When 13 teenagers from the Montgomery County area attended the Babysitting 101 seminar on July 23 at Montgomery County Middle School, they found out that babysitting is more than just watching a child for a day.

For four hours, they learned topics such as fire safety, first aid, child development, nutrition, how to entertain the child and the business of babysitting.

“It was fun,” said Connor Finch, an eighth-grade student who was one of the participants. “I learned a lot of stuff. I liked the fire safety and what things I can do if there’s a dangerous situation.”

The seminar was hosted by MU Extension of Montgomery County. Extension engagement specialist Elizabeth Anderson, human development field specialist Maria Calvert, youth program associate and county 4-H leader Jolene Rodgers and nutritionist and health field specialist Tyler Hall were the members from the extension who attended the seminar, which also had guest appearances from Mike Roesner of the Montgomery County Ambulance District and Montgomery Fire Protection District chief Jessica Davis.

It is the first time the extension hosted a babysitting seminar. Anderson said it took several months for her staff to plan this event.

“I cover six different counties in the region and one of them is Cole County,” she said. “We had some requests for a baby sitting class and we did it in March. While I was doing my report to the Montgomery County Extension Council, they said, ‘Gee, I wish we could do that here, too.’ So I said, ‘You know what, let’s try it.’ I reached out to the other faculty and staff that cover Montgomery County and (Montgomery County Middle School principal) Kista (River) about potentially using the middle school as a venue and we got it all put together.”

Charlotte Williams, who was also a participant, said the seminar will help her become a better babysitter. She would help her grandmother babysit her four-year old cousin.

“I didn’t exactly feel confident in myself at first because I didn’t know CPR and I didn’t know the Heimlich Maneuver or abdominal thrust,” Charlotte said. “I definitely feel more confident in myself now.”

The seminar began at 9 a.m. with a child development activity called ages and stages in which participants had to list what traits to look for in each child from toddler to school age. Then, they learned how to hold a baby and how to save a baby from choking. The seminar ended with the participants learning what toys are appropriate for children. Lunch was provided for the participants.

Annabel Stolle, who is 12, said she enjoyed the four-hour seminar.

“I’ve been reading about babysitters since I was in fourth grade,” Annabel said. “Since I read it, I knew I should do it, but I had to do the class first and learn about it first.”

Anderson said all of the participants were pretty interested in learning about the dos and don’ts of babysitting.

“They were very interactive,” she said. “Teenagers can be a hard audience. A lot of times, they just sit there and don’t really respond very much sometimes. But they had great follow up questions for the presenters, especially when it had to do with first aid and things like that. You could tell they were really thinking about what if this happens or what if that happens. They were really engaged.”