Three years ago Christy Lowery, baby-sitter, became Christy Lowery, lifesaver.
Then 13, the Ocoee, Fla., girl was looking after 4-year-old Stephen Jones and his younger sister, Katie. Suddenly Stephen was struggling, gasping, unable to talk. Christy realized he was choking.
Although Christy had learned the Heimlich maneuver, fear momentarily took over.
”I got kind of panicky; his lips were turning purple,” the West Orange High School student recalled. ”His little sister said, `He ate a grape! He ate a grape!` ”
Christy picked up the child, raced to the phone and dialed 911.
”The 911 lady said, `Do you know how to do the Heimlich maneuver?` And I said, `Oh, yes!` ”
With that, Christy dropped the phone and performed the technique she had been taught, encircling Stephen`s waist with her arms, cupping her hands and thrusting upward to apply pressure to his abdomen. The grape popped out.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Stephen was fine-scared but fine as Christy rocked him in her arms.
”I knew what I needed to do,” Christy said. ”Somebody just had to remind me.”
Christy`s confidence comes from experience and know-how, two qualities she shares with many of today`s baby-sitters.
Today`s baby boomers ought to be impressed. While many of us earned money looking after neighbors` kids, few of us had the skills that today`s sitters do.
Classes in child care, including accident prevention, nutrition, discipline and age-appropriate toys, are available in the schools, at hospitals and through the American Red Cross. Courses typically include training in life-saving techniques such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the Heimlich maneuver.
Baby-sitting has changed in other ways as well. While girls 11 to 13 continue to dominate the job market, boys are making inroads.
”I think boys probably baby-sat a fair amount before, but it was very hush-hush,” said Deborah Nakamura, health education coordinator for the American Red Cross in Orlando.
”Before, if a boy were to say he was baby-sitting, he`d be made fun of whereas I don`t see that now. It`s considered a viable source of income.”
Sure is, says Brad Dingman, 13, of Winter Park, Fla.
”Nobody really teases me about it, probably because I`m bigger than a lot of my friends” he said. ”If they did, I`d say, `I`m making money and having fun with little kids, so you can miss out.` ”
Dingman, who has been baby-sitting for two years, says he`s a natural at it.
”Little kids just like me; I don`t know why.”
Among the other differences between baby-sitting 25 years ago and today:
microwaves, cable TV and videos. No more slaving over a hot stove; just zap the tot`s dinner in the microwave.
No more wondering what to do with yourself once the kid is asleep, your homework`s done and your favorite TV show is over. Grab the remote control and cruise through all those cable channels till something holds your short little span of attention, like MTV.
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Videos are a boon to baby-sitters: Most parents have a stockpile of their tykes` favorite flicks, and some parents even rent videos for their baby-sitter. Another big difference is financial: Baby-sitting is a lot more lucrative than it was when we baby boomers were charging 50 cents and 75 cents an hour. Today`s sitters charge anywhere from $2 to $5 an hour, and business is booming.
With so many two-income families, more and more parents are relying on their older offspring to care for the younger kids. Or they`re seeking neighborhood kids as an alternative to day care when they need someone for only two or three hours.
”Kids can make a lot of money at this,” said Judy Hunter, coordinator of Florida Hospital`s Safe Sitter Program.
”I had one girl call me who took the program last summer. She had earned $300 by the end of the summer. She was baby-sitting every day for different people in her neighborhood.”
For the under-16 set, not old enough to get jobs in fast food, malls and supermarkets, the money they make comes in handy for clothes, makeup and school supplies.
”I have money to do the things I need,” said 13-year-old Krista Kozak of Winter Park, Fla.
Unlike a lot of her peers, Krista doesn`t have a set fee for her baby-sitting services. She leaves that up to the parents she works for. Even so, she does all right.
”I can buy things I want instead of going back to Mom and asking for money. I feel like I`m independent, on my own.”
That sense of independence is hitting earlier and earlier as baby-sitters get younger and younger.
Nakamura of the Red Cross said her organization`s original baby-sitting course was aimed at kids 11 and up. A major revision of the course is under way now, including the age level of the target audience.
”Right now our target audience is 10, but we`re writing it on a reading level that 9-year-olds can comprehend,” Nakamura said. ”That`s the reality of the situation.”
By far the biggest change in the world of baby-sitting is the encroachment of the darker side of life.
Florida Hospital`s Safe Sitter program includes a talk by a police officer. The officer advises the kids on how to deal with a variety of nasty situations, everything from finding a gun in the house to handling crank phone calls and burglars (”Don`t be a hero” is the rule of thumb, Hunter said. Take the child you`re sitting for and get out of the house.)
Today`s sitters are very aware of the sickos in the world, Hunter said.
”You wouldn`t believe the questions they ask the police officer. They want to know what to do if someone is trying to rape them or breaks into the house with a gun while they`re baby-sitting.”
Child abuse is another topic today`s sitters learn about.
”Thirty years ago they didn`t need to worry about noticing signs and symptoms of child abuse or neglect,” said Nakamura of the Red Cross.
”Unfortunately, it`s much more common now. We want to make sure they take any suspicions to the right people but aren`t going off willy-nilly.”
Like Halloween trick-or-treating, baby-sitting has lost its innocence.
Parents of today`s baby-sitters rarely allow their kids to work for families they don`t know, either personally or through work or church. Kids who take baby-sitting classes are instructed to develop a safety signal, a code-worded phone call they can make to Mom or Dad that says, in effect, ”I`m in an uncomfortable situation; please come and get me.”
Some things never change, though. As kids enter high school, they have less time for baby-sitting.
Their lives revolve around extracurricular activities, friends and dating. Once they`re old enough to drive, they seek jobs farther from home that pay minimum wage and have predictable hours. Downhearted parents must search anew for sitters, unless they have the good fortune to know the Lowery baby-sitting dynasty.
Christy, 16, has cut back on her baby-sitting since starting work in an ice cream shop. However, sister Cathy, 14, is taking up the slack and brother Dar, 11, is already asking when he`ll be allowed to baby-sit.