Safe Sitter® and Girl Scouts

Providing Tools for Leadership

Safe Sitter® and The Girl Scout Leadership Experience: it's a natural fit! 

Safe Sitter®, a babysitting training program for young teens 11+, provides a way for Juniors and Cadettes to earn badges needed to complete their Journeys and gain the practical life skills necessary to be leaders!

And by mastering the life and safety skills taught in the Safe Sitter® program, girls also gain something that all leaders need: confidence. 

"Safe Sitter® builds confidence in girls that they would not otherwise have," says Cory Flanagan, former Manager of Volunteer Development for Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, Inc., which became a Safe Sitter® teaching site in 2006. The GSGATL joins nearly 900 other teaching sites across the U.S. that have taught over 500,000 young adolescents since Safe Sitter's creation in 1980. 

By taking a Safe Sitter® course, Girl Scouts may also complete activities needed for certain badges. Since the course teaches what to do in an emergency and how to tend to others' injuries, including younger children in their care, both Juniors and Cadettes learn skills that can help them earn their First Aid badges. In terms of Financial Literacy, Juniors can work towards a Business Owner badge by learning basic steps to plan and create their own babysitting business. And when Cadettes are able to keep track of their babysitting money and save for the things they need and want, they've acquired know-how that will help them earn a Budgeting badge. Cadettes can also apply the business skills they've learned in Safe Sitter® to earn their Babysitter and Entrepreneur badges.

Scouts who complete a Safe Sitter® class can even earn a Safe Sitter® patch!

"I like the focus on managing your own business -introducing yourself, looking parents in the eye and saying, 'I charge $5 an hour.' It's about empowerment for the girls," says Flanagan.

Providing Volunteer Opportunities for Adults

Safe Sitter® can also be about helping Girl Scouts of the USA achieve its goal of recruiting volunteers who can connect with the organization in a non-troop way. 

"Safe Sitter® provides another pathway for volunteers," Flanagan adds. "Some adults don't have time to be troop leaders but want to be involved. Maybe that means having the time to teach a Safe Sitter® class every so often on a weekend. "

By teaching Safe Sitter®, volunteers can play a role in helping girls discover their strengths and feel confident in their abilities.

For information on starting a Safe Sitter® program at your Girl Scout council, call
800- 255-4089 x19, email safesitter@safesitter.org.