It gets real pretty fast in Evangeline Froelich’s consumer science class at Apollo High School.
“Why did you take this class [Working with Children I]?” Froelich asks her students.
The question is especially pertinent because students in her class began lugging around infant simulators the past few weeks.
“I’ve never held a baby, ” states Madelyn Pull.
“I wanted to know the best way to care for my children someday,” replies Andrew Potter.
“I always saw kids in school carrying around the babies and wanted to know what it was like,” answers Brooklyn Pappenfus.
Each student in Froelich’s class takes home an infant simulator for one week. This means bringing the “infant” home, to the mall and out with friends.
The students have no idea what to expect with the simulators. They look like real babies, need to be dressed, changed, fed and held like real babies. The simulator will start to cry or fuss at any given moment and it is the student’s responsibility to determine how to care for the simulator.
A micro-chip is installed in each simulator to collect data such as student response time to cries and how long until the student figures out how to care for the infant. The data is then transmitted to the teacher and evaluated.
It came as a surprise to some students just how hard it is to care for an infant.
“How many of you would now say [to other students], ‘don’t take it home?'” asks Froelich.
Nearly every student in the class raises their hand.
Froelich asks students in small groups to write down 10 things they’ve learned while caring for the infant whether it was positive or negative.
Pull reminisces, “It was fun to dress the baby. That was one good thing. [But] there was not a lot of sleep and people look at you weird. The carriers are heavy. . . . You even start to imagine the baby crying even when it isn’t.”
Angel Rick adds, “It’s very realistic. Even the head is sensitive.”
Pappenfus, cuddling her infant during the discussion, laughs, “It even smells like a baby!”
While caring for the infant, each student only has a two-minute response time to react to a “care.” A care could be feeding, changing, cuddling or burping.
Pappenfus explains that the infant has to be propped properly to feed and that the bottle must be put directly to the mouth of the infant to register the care of feeding.
Froelich soon moves the discussion to a new topic. “What is the number one thing that you learned during your time with the baby?”
Pull shares with her group, “You need to hold their head.”
“For me, it was how to put the car seat into the car,” Megan Schlenker says, “and that you have to put the baby first instead of going out with friends.”
Others mention: when a baby cries, stay calm; teenagers are too young to have a baby; people judge you; it’s tough to do it on your own; it’s hard to balance work and a baby; babies take a lot of time and care.
Froelich shares the story of a previous student.
“I had a student that was in her bathroom showering when her father burst through the door with the crying infant so that she could care for the baby.”
Several students remembered how difficult it was to get themselves ready for the day, let alone a child.
The experience varied for each student. The infant simulators were randomly set. For example, two students experienced 18 and 22 cares for one evening while on average, other students had only four.
Whether the “parent” experiences were positive or negative, there was one common thread to the lesson. The students now feel better prepared for the future and definitely understand that babies are hard work!