that may arise. They learn how to keep themselves and those they care for safe. And they have fun doing it!
It is wonderful to see how their confidence grows in the short time we are together. They
are empowered simply by having all the information they need at their finger tips. When
they have completed the class they know what they can handle themselves, when they
need some adult assistance, and when they need professional help from 911. This program
definitely has the potential to SAVE LIVES and enrich them. I am proud to be part of the Safe Sitter program.
Valerie Davis
Offering Safe Sitter class to the youth in your community is a great way to promote independent thinking, build self esteem, teach valuable life skills and have a lot of fun with this age group! The curriculum is easy to follow and lends itself to important discussions. Getting down on the floor with these kids for roll playing, diaper changing instruction, playing games, or learning first aid techniques is just a wonderful way to interact and get this information across to them. I highly recommend this course to both instructors and parents. I wish I had taken this course before I had begun my babysitting journey.
I've taught the SafeSitter class for 3 years now and it is FANTASTIC. There are interactive games to play with the students, the SafeSitter student handbook is colorful and well organized, and the overall class is very engaging. I've taught other babysitting courses where students watched several hours of video and it was all I could do to keep them awake. As a health educator, I've written and presented many public health programs and SafeSitter meets all of the best practices I use as an educator.
I've also been very impressed with the customer service from SafeSitter and if I have an issue or any questions they have always responded within 24 hours (most of the time within 12 hours). The staff is knowledgeable and the marketing support for the program is great. Thank you SafeSitter! I'm excited for another year of teaching and to try out the updated curriculum!
I am an educator with a Fire Department. One of our programs we present is Safe Sitters. What a fantastic program which evolves and changes with the times - the up to date information the students receive is a focus which I appreciate.
How the students are educated with repetition, role playing, and reading out loud shows how knowledgable the program creators are in how to teach and have students retain. The train the trainer videos are complete and I generally do not have questions, when I do, I can easily find answers on the Safe Sitters website.
I have been an instructor in the Safe Sitter program since around 1998. It has been a most enjoyable and rewarding expereince. We have served adolescents ages 11 - 13 in our community every summer for over 20 years--even before I joined our community hospital. Young people at this age are very inquisitive and, for the most part, eager to learn. The content of the course is very good information to have at this time in their lives. Actually, it's good information for anyone to have. As the Safe Sitter motto says--"Better Sitters Today, Better Parents Tomorrow."
It is with pleasure and honor that I recommend Safe Sitter for the “Great Non-profits”. It has been a great experience working with Safe Sitter Inc. We are a Volunteer Fire Department and wanted to add Safe Sitter to our Injury Prevention Programs. We contacted Safe Sitter and they were an excellent resource in helping us get out program up and running. We were able to get our staff certified to teach the program at our pace with a lot of assistance from Safe Sitter Inc. We have taught a couple of classes in our local area and the participants have had grave reviews about the program. One of the best reviews I heard was when asked what you would change about the program, the answer given was “Nothing it was perfect the way it is”. On behalf of the Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department Inc. I would like to say thank you to Safe Sitter Inc. and would highly recommend them for the “Great Non-Profits”.
Roy L. Hunter
Assistant EMS Chief
Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department Inc.
We use SafeSitter to teach our community babysitting class and we're very impressed with the content and layout of their curriculum. It's fun, colorful, interactive, and the kids are really engaged in the learning.
They've also made ordering additional materials, submitting rosters, and accessing the online instructor materials very easy and convenient. The customer service is amazing and any issues or questions I have are usually resolved within the day (if not in a few hours)!
I have been involved with Safe Sitter for over 20 years as the coordinator of a Safe Sitter site. The program is well designed to engage children's interest and attention for the training. The evaluations of the kids are enthusiastic and they are excited about learning how to take care of children. We now have former Safe Sitters teaching as volunteers. The organization is responsive and professional. They provide comprehensive training and support to their sites, reaching out to organizations to spread the word and teach as many students as possible. It's a valuable service to every community to help students become responsible sitters (and future parents!)
Safe Sitter is an excellent program for boys or girls to attend. Even if they never baby sit all the material presented is medically accurate and they are learning life skills. The skills learned are important in every aspect of life from learning how to make positive first impression to how how to call 911 and preform CPR and clear the airway of a choking child. I recommend this program to every one I meet with children as soon as they reach the required age.
I had taught Safe Sitter in my previous hospital since my daughter was old enough to attend the class. (She's 28 and mom herself now) When I changed facilities I brought the program into my new hospital. I found 2 other nurses who were now not just parents but new grandparents as well as a Respiratory Therapist to help me kick off the program. We are so excited to offer this course to our service area. Not only are we able to offer life-saving skills to these kids but it enables us to reach out to their parents in a positive way and market our hospital to them. I found Safe Sitter has continuously kept the curriculum current with new trends such as social media and cell phone usage but always encouraging the students and instructors to have fun while learning.
All the support staff are very responsive and helpful. Their resources seem endless and ever improving. They listen to what the kids and the instructors say about the course and continuously improve it.
I'm proud to say I am a Safe Sitter instructor.
I am a RN and we just implemented the Safe Sitter class at my facility and I could not be more excited about it. We have received an outpouring of requests for this course. Its reputation precedes itself and many parents took the course when they were young and now are sending a second generation for this most important training. The kids are so excited about learning how to save a life and if I can make a difference in even one child’s life then I am upholding the mission of this program. As a nurse and a mother I want all babysitters to be prepared for the worst but also HAVE FUN. I would feel more comfortable entrusting my child’s life to a Safe Sitter and hope to train many more to come! The staff that run the program are extremely helpful and responsive. They are willing to assist in any way possible to ensure that the program continues to reach the community. What an awesome program!
I am a Nurse Practitioner and this is my first year being involved with the instruction of the Safe Sitter Program. With reviewing the course content I became excited to help students learn how to be a Safe Sitter. The program keeps the students engaged with real life information. Students are provided with the knowledge to keep both the children they are watching and themselves safe! This is an excellent program that I am proud to be a part of.
I introduced Safe Sitter to our rural community through my family practice. I am so impressed with this program! It provides a great foundation for the basics of child care and choking rescue, but also teaches the sitter personal safety skills they can apply to other circumstances they might encounter. I especially like the way Safe Sitter encourages the children to seek the help of adults, either a designated individual or the EMS system, while providing skills to act on their own as well. It is a great model for adults and children working together, and for youth development. The children's reviews of the program are very positive. We invite the Sheriff or the EMS director to the closing ceremonies to commend the children for learning to be Safe Sitters, and to make the EMS system have a face for them. The support staff at Safe Sitter is accessible, friendly and helpful. A great nonprofit I highly recommend!
I am an RN and have been a Safe Sitter instructor for 14 years at the facility where I am Education Coordinator. Safe Sitter classes is one of the highlights of the year for us (instructors). I often tell parents of prospective students about not just the life-saving skills that our students learn, but about the "life" skills we teach. Two of our graduates have been instrumental in saving a younger sibling from choking, so that in itself makes everything we do worthwhile. I am such a believer in the program that I am making plans to have a grandson who lives out of state come and stay with me this year so he can attend our classes. All 11-13 year olds would benefit from taking this course.
It is a privilege to share the Safe Sitter program with our young adults in our community. Safe Sitter provides continuous, professional, evidence based education supporting the baby sitting curriculum.
I thought that a babysitting certification course would help our local, church-owned camp. I called another organization to determine the teacher certification and was told about the many pre-requisites and the perhaps 2-year time-delay, I found the Safe Sitter website. It was perfect! The curriculum partnered with my AHA first aid/cpr/aed teaching certifications and allowed up to people to be trained in one session - by video! The staff could not have been more supportive, and the materials are up to date and attractive. Best of all, the related costs are low enough to be cost-effective for us.
We have added Safe Sitter certification to our summer camp line ups. Campers spend 3-4 hours a day in Safe Sitter classes and also get to swim, do crafts (some SS related), and other camp-y activities. At the end of the week, we have a graduation, and they are ready to start their own businesses. We find that the camp schedule gives us more time to add even more information as well as certify the campers in CPR/First Aid/AED and give them more leadership skills. A win-win!
As an Emergency Room Nurse and Safe Sitter Insructor I see the value of the Safe Sitter curiculum on a regular basis. Preventing injury and avoiding unsafe situations are so relevant in our environment today.
It is a pleasure to teach Safe Sitter!
Safe Sitter collaborates well with Woman's Foundations, Inc. This organization serves great purpose to our community and gives children the opportunity to learn so much about babysitting and more! Their friendly staff makes my job as a site coordinator fun, easy, and manageable. I love working with Safe Sitter, and I look forward to the future!
I am a nurse and I work in the education department of our local hospital. We have been a Safe Sitter site for about 20 years. We have graduated a lot of safe sitters through the years. We offer classes at our hospital in the summers and we have recently started teaching a class at a local school. The teens enjoy the interactive activities and they are so proud of themselves when they graduate from a class. The parents love that their child has learned lifesaving skills as well as lifelong skills. Employers love that they have a skilled and knowledgeable teen left in charge of their children. We hear from parents after every class about how much their child enjoyed the Safe Sitter class. They are also amazed at the skills the teens have learned. It's a great program that teaches kids things that they will use their entire life.
Gave my daughter the skills and confidence to babysit both her younger siblings and neighborhood children. I continue to recommend the program to friends for their teens to take it.
Safe Sitter
Our Medical Fitness Center has been using Safe Sitter as part of our community resources for years and as a Safe Sitter Coordinator I've been totally in awe of the change in the students who come through the program - now over 1,000. The first day of the two day class, we get the usual 11-13 year old behavior and attention span but by the 2nd of the two days, they have matured enormously! They have had real CPR and First Aid training from our instructors and really have a mastery of the skills they are taught. They are confident and well versed in those skills and in the role they have taken caring for children. Safe Sitter is presented with great integrity, is very carefully laid out and taught - and in my observation, it never disappoints!
Coffeyville Regional Medical Center has been a Safe Sitter site for 18 years. Since1996 CRMC has graduated 363 Safe Sitter participants.
Our coordinator retired last year and turned the reins over to me.
On July 30-31, 2013 we held our first class that I coordinated, with a total of 9 students. During the class, I had occasion to go into the classroom and take a few photos. While I was there, I was very impressed with what I observed. The kids were fully engaged, asking questions, and doing hands-on exercises, which included infant CPR. This program is excellent and provides such good information that I think it should be used outside of babysitting, such as helping with younger siblings. Every child (and maybe even adult) should have to take this course.
I also had several occasions to talk with Safe Sitter staff since it was my first class to coordinate. I found everyone at Safe Sitter to be very helpful and walk me through all the steps. They made the job much easier, and they provided all the forms and information to me. They were great to work with.
We look forward to being a Safe Sitter Site for many years in the future because this program is such a good community service.
Susan
I am a nurse and a Safe Sitter instructor. I think that Safe Sitter is a wonderful program that helps children become more confident in their childcare and emergency skills. It also helps build self confidence and promotes better communication skills while teaching about the importance of responsibility. The information is well organized, easy to teach, and presented in a fun manner. The Safe Sitter website is also very user friendly and their staff responds to questions in a timely manner.
St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, Boise, Idaho, has been offering the Safe Sitter Program in our community since 2005. As the Site Coordinator and an instructor, it is important being a Children’s Hospital that the program we offer is evidence-based, fun to teach and fun for the participants. We offer monthly classes and it’s not uncommon that our classes are full two months in advance, resulting in us offering more. We are frequently asked to bring this fun class to our outreach rural communities. In 2012 we taught over 250 class participants how to properly care for children and have fun in the process. To date in 2013 we have taught over 300 young people and we are only half way through the year! I never lack for instructors for teaching this class. It helps to bring out the child in all of us!
Safe Sitter has been a valuable program in the Yakima Valley. In 2012 we educated 95 with the Safe Sitter curriculum, with popular demand we have educated 127 so far in 2013. Thank you Safe Sitter you are helping us save lives in our community.
Kate Sansom
Safe Sitter offers a valuable service to children and families by providing well organized and thoughtful training for young people interested in becoming babysitters.
The classes empower young people to ask the right questions of their employers, set boundaries, have age-appropriate expectations of children's behavior and become aware of professional behaviors on the job.
The first Safe Sitter class at our site was amazing! The soon-to-be-sitters learned a lot, had fun and the teachers enjoyed teaching them. The Safe Sitter training materials are well-designed and easy to use. As a site coordinator, the customer training, service and support have exceeded my highest expectations!
I have been teaching Safe Sitter for almost 10 years. What an incredible program for young people to attend, whether or not they plan to babyist! I have a background in childcare as well as emergency medical services and I honestly believe that Safe Sitter covers EVERYTHING a babysitter may face.
I will definitely have my two boys attend the course when they are of age and I encourage all of my friends and family members to send their children when they are between 11-13 years old.
Love Safe Sitter!
Safe Sitter is the babysitting course curriculum that our hospital has used for as long as I've worked here. The program is sound and gives babysitters life-long skills. Safe Sitter staff seek input and suggestions from instructors as well as offer their assistance on a regular basis.
I am a site coordinator for safe sitter and also a safe sitter instructor. This is a very well run program and they are very willing to do what needs to be done to help teaching sites.
Their materials are top quality and the student participants love the program.
I always enjoy reading the students comments at the end of class.
How this make make them better baby sitters now but better parents in the future.
I have been offering the Safe Sitter course for 5 years through my department and working with this organization has been nothing but excellent! I offer nine Safe Sitter courses a year and with this many offerings I am in constant contact with Safe Sitter and they are always very friendly and helpful. This program helps so many young adolescents become well prepared babysitters and it fills me with pride to offer it. There is not one negative thing I could say towards this organization!!
I am the director of a community wellness program at a Children's Hospital. We have worked with Safe Sitter for over 25 years and have always been impressed with the quality of the materials, the support for our program and the professionalism of the trainers. Every year we host an instructor training with national trainers coming in to conduct the workshops. Safe Sitter is so well organized that we always have the materials ahead of time with a trainer who is personable and well prepared.
The response of the community to this program is overwhelming as we now have young adults who were trained as Safe Sitters now teaching the program as instructors. We feel it offers the most comprehensive and age appropriate model for helping kids learn how to care for young children and hopefully prepare them for parenting. As soon as we put the summer schedule of classes out, the classes begin to fill. The quality of the program makes it sell itself. We are proud to be a Safe Sitter site.
I work for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service as a County Extension Agent. I received training to be a Safe Sitter instructor in 2009. We conduct about three one day courses a year. Through the classes the youth have learned the many aspects of babysitting and their responsibilities. They all particularly respond well to the training they receive in emergencies that include choking, first aid and CPR. Safe Sitter is a great program. The educational materials are well written and provides important information that is needed. My most recent class I realized that I did not have enough course books only a few days before my class. I called Safe Sitter, and the books arrived on time. They were wonderful to work with. Also, I like the personal attention we get as instructors. They often email me or call me to see how the courses are going and to see if we need anything.
I am a Master's-prepared Nursing educator who recently had the privilege of becoming a Safe Sitter instructor. Last month I participated in teaching the 2 classes offered by my Hospital's Education Department. We trained a total of 45 teenagers to become "Safe Sitters". Prior to this opportunity, I had not heard of "Safe Sitters". What an absolutely outstanding program!! It has been so well-received in our community, and we continue to receive calls asking for another class. The feedback from the students was also very positive! One zealous student wrote "this should last for a week and all teenagers should take it". They particularily liked learning CPR and how to use an AED. They all indicated that they felt better prepared to take on the responsibility of becoming a "bodyguard" for those who were entrusted to their care! I give this program highest marks. What an awesome public service!
I became a Safe Sitter instructor a few months ago and hosted my first course soon after. I have been impressed with the material provided and how thorough the resources are. Safe Sitter Inc. provides lots of assistance in helping instructors to get their classes started as well as follow up information. If I ever had questions the Safe Sitter team responded via email or phone within the same day, sometimes even the same hour. This made me feel like my community and the work I am doing was important to the Safe Sitter organization. I have used social media as one avenue of advertising my courses and have been notified by community members that this has been a desire for many people. Registering students for the first course was a breeze, we even had to create a waiting list because our spots filled up so fast. It's been less than a month since our first course and we have already scheduled a second course! I have also received notification from residents in surrounding areas, that they too have been interested in becoming instructors and want to know more about how to contact Safe Sitter. I was pleased to share with these inquiring members that Safe Sitter is easy to start, the website is simple to navigate and the Safe Sitter Team is quick to respond.
Safe Sitter has been a success in my small community. It has also been an easy program to work with and more importantly I believe in the difference I am making by teaching Safe Sitter.
Safe Sitter Inc. is a great company that provides full support for their program. We carry out Safe Sitter for pre-teens in our community and since having updated the curriculum to include basic CPR training, our customer service scores have greatly increase. Any time I have a question or a need, they are quick to respond and extremely helpful. I feel very fortunate to work with such a great company!
Our organization has been teaching Safe Sitter for 18 years. I've been teaching classes for over 4 years. Safe Sitter is an exceptional resource for teaching kids some very important skills; not only for baby sitting, but for life. We always recieve very positive feedback from the kids and they leave the class excited about what they have learned. Safe Sitter is a great confidence builder for kids as it teaches them how to act in the event they experience difficult situations.
I love how the Safe Sitter curriculum prepares young peopl to be good caregivers and practices lifeskills.
I have been a Safe Sitter instructor for over 15 years and have taught 1000's of students the skils and information provided by this incredible program. I cannot say enough wonderful things about the individuals who work at Safe Sitter INC or the quality program they produce. It is the BEST community program offered by our fire department and continues to fill up each and every time we offer the class.
Rutland Regional Medical Center in Rutland, Vermont, has been a Safe Sitter teaching site for over 15 years. We provide 15-20 classes per year both on-site and at local schools & Rec. Centers.
We are very happy to be able to offer Safe Sitter. Students are learning important life skills and having fun as they learn. It is so popular in our area that we rarely have to advertise to fill our classes. Children come from all over the state (and even from other states) to attend our courses.
Safe Sitter's curriculum is medically accurate, overseen by a physician and registered nurses are on staff and able to answer any questions that may arise.
All of the staff at Safe Sitter are kind, enthusiastic and very responsive to the needs of their teaching sites.
We feel fortunate and proud to be part of the Safe Sitter organization and encourage anyone considering establishing a site in an area that does not currently have a site to do so!
Susan Lebel, RN, Community Educator, Rutland Regional Medical Center
I have taught the Safe Sitter program for 8 years. I wish the information I have learned and then taught to the students was available to me as a new parent. The information on how to handle yourself as a baby sitter and how to handle the child will then be used as a parent making the family strong and better. If this class was taught to new parents, I feel there would be less child abuse. Safe Sitter was perfected the way to teach these young teens without boring them or losing their attention.
I have served as a Safe Sitter instructor for several years. As a registered nurse, I can vouch for the great information taught these young men and women. They learn important information needed to babysit anyone from an infant to an older elementary school child. They go thru various scenarios involving first aid triage, dangerous situations, and problem child care. I feel that teaching Safe Sitter provides lifetime skills for these students.
I am a National Trainer for this organization and I teach new instructors how to teach this course. In the past year, we have completely revamped our curriculum to better reflect society at this time. We have added more technology info etc..., however the core principles and values have never wavered from what they originally were in 1980. I find that to be the most beneficial part of this organization- it holds firmly to it's values and it's mission even though society changes around it.
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My first experience with Safe Sitter was conducting an evaluation of the organization. I was so impressed with the organization I became a volunteer. I was a trainer and National Trainer for over 16 years and enjoyed it immensely. In fact, my husband became trainer and our son is a Safe Sitter graduate.
My first experience with Safe Sitter occurred in the late 80's when I attended a training so I could volunteer teach with the organization. As a new mom with a degree in education, I had enough a-ha moments that day to convince me that this should be mandatory training for ALL youth!
What I love most about the Safe Sitter class is that it is not just a babysitting class...it is a life skills class for young adolescents. Everything from business skills to child care skills to first aid/CPR to safety skills is covered in an age-appropriate, fun, hands-on learning environment.
What I love most about the Safe Sitter organization is that the safety of all children is the first priority in every aspect. The class has evolved over time, stays current with what's important and real in the lives of young teens, and will never, ever compromise on medical accuracy.
Safe Sitter lives up to its name, consistently and with great integrity. Not only does this organization train young adolescents to care for younger children, Safe Sitter also makes sure that the sitters themselves know how to be safe. Safe Sitter helps young people be good caregivers today, and good parents tomorrow.
I have been involved with Safe Sitter for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles and cannot say enough positive things about this organization. This program provides adolescents with essential information to provide a safe and nurturing environment when caring for other children as well as prepare them to be safe, confident, and competent young adults.