Department Heads: Krista Ernewein (krista_ernewein@hotmail.com), Ocean ThunderMoon (revthundermoon@gmail.com)
Babysitting had a total of 14 children registered for the convention. An additional child was added as a department head staff member had registered the child in advance, though the name was not on the list. We had a total of 11 staffers. Due to staffing issues that could not be anticipated for the con, some outstanding items in the debrief will be relatively easy to improve upon next year. The word caregivers in this report reflect parents, guardians and mandated caregivers. Babysitters or sitters refers to the staff involved giving care and loving attention during babysitting hours.
There may be a kind of discrepancy or understanding about the qualifications for babysitting. A binder showing the historical information of babysitting would be helpful to have in electronic format in order to pass quickly to the new department head from year to year. It will be helpful for next year's con chair to determine the level of qualification needed versus wanted in childcare.
In regards to registration. The closing of registration for babysitting happened very quickly on the website once the word went out to close it. We did not have any other parents than previously mentioned attempt to have their child come to babysitting. This may show good effectiveness in the undisclosed location as well as registration having a firm hand in turning away insistant parents. The website was very quickly updated in general, when needed. This is a great help!
The staff for this year gave a high level of care and were incredibly resourceful and responsible. Arisia ought to be quite proud of our sitters. For 14 children we needed an average of 5 sitters during one shift. In Krista's opinion (iKo) 14 is our limit for providing adequate care, though this is largely dependant of the age groups and care needs. We may be able to go up to 20 children if staff was available to cover. We need to keep in mind ratios, and the ratio needed would be 3:1 in most situations.
The suite was divided into an active room and a quiet room. The quiet room had a king size bed. If we had more younger children, iKo, we would need to have the bed removed to make room for quiet sleeping area. The round tables delivered were broken down so that they laid "flat" on the floor. The top was covered with paper for drawing. It is great to have two separate rooms, if there was a larger number of children, and the quiet room used throughout the day we would need to increase the staffing to have the proper ratio in both rooms.
Some parents were dismayed at the change in hours from the published time in the program. Krista recommends closing the registration two weeks before con in order to firmly set the schedule and staffing. If this early closure was published well in advance by website and paper (6-8months) this would allow for caregivers to make thier decisions regarding childcare options during the convention weekend. Depending on what is determined for adequate care, it may prove beneficial to aquire a sitting service. This would remove the challenge of finding sitters, and greatly reduce the potential for low staffing due to sickness or cancellations, as well as provide liscenced and insured care. If a sitting service is used, the ages and numbers of children will need to be provided in advance. It is good to have two department heads or one department head and two responsible people to insure that there is one Arisia staff person present and not one person for the entire con. Rotation is key to keep good self-care thoughout the con.
During the convention, we had snack time in the evening friday, afternoon and evening on saturday. (Krista is writing this report during sunday). Snacks that were preferred by sitters was cheerios, and we made a dilution of apple juice to reduce the amount of sugar ingested. Sippy cups and lips were found to have black mold growing over all the cups and lids. Krista threw them away as it was determined that even bleaching would not likely make the cup safe for drinking. Most activities involved were interactive in nature. We played games, blocks, crafts, reading and coloring. Babysitting needs to invest in a few other interactive group care options. For example, bean bags and a small CD player for playing music games and quiet times. We would suggest a quiet time at 7:30pm till close, playing soft music, low lighting and quiet activities such as story time.
Supplies are well stocked in regards to soap, babypowder, and diapers. Baby wipes will need to be purchased. It is suggested to start purchasing disposable sippy cups, they can be reused with labelled name.
Babysitting is a needed service for con, we are grateful to provide this option for caregivers at Arisia.
Back to the 2007 Fixed Functions Debrief Report