News Brief: RealCare Infant Baby Simulator school project!

The District provides an opportunity for eighth grade students to get the experience of having to take care of a real baby to help teens understand the struggles of being a teen parent. 

The baby simulator requires students to perform tasks similar to raising an infant. Individuals caring for the babies have to burp them, feed them, rock them and change their diaper. Also, the babies make crying noises when in distress. Jessika Ferguson said, “The worst part was the dirty looks when I went into public with it and cared for it in public.”

Unlike real babies, these simulators don’t make different faces or move any part of their body, so there are some ways taking care of a robotic baby is easier than a real baby. When a students need to have the baby turned off, Kristina Rose -the child development teacher- will put it into babysitting mode. “I think that Rose should have kept them on the whole time because what if you can’t find a trusted babysitter,” says Ferguson. 

“I think it’s a good idea for schools to have this project but not a good way. It helps in some ways but not all, it shows how stressful having to take care of a child is and how careful you have to be too. But it also puts unnecessary attention to the subject. Also, they make the babies cute, so it can make teens want one,” Ferguson said.