: Can/should I ask a sitter to take first aid classes? I live in a relatively rural area which limits certain options for me. Where I live has no professional sitter services at all, you just have to find someone you personally

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I am trying to sort if it's reasonable to ask someone to take first
aid & CPR training.

Of course this will vary depending on local customs, but from a German perspective:

Yes, this is totally OK.

In Germany, it is common to need a first aid certificate in various cases:

for your driver's licence
as a certified coach (Übungsleiter or Trainer) in a sports club
as a teacher
as a childcare worker / kindergarten teacher

So it would not be unusual to ask this of a babysitter - particularly not if you explain that professional help will take unusually long to arrive if something happens.

Note that there are special first aid courses for children and newborns - depending on the age of your children and local availability, you might ask for such a course.

You could ask like this:

I am happy you get along well with my child, and I would like to have
you as a babysitter. However, if there should ever be an accident or
emergency, professional help will take a while to arrive. So would you
be willing to take a first aid course, to be prepared and to allay my
fears? You can take a course at place X, or somewhere else at your
convenience. I will pay the course fee.

To address your detail questions:

I am willing to pay for the training I want them to have, but I can
admit I am a little concerned that I will pay and they would end up
not finishing it/showing up and/or perhaps not babysit for me enough
after to warrant the fees.

Yes, that is a risk. However, you will need to trust your babysitter anyway, so I'd just go with my gut feeling. At any rate, the risk is not that great - the courses should not be too expensive (possibly even free). In Germany the cost is 35 Euro, which is about two to three hours of a typical baby sitter salary.

Should I expect to also pay them for their time to attend the class if
I offer this?

That, I think, is up to you (and your negotiating skill :-) ). Since the first aid training will be valuable in other situations, too, I would personally not pay the time. The deal would be that you pay the fee, the prospective baby sitter invests their time, and they get to keep the knowledge from the training :-).

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am not finding anyone I am completely happy with

First of all, you will never be happy with any sitter. The parent usually has some ideas on how to raise the kid and the biggest problem here is that the sitter is not you.

I am trying to sort if it's reasonable to ask someone to take first aid & CPR training

In theory, you have the right to ask anything as long as candidates have the right to refuse. But in your situation, it's different. You have already said that your options are very limited. If you ask them to go through additional hoops and loops, they're more likely to refuse and with options already so thin to begin with, you'll risk being left without any sitter you can trust.

I suggest you hire the person you trust most and then talk about CPR and try to motivate him/her to taking the class. If they comply, good, if they don't - don't think about it again. Your trust in your sitter is more important than his/her CPR skills.

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Make a contract

There is your answer. If you are completely insistent on them taking a safety training course targeted towards childcare workers, make a contract with a potential candidate you like.

You can make it as formal or informal as you like but state in the contract that you will require them to complete and certify in a CPR/Safety training course and that the cost of the course will be covered by you contingent upon completion of the requirement.

Simple enough, if they complete it, they don't pay; if they don't complete it, they do pay. I don't know the legality of all this but depending upon the cost of the course, an unbiased witness and a signature will usually hold up in most civil courts if it comes to them not paying for the course in the chance they don't certify.

People are usually more motivated when their signature is on something that feels legally binding.

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If it is of that much concern to you then the simple answer is:

Yes - you should have it as a requirement of the job, either that they already hold a CPR training certificate, or that they will be willing to sit it.

But remember, most parents get no training in CPR and manage just fine, so your expectations of a babysitter may need to be tempered a little. If you are paying for it, then that should be some encouragement for the babysitter. I don't think you are in a position to insist they stay working for you, though, so of course you run the risk of it being a sunk cost that then doesn't provide you any value.

Despite raising 3 kids (1 of whom plays sports that are very likely to lead to injuries and often comes back with broken bones) I only did CPR training (beyond very basic school first aid) in my 40's - and only then as one of my kids had a friend with short Q-T syndrome, which meant he was susceptible to heart attacks. Never needed to use that training, thankfully, but it's nice to know I can respond appropriately to a child in cardiac arrest.