So…you’re going out for your first night on the town after your baby is born. Lots of emotions vibrating through your body. Who do you leave your baby with? Is it a family member, a neighborhood teen, a good friend or an elderly woman who comes with recommendations…?

I guess the big question is - will it be a positive or negative experience for you, as a new parent?

A recent survey commissioned by iVillage.com found one out of four mothers questioned had a negative experience with a babysitter. Surprisingly, ten percent of the mothers reported mistreatment of their child by a babysitter.

Perhaps even more surprising to me is how willing many parents are to leave their child with someone who does not know how to deal with potentially life-threatening situations.

• A full one-third of mothers polled said they do not believe their babysitter knows how to help a child who is choking!
• Almost half of those polled do not believe the babysitter knows how to perform CPR.
• Over ten percent of mothers do not believe their babysitter can handle any medical emergency at all!!

With how fast we all know accidents happen and emergencies occur, these stats are shocking!

Babysitter training classes are available at local organizations such as American Heart Association and American Red Cross. Talking first aid devices such as SafetyMate for the New Parent can help teenagers or any caretakers refresh the information they learn in those classes in between annual trainings. www.safetymate.com/home/index.html

We all know if you don’t “use it,” you “lose it.” Unless you are a paramedic who is performing life-saving actions or CPR every day, there is no real way to become expert at dealing with crises.

Information is power. Learn, re-learn, practice, teach others…

I certainly don’t think memory failure is just a “senior” problem. Studies over the years have validated time and time again that CPR retention rates are poor. Even for families who have incentive to remember CPR and First Aid skills, memory lapses and panic get in the way of not only parents, but teachers, co-workers and even medical professionals. Unless you encounter problems or situations regularly, the skills to solve those problems disappear.

I used to be a whiz at algebra. Haven’t used it since High School. If my nephew asked me to help him with his homework, I am certain I would look blankly at his paper.

We have been teaching CPR methods for 40 years yet survival rates have remained in the 5% range. Is memory / skill retention the problem? Perhaps. Any experiences dealing with memory lapses and / or panic? What did you do? Did it affect the outcome?