​In Comes the Stork!

By ZyeAnne Thompson
 
Introducing Real Care Babies! East 9th grade health classes now have instructional robotic babies. This graded project helps kids understand the responsibility of raising a child and also possibly makes them realize its best to wait to have children.
 
The baby comes in multiple ethnicities so no one is left out. Upon receiving your baby you get a car seat and a diaper bag.  Inside your diaper bag there is a bottle, two diapers, a onesie, a two piece jumper and pajamas. The baby responds to a bracelet so it knows when their mommy/daddy is there at all times. You can do a variety of actions like rock, feed, burp, and change the baby's diaper.
 
I had the pleasure of experiencing the baby first hand for my research. My beautiful baby Lee was a menace; I didn't realize how hard it was to have a baby. Half of the time he cried I didn't know what he wanted. I found myself stressed out and frustrated by the end of the day and that was only the beginning.  Throughout the night baby Lee woke me up twice: once at 1:50am and another at 5:40am. At this point I couldn't wait to bring him back to the health teacher. I'm not the only one who dreaded their experience as a mother.  Sannicka James said, “I didn't have any help and it was terrible. I thought it was going to be a cute experience to have baby but I feel bad for all the single mothers out there.”
 
I feel that this project is doing exactly what it’s meant to do.  Kids are now experiencing responsibilities they never had and developing new respect for parents, especially single parents.  And maybe it will make them think twice about having a child of their own before they are ready to handle the insanity of having a baby.