I'm Taking Care is a Camp Fire Self-Reliance babysitting program designed for boys and girls at least 11 years old, in fifth through eighth grades. 

The "I'm Taking Care" program was developed using some basic assumptions about how kids learn:

• Kids Learn By Doing.  "I'm Taking Care" offers participants an abundance of "learning by doing" experiences.  For example, they will change a diaper, make a play kit, learn to read and tell stories to children, practice pretending and review situations that might occur while babysitting.

•  Kids Learn From Role Models.  Youth in this course will relate to their charges in the same way their instructors relate to them.  Instructors, therefore, are encouraged to ask participants for their questions, liten to their ideas and imput, and to praise their active participation in discussion.

• Kids' Previous Experiences Affect How They Learn.  Instructors respect the experience level the participants have coming into the course.  Some participants may have already worked as babysitters; some may have cared for younger brothers or sisters; some may never have interacted with small children.  Regardless of their experience level, all youth can benefit from the course.
  

  This course prepares fifth and sixth graders to be babysitters and helps older youth better develop and refine their babysitting skills.  Through a combination of mini-lectures, demonstrations and hands-on experiences, young babysitters will learn basic care skills, safety measures, ways of playing with children in responsive ways, and job ethics.