Emily Buchmeier now feels she’s much better prepared when she takes a baby-sitting job. 

After all, she’s been to class for training. And she’s got a signed certificate to prove it. 

Baby-sitting is popular way to earn money among young people who aren’t old enough to get a job in a retail store or other business. 

Emily is no different. She’s been baby-sitting in the neighborhood since she was nine. 

But, she wanted to learn more about how to keep the younger kids safe and happy. Besides, the 11-year-old said, “Parents usually want to know if I’ve taken a class.” 

This fall, she and several of her Girl Scout friends took the “Super Sitter” class offered by St. John’s and St. Luke’s Mercy hospitals in west St. Louis County. The 3-hour class is offered up to two times a week. The instructors always are registered nurses (RN). 

The classes are offered as a part of the hospitals’ maternal/child education program. 

Monica Glaser is one of the instructors at St. John’s. She said, “Health care is about prevention. For kids, that’s teaching safety.”

She said she stresses the idea that baby-sitting is an important job. “We want to offer a way that youngsters can be responsible,” Glaser said. 

And, with responsibility should come good pay. Glaser said the youngsters get suggestions on what to charge for their services. She said baby-sitters should get at least $3 per hour as a starting wage.

She said, “Kids feel they get more business when parents know they’ve taken the class. It’s definitely good for their reputation as a baby-sitter.” 

She said most of the children who attend the classes are girls. But, she added, “More boys finally are figuring out that girls have been making all this money over the years.” 

Emily said they were told to charge more when they baby-sat for more than one child at a time. “They said to ask $5 an hour for two or three children,” she said. 

She said one of the most interesting things she learned was how to help a child who is choking on food or other object in their throat. “They taught us the Heimlich Maneuver. I didn’t know how to do that,” she said.

The Heimlich Maneuver involves holding the child around the middle and suddenly squeezing. This forces air out of the lungs to push out the object in the throat.

“They even showed us how to give ourselves the Heimlich Maneuver if we start to choke,” she said. Emily said that involves pushing the edge of a table or desk quickly into your own stomach. That would use air from the lungs to clear your throat.

Emily said she also learned ways to calm kids who are having temper tantrums. The class also gave the youngsters advice on what sort of toys are best for children of different ages.

Other subjects include basic infant care such as changing diapers. Glaser said they use lifelike dolls for practice. There’s also a video with all sorts of entertainment ideas. 

Emily said, “They recommended we bring a bag of toys. Then, you tell the children they can take out one toy but can’t look inside the bag.” 

One of the children she has cared for is a four-year-old. “He likes little candies and then I bring along some toys I’ve gotten from McDonald’s,” she said. 

Emily said she probably needed the baby-sitting class more than some of her friends in Girl Scout Troop 966. “All of them had younger brothers or sisters they’d cared for. But, I’m the youngest in our family,” she said. 

Emily said she also has a plan for her baby-sitting earnings. “My mom lets me spend one-fourth of it. The rest goes in the bank. I already have a bank account.”

She said she’s saving her money and then will invest it the stock market. She said she expects to get advice on what stocks to buy from her father.

Emily’s parents are William and Barb Buchmeier. Her older sister, Katie, is 14 and her brother, Joe, is 13. Emily is a sixth grader at St. Dominic School. 

Anyone interested in learning more about the baby-sitting classes can call Casey Merryman or Debbie McCabe at St. John’s Mercy Hospital at (314) 822-PEDS.