With three decades of experience, Traverse City, Michigan, child care provider Cheryl Beery has plenty of advice for newbies. Her top babysitting tips are:

  1. Get basic training. Learn CPR, choking first aid and other safety skills, as well as appropriate toddler discipline and preschool discipline techniques. Make sure you know how to handle contracts and necessary paperwork.
  2. Never stop learning. If you’re required to do five hours of training each year, do 10. Beery herself attends 100 hours of training each year. “That’s over the top, but I love to learn,” she says. “It’s the only way to grow personally and professionally.”
  3. Find a mentor. An experienced provider can help you work through social strategies big and small, and prevent many missteps along the way. Use your social network to locate professionals willing to take you under their wing, or form bonds at a training session.

Goals to Set: Training Resources

www.mi4c.org
Michigan 4C Association: Community Coordinated Child Care

www.mi4c.org/teach
Scholarship opportunity that ties education to compensation and commitment.

http://bkc.fcs.msue.msu.edu/
Michigan Better Kid Care


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Send an email for details about training available through Michigan Child Care Expulsion Prevention (CCEP) programs funded by the Department of Human Services.