3 Certifications You Want Your Babysitter To Have

By Danielle Wirsansky on November 6, 2021

It can be really difficult to leave your children and allow someone else to watch over them, even when it has to be done. Your children are the most important thing in your life and you want to be sure that you are leaving them with someone who would care for them just as well as you would.

When hiring a babysitter, there are always certain qualities and traits that you look for to make sure they will be a good fit for your family. In addition to this, you can also look to your babysitter to have certain certifications that not only make you feel better but make sure your children are in safer hands than they would be without.

What is a certification? Indeed defines it as such: “Certifications are designated credentials earned by an individual to verify their legitimacy and competence to perform a job. Your certification is typically displayed as a document stating that as a professional, you’ve been trained, educated, and are prepared to meet a specific set of criteria for your role.”

By either choosing a babysitter that already has certifications or requiring any babysitter you hire to get certifications can help make sure you are leaving your child with the best babysitter possible. But there are a lot of certifications out there. Which ones are the best? Read on to learn about some of the most important and basic certifications you want your babysitter to have!

Photo by Alex Green from Pexels

CPR & First Aid

This is one of the most common and basic safety certifications but that does not make it any less important. Every childcare facility requires its educators and staff to be CPR & First Aid trained and most families require it in their babysitters as well.

Having CPR & First Aid training can be incredibly useful in many situations as well as lifesaving. A babysitter with CPR & First Aid training could not only assist them in saving a child’s life, but it could also increase the comfort level child who has become ill or incapacitated until more help can arrive and even prevent a bad medical situation from getting worse.

Think of it this way: if your child was choking, wouldn’t you want your babysitter to be able to help stop the choking? By the time emergency services would be able to get there, it would most likely be too late. Having a babysitter with CPR & First Aid Certifications helps keep your child safer in the long run.

Water Safety

This certification is less well-known but no less important, especially if you plan to have your babysitter around for time at the beach, in the pool, or even during bath time. According to Stanford Children’s Health, “Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1 to 4 years and ages 10 to 14 years. For those less than 1 year old, drowning is the third leading cause of death… An average of about 3,600 injuries a year occur to children due to a near-drowning incident… More than half of drownings among infants occur in bathtubs.”

These statistics show that children of any age are susceptible to drowning, at home or out in the world, so it is incredibly important to be prepared for any situation that could arise. The Red Cross offers this Water Safety Certification Course as well. It helps caregivers “develop an awareness” for the risks of drowning,  how to minimize those risks, teaches them how to spot the signs of drowning, and more.

Water Safety Certification courses can only be taken by those 16 and up, so keep this in mind when contemplating whether or not to hire a babysitter younger than that.

Babysitting & Advanced Child Care

The Red Cross even offers three specially designed Babysitting Certifications. You can either request that a babysitter take them or only look for those that have. The three certifications include 1) Babysitting Basics, which is for 11 and up and prepares them for the basics of babysitting. 2) Babysitter’s Training, which is for 11-15-year-olds and builds off of the Babysitting Basics course. 3) Advanced Child Care, which educates babysitters on leadership, child behavior and discipline, professionalism, safety, child care, and more.

These certifications are meant to “provid[e] basic care to infants and children, [teach] what to do during an emergency, how to choose age-appropriate activities, and recognizing and handling specific behaviors, this class can help you gain the skills and confidence needed for babysitting.”

Photo by Yan Krukov from Pexels

In the end, you must choose a babysitter that you feel comfortable watching over your children. These certifications are simply guidelines and not requirements. Investigate different certifications and see if any stand out to you. You can always offer to help finance or support your babysitter in receiving their certifications if they do not already have them and it is important to you that they do.

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