Flour Babies

By: Caitlin Pettengill
Staff Writer

In the human growth and development class, students have been assigned the infamous task of taking care of a “baby” for a week. They have to carry around their flour baby, treating it as if it were a real child, to simulate parenthood. Each pair of “parents” has to keep their baby in sight at all times, never putting it in their locker or backpacks. Taking the assignment to another level, they have to wake up between the hours of one and five, the time frame that real infants awaken throughout the night, each morning and post on Canvas. When asked what the hardest part of the project was, student Ashley Bissenas said, “They hardest part was probably trying to remember to bring [the baby] to school every day and to keep track of where he is at all times. It’s been difficult for me to remember that I’m always supposed to be carrying him and not setting him down places.” Teachers were informed that if they see a student “abusing” their baby they are to email Ms. Lancaster, the human growth and development teacher, so the student can have points deducted from their project grade.

From this project students gain a new insight into parenthood and what it’s like to be an adult. Olivia Phillips says, “This project has taught me how much time parents have to dedicate to their children and how much work parenthood is. I’d always known it took over your life but this made it feel more real.”  As a whole this assignment is meant to stimulate parenthood and teach students how large of a responsibility a child is. Although it is only a week long, the student’s seem to feel that it is long enough for the learning experience to be successful.