`BABYSITTING is for girls, isn't it Darren," says 17-year-old Bernie Cooney, nudging his classmate and glancing cagily at him for approval. Only minutes earlier he had knelt on the floor in front of the class and whisked off the premature-baby-doll's "dirty" disposable nappy before expertly fitting it with a snug, new one. Easy peasy.
Bravado of the "I'd rather be doing woodwork" variety is a not unexpected teenage male response to this ISPCC babysitting course: in fact, this is the first time young men - as opposed to young women - have joined the class of ISPCC volunteer co-ordinators Ray Ryan and Mary Connolly. Here they are feeding, winding and changing a new-born babe - albeit of the placid, plastic variety.
For these five young men, this is a compulsory part of their early-school-leaver training and education programme at the Youthreach centre in Monaghan town. The course is run by STEPS, the youth advice and counselling arm of the ISPCC, and it is advertised in its 11 centres nation wide. But it is only when it has been brought into the secondary schools and Youthreach centres that boys have become involved.
"I don't know if a boy has ever responded to one of our ads in the Monaghan centre," says Ryan.
In any case, outside the family circle boys tend to be less in demand as child minders - perhaps another reason they're not clamouring to join the course.
"I imagine people's first reaction is to ask a girl because a girl is more likely to do it and be available - and some people do think a girl would be better," says ISPCC's north-eastern regional manager, Michelle McKernan. "It's a bit like how male nurses were regarded 20 years ago but no one would pass comment now. "It is only by boys going out and saying, `I'm a baby-sitter, I will babysit your children' that this attitude will change'." The effect of men not taking a pro-active stance in child care reverberates throughout the community, she believes.
"We find that 99 per cent of our volunteers in this region are women and men are slow to participate in our maternity hospitals programme run throughout the country - even though they are actively encouraged."
Whether male or female, few teenagers have any formal baby-sitting training, Connolly says. "This can leave them open to bad experiences."
How these bad experiences are handled, or avoided, can depend on how prepared a teenager is for the fray of howling babies, children who refuse to go to bed, medical emergencies and parents who exploit them by underpaying them. The ISPCC recommends that children should not be babysitting before they are ready - in fact, they want to see a minimum age of 16 written into law.
The ISPCC's seven-part course is as much about babysitters' rights as it is about the protection of the child in their care. It is also about parents' rights - particularly the right to know who is looking after their child. Parents' interest in the course has been renewed by the recent, much publicised, deaths of children in the charge of carers such as Louise Woodward and Helen Stacey.
In a cheery room in the Monaghan Youthreach centre, the walls are covered with colourful drawings and the tables strewn with pottery ornaments. The two-hour class has five boys and six girls aged between 15 and 18 sitting in a semi-circle while Ryan and Connolly take them through the basics of infant care and parenting skills.
Apart from the bit of giddiness and high spirits - an "oh me eye" when one of the teachers refers to "a nappy full of wee" - most listen and some ask questions such as: "What if the baby slips out of your hands?" and "How come it is sometimes hard to wind a baby?" "They annoy me when they cry," says one teenager, which raises the subject of why a baby cries. "Crying, teething, hunger and discomfort are some of the reasons," says Ryan. "You should never leave a child crying and you never shake a baby."
Two of the girls in the class, Martina Power (15) and Siobhan Cawley (17), both from Mullaghmat, Monaghan, have had bad experiences with babies screaming. Martina phoned the baby's mother to come home and Siobhan called her own mother to help her.
Few members of the class have complaints of been exploited. While Bernie Cooney admits he was "dead tired" after a stint minding his six-year-old nephews, he was very happy with the £15 he was paid.
The class ends with handouts bearing emergency contact numbers. "I thought it was good but I don't know if I learnt all that much new, except how to hold a child over your shoulder when you are winding them," says Cooney.
Stephen Treanor (16) from Tydavnet, Monaghan says he regularly looks after his six younger siblings on Saturday nights.
"I enjoy it, boys can do it as well. We are going to have to mind our own at some stage."
