Never too soon to start building a resume

Most of us, especially if we are female, count babysitting as our first job. We might have practiced on our own siblings or simply took on the care of neighbourhood kids with nothing on our resume.

Babysitters, experienced or not, would be wise to participate in a St. John Ambulance babysitting course. Our oldest son earned his certificate, attending the daylong course with a friend of his. While he didn’t officially babysit, he did learn basic first aid and became the go-to guy for treating the wounded.

A good babysitter is gold. Trouble is that they come with a best before date, the time between being old enough to do the job and finding a “real’’ job. That’s where my two sit right now. They both need to find a real job.

They had lots of jobs when they were younger. One of the first was as newspaper publishers. They produced the BS News; the hilarity of that banner was lost to them. They’d just combined their first name initials and no one let on that BS might have stood for anything other than Ben and Sam. Their father and I were their only customers. They made more money losing teeth, which is actually every kid’s first job.

There were several restaurants, serving everything from fake plastic food to herbs and veggies from the garden. They’d produce food as long as we had change to pay for it. Sam’s lemonade stand went sour. We live on a quiet crescent, great for raising kids but not for marketing drinks.

Not the stuff for including on resumes but both boys have St. John Ambulance emergency first aid and CPR training to their credit. Too old for babysitting, no more teeth to sell to the tooth fairy, your kids too will come of age to find a real job. It’s not too early to start building that resume. St. John Ambulance is offering babysitting courses during March Break. Check out programs in your area at www.sja.ca.