Babysitter Lists
(A community service provided by Health and Safety Services)

If you are looking for a qualified babysitter, we may be able to help.

Click here for the Babysitter Form.

The babysitter lists provided to the public is not a “referral” program. It is a service offered to the community by the American Red Cross Lakeland Chapter based on community requests and needs. Upon receipt of a completed Babysitter List Call-In Form, we will mail a list of a few names and numbers of sitters that have taken the Red Cross Babysitter's Training Course through the Lakeland Chapter and live close to your area. Although we believe that the teenagers provided on this list should be qualified to babysit, we do not know them personally. We encourage you to interview and screen them, just as we recommend that their parents or guardians interview and screen prospective employers. We have a signed parental permission slip on file on students whose parents wish to leave their child’s name with us as potential babysitters. If you have any questions regarding this service, please call the American Red Cross Health & Safety Department at 920-227-4290 or 1-800-733-9909.

Those that complete the American Red Cross Babysitter Training course receive a certificate acknowledging their participation. The training helps participants develop skills in five critical areas: leadership, safety and safe play, basic care, first aid, and professionalism. The course also offers knowledge and skills practice in rescue breathing and choking procedures, but the participants do not receive certificates for these skills.

The American Red Cross recommends that parents and guardians look for the following qualities in a babysitter:

• Has taken the American Red Cross Babysitter’s Training course;
• Is comfortable around children;
• Is capable of assuming responsibility;
• Knows how to keep both your child and herself/himself safe both inside and outside;
• Is skilled in calmly handling any emergencies;
• Knows how and when to summon help;
• Has basic first aid skills, including bandaging, rescue breathing and choking care;
• Can provide basic child care appropriate to your child;
• Will be attentive over the needed length of time;
• Is enthusiastic about interacting with your child.

Tips for A Successful Babysitting Experience

• Start looking for a sitter early. Don’t wait until the last minute.
• Give preference to someone already working with children, or introduce a first time sitter gradually into the experience - beginning with short, simple situations.
• Always interview a prospective babysitter and talk with parents who have hired him/her before.
• Fees to be charged and paid should be established at the time the sitter is called and should be based on the responsibilities to be assumed. (i.e.) Will the child be asleep or awake and active? How many children and how old are they? Are there diapers to change or is the child toilet-trained?
• Ask how he/she would handle certain possibly difficult situations that may occur.
• Have the sitter tour the home and point out important things such as fire extinguishers, phones, flashlights, how to operate locks and how to shut off water in each room. Show the emergency escape plan.
• Review rules of the home including those for meals, pets, TV/computer time, friends, and play inside and outside the home.
• Advise if a child has problems such as the need for medication and how much, if the child is afraid of the dark, if the child needs or has a special “security” toy or object, or if the child uses unusual words in asking for things.
• Do not expect your babysitter to do your housekeeping. The sitter’s first responsibility is for the safety of the child.
• Allow time for the babysitter to ask you questions.
• Provide a list of key emergency phone numbers.
• The sitter should be told when the parents expect to return, if they will be delayed and if there are any changes in plans or destination.
• Parents are responsible for the safe return of their sitter to his or her home.
• Explain possible behavior problems and how you would want them handled.
• Introduce the babysitter to your child...allow them to get to know each other...observe.

The best advice the Red Cross can offer parents is to remind them that their own child may someday be “sitting” and to treat all sitters as they would like their own children to be treated.

We receive many calls for lists so some sitters may already have babysitting jobs. If you would like additional names, please contact us again, but keep your first list of names so that we do not issue you any of the same names.

This service is offered by the American Red Cross Lakeland Chapter free of charge. However, if you would like to make a donation to help offset the cost of providing this service, we would appreciate your contribution. Please make your donation payable to the American Red Cross and mark your donation for this service to the Health and Safety Services Department. Thank you.