Weekend parenting

Eighth-grader Courtney Magana holds one of the simulated babies Thursday afternoon at Crescent Elk Middle School. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

Students get taste of what it’s like to care for infant

About 30 eighth-graders at Crescent Elk Middle School will become parents this weekend, but  don’t worry, they’re just simulation babies.

They look and weigh about the same as newborn infants; they cry, coo and burp like real babies, too. Students (who volunteered to participate) will have to take care of their simulated baby’s every need.

The Del Norte County Department of Child Support Services introduced its “Baby Think It Over” program at the middle school this week.

“It’s a very realistic program,” said Sally Cater, the outreach and training coordinator for Child Support Services.  “Students will get an idea of what it would mean if they were starting a family before they were financially or emotionally ready.”

The program is part of an eighth-grade Family Life class at Crescent Elk. “Baby Think It Over” will also be offered to  eighth-graders at Smith River Elementary, Redwood School and Orick Elementary School in Humboldt County.

On Thursday, Cater and Charlie Wick, who is contracted with the county to help run the program, were at Crescent Elk showing students how the simulated babies work.

Wick talked about how students who have real babies have to budget their time between taking care of the infant, going to school, doing homework, playing sports and hanging out with friends. Some of the luxuries of being a kid could be lost.

“Having a baby is tough enough without having to figure out all that other stuff,” she said. “It’s as realistic experience as we can give that is entirely your responsibility.”

One student asked what he would do with a baby when he had a baseball game on Saturdays. Wick said he would have to find someone to watch the baby or else he might have to miss the game. The look on his face said that anything that interfered with baseball would not be a good idea.

Another student asked how she could take a shower if she had to leave the baby alone. Wick said that while the baby is napping, she could take a shower, but would have to get out, suds and all, if it started crying.

The students moaned at the thought, and the girl said that would be “really hard.”

“This will help you think about what would happen,” Wick said about taking care of the simulated babies. “Before you think about making choices in your life, think about that experience.”

Each simulated baby contains a computer program that keeps track of how many times its needs were taken care of — from feedings to changing its diaper to just comforting the baby.

“We get a report from the baby’s computer that says exactly what happened and if its needs were met,” Cater said.

If the baby cries, the student has to figure out what it needs. Each student has a baby bottle and diapers with sensors that let the simulation baby know it’s being fed or had its diaper changed.

Or maybe the baby is crying because it needs to be burped or needs to be rocked back to sleep.

The student has two minutes to figure out what the baby wants, then it will stop crying and the computer will note what happened.

“The baby tells all,” Cater told the students.

On the other hand, if the student neglects the baby it will continue to cry even louder. After three minutes of crying, or if the baby is shaken, it will shut down.

Cater stressed the importance of cradling the baby’s head as if were a real infant with a soft, delicate cranium. She pulled the simulation baby’s head backwards and it started wailing as if in real pain.

Wick said it’s possible to sever a real baby’s spinal cord by not supporting its head or shaking it. In addition, she said a baby should lie on its back because lying on its stomach impairs  the ability to breathe. Wick flipped a simulated baby onto its stomach and almost immediately it started to cough and gurgle.

“It’s a really good training tool,” she said.

A ‘Baby Think It Over’ simulated infant. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

The program was “on hiatus” for several years, Cater said, because Child Support Services didn’t have anyone to administer “Baby Think It Over” until she took on the job last year.

Students and their parents get to decide whether they want to take on the task of having a simulated baby for the weekend. There’s no grade based on how well students take care of the baby, Cater said.

The experience can open up the lines of communication between students and their parents about sexual activity and raising a family, Cater explained.

In high school, students can participate in the Choices class, which delves further into the choices teens face about having sex and the possible repercussions, such as having a baby before they’re ready.

“It gets them thinking,” Cater said.