Courtney Nottingham,11, of Eudora has taken a babysitting course at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Courtney Nottingham is 11 and has had plenty of experience with kids. Her mother, Beth, is a day care provider.

And though Courtney already had baby-sat a couple of times, she gained more confidence through a Safe Sitters class offered at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

“My mom thought it would be a good idea and that it might expand my job options,” she says of the class. “We learned CPR and just safety precautions. They had a video that they had us watch, and they had dummies for us to do it on.”

When it comes to how old a child should be before they start baby-sitting, it’s more about maturity than it is chronological age.

“It’s really an individual case-by-case basis,” says John Drees, community education specialist at the hospital, 325 Maine. “But you’d have to have a really good reason to allow a 10-year to baby-sit.”

Drees says children younger than 11 — many of whom have yet to undergo the significant developmental and cognitive changes triggered by the onset of puberty — simply aren’t ready for baby-sitting.

Andrea Greenhoot, associate professor of cognitive and developmental psychology at Kansas University, agrees.

“What’s going on at 11 and 12 is children are beginning to enter adolescence,” Greenhoot says. “There are a number of significant changes that will make them more developmentally ready than a younger child.”

Greenhoot says such changes — including developments in self-regulation, planning and decision-making — are among the earliest signs of adolescence and are crucial for young baby-sitters.

Michael Edman of Lawrence was 12 when he first started baby-sitting. His goal was simple — to earn enough money for a cell phone by the end of the summer.

“My parents agreed to pay for calling,” Michael says. “I’d have to pay for messaging and the minutes I go over.”

His mother, Linda Edman, says she thought her son seemed ready for the challenge.

“It’s just a tremendous difference between 10 and 12,” Linda says. “(Michael) became so much more independent and more comfortable being by himself and taking care of other kids.”

Greenhoot says adolescents have the ability to process information more rapidly than younger children, allowing for quick responses to multiple scenarios. Sharpened problem-solving and decision-making skills will permit young baby-sitters to accurately assess difficult situations and develop rational solutions.

“Kids are at this age really start to develop a sense of self,” Greenhoot says. “They are really learning to depend more on themselves.”