DOWAGIAC — Young adults between the ages of 11 and 15 walked out of a Child and Babysitting Safety class with not one, but two certifications to jumpstart their future careers.

On Thursday, Sandy McGuire, the owner and lead instructor at MI CPR Connection, brought a CABS class from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to the Van Buren Cass Health Department, 305 S. Front St., Dowagiac.

Three young adults completed the class and received not only their CABS certification, but also a CPR/AED certification.

For more than 15 years, McGuire has been teaching CABS and CPR training, traveling all around southwest Michigan helping teenagers be safer babysitters.

The topics in the class cover a range of topics including safety for both the babysitter and the children they are caring for, McGuire said.

“We’re going to learn how to keep the girls and guys safe,” McGuire said. “We go through what a safe place to advertise for babysitting is and what’s not; when you feel like something isn’t quite right, how to deal with that instinct; what the best places to get your babysitting jobs are.”

The class also covers how to play games with children and what is age appropriate, as well as home safety and communication with the children’s parents.

“I teach how to go through an orientation with a parent,” McGuire said. “If a child is a diabetic or has seizures, [the babysitters] will learn how to deal with it.”

These certifications as a babysitter offer parents a sense of security, McGuire said.

“It definitely gives parents more confidence in hiring you because they know you have been through training to know what to do in case there is an emergency,” McGuire said.

One thing many young sitters do not know is how to safely find a job, McGuire said.

“Some of the girls I’ve talked to say, ‘Oh, I’ll just put it on Facebook.’ Oh no, that’s accessible to everybody,” McGuire said. “You could get somebody that you don’t want to have that information.”

McGuire recommends those interested in babysitting tell people through word of mouth and reach out to neighbors, families and friends.

McGuire’s own babysitting experience started when she was 11, back when classes were not offered, she said. She first started babysitting her neighbors’ children, and there were five of them. Some of them were her age, and some were younger, and so they needed a sitter to help with the younger children, McGuire said.

“Teaching is just a passion of mine,” she said. “When I started there were no classes.

“Things were different then, and things are very different now, and I want to keep the children safe.”

Although McGuire usually has class sizes of 10, she will still teach classes with as few as two participants.

“I’d rather have the kids that are interested come than not come, and then not know how to safely babysit,” McGuire said.

McGuire plans to host additional CABS and CPR/AED certification classes in Dowagiac this summer. Interested readers can contact MI CPR Connection at (269) 655-5209 or email sandra_mcgr@yahoo.com.