Kids, Kids, and more Kids!

            This blog was suppose to be published last week but I was in Indianapolis for the National Junior Angus Show.  Sorry about it being late!

            The past two weeks have been full of new experiences for me.  I was warned prior to starting my internship that I would have to do two babysitting academies and that I would be attending Cloverbud camp.  Little did I know all three of these events would be back to back to back! So I am running on pure adrenaline at this point because I have definitely had no sleep during this time.

            The first week of babysitting academy I had 3 students attend at the Boyle County Extension Office to become a more qualified candidate in their area.  We followed a 4 day schedule which included:

Day 1 – business of babysitting, responsibilities of babysitting, and how to care for an infant (changing, feeding, burping, holding)

Day 2 – first aid and CPR training

Day 3 – safety issues and fire safety

Day 4 – crafts, games, snacks, and fun activities

We used curriculum developed by the 4-H safe sitter program to develop a binder for each student which they were able to keep for themselves and use if needed.  It was filled with tons of useful information for the students because the important thing about learning is being able to find the information you need to know.  My favorite day was probably day 4 because we got to eat and play games!  We each made our own banana boats which is basically a banana filled with peanut butter, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and anything else sweet and that would melt when put it the oven.  Talk about an easy and good snack for the kids! Then we played games with the students.  First we made our own sponge balls.  How we did that was to cut 3 sponges into 3 pieces each.  Then we took ribbon and tied the sponges around the middle.  We used these balls playing dodgeball, lawn darts, and even to put a wet spin to four square.  The week was full of learning for the students and the instructor (me).

            We ended babysitting academy Thursday and then on Friday it was off to Carlisle for Cloverbud camp! What an experience at Cloverbud camp.  315 6-8 year olds will keep you busy for 3 days and if you are my age it makes you want to wait a little longer to have kids!  For me I only had to be in charge of 5 boys throughout the weekend.  It kept me on my toes whether it was questions they asked or always wanting to know “What’s next??” I asked the boys what their favorite thing to do was and the most common answer was swimming.  The thing I remember most about the weekend was the numerous trips I made to the main office so one of my campers could wrap his hand up in a glove because he could not get it wet.  It is safe to say that the nurse and I became familiar with each other over 3 short days.  On Sunday it was time to leave and I think everyone was ready.  The campers were tired, many were starting to miss their parents, and all the adults were exhausted! Overall this was an awesome weekend that opened my eyes to another side of extension.

            There was not much time for rest after Cloverbud camp because the next day we started our second babysitting academy.  For this week I had a few more students and I felt more prepared because I already had a week under my belt.  The schedule was the same format as the first week except we had no CPR training on Tuesday, just first aid.  Thursday was the best day in my eyes.  We taught the students how to make chex mix, puppets, and tambourines.  We used just household items so they were able to make these items at the house when they were babysitting.

            In conclusion I have to say these two weeks have probably been the most learning that I have done on the job.  I learned that in extension sometimes you have to teach on things you are not an expert on but the goal is to make sure the students leave with new knowledge.  I believe I accomplished that with both babysitting academies.  For Cloverbud Camp I learned about the amount of youthfulness a 4-H agent must have and how they must be able to adjust to who the audience is because 6-8 year olds are much different than your high school members.