BOARDMAN PARK Sitting service frees up shoppers

Two dates are being offered this month.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Virtually every holiday shopper has witnessed weary parents trudging through stores with children who are asking to buy everything on the shelves or wandering off to do their own thing.
Boardman Township Park officials are offering parents a way to avoid being one of those weary parents with a Parents Night Out baby-sitting campaign. The park will take in toilet-trained children between the ages of 3 and 10 for 41/2 hours, from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Friday and Dec. 12.
The cost of the program is $10 per child with a $25 maximum.
Karen Williamson, park recreation and education specialist, said the objective is to give area parents an opportunity to take care of business or just relax without worrying about what to do with their children.
Certified sitters
The program will also benefit those baby-sitting the kids. Williamson said several American Red Cross baby-sitting classes have been offered at the park to pupils between the ages of 11 and 15. She said the baby-sitting service will give those pupils a chance to apply their skills.
"Parents need time off, so I thought we should facilitate something here in the park that would give the parents the time they need and help these students gain the experience they need," said Williamson.
Children participating in the program, according to Williamson, usually receive one-on-one attention, with one baby-sitter available for every child. If demand for the service is high, officials will increase the ratio to two kids for every one sitter. Adults are also on hand to supervise the program.
Security measures are also in place to assure the safety of kids left with baby-sitters in the program.
Williamson said parents are required to fill out any pertinent medical information and sign forms explaining the program upon dropping their kids off. After the paperwork has been taken care of, parents and kids are given matching arm tags with identification numbers. Only the parent wearing that arm tag can pick up the child.
Activities planned
Williamson said the program offers a variety of activities for the children. She said the $10 fee covers pizza, cookies, ice cream and a rented movie. Other activities such as board games, crafts, coloring, reading and painting are also available. Some kids will also help bake cookies.
Those activities and the chance to get out of the house and meet other kids are what Williamson said make the program a better choice over bringing a baby-sitter into the home. She said, in the past, some kids have exchanged phone numbers for play dates.
Williamson also said parents will have a hard time finding a baby-sitting service that will charge $10 for 41/2 hours of baby-sitting service.
"This is just an inexpensive way for the parents to get out and go shopping or just go out to dinner," she said.
XFor more details, call the park offices at (330) 726-8107.
jgoodwin@vindy.com