Every day she picks out a new outfit, dressing him in baby blues or forest green. She picks him up, gets in the car, and drives to school. When she arrives, she talks to her friends, still carrying him. Always quiet, the bag of flour is a nice alternative to a child.
“I don’t like carrying around the ‘baby’,” sophomore Laina Shew said. “It’s fun though. The class teaches you pretty much everything you need to know for the future when you have a child.”
For two weeks, students in Maurice Platt’s child development class are required to make and carry around a flour sack baby.
“Carrying the baby is sort of fun,” sophomore Sarah Hale said. “It teaches you about the future. I’m pretty sure some of us will remember taking this class when we have a children.”
Of course, the parents are made to have the babies around school, but you should see these babies around town also. To make the project more legitimate, Platt makes the students take their infants everywhere, just like they would with a real baby.
“These babies are designed to teach students the responsibilities of having a child,” Platt said. “It teaches them how to take care of infants and also learn how to change their lifestyle to fit around a baby.”
The students have to learn what it’s like by not only just carrying the ‘the baby,’ but also changing its diaper, feeding it, dressing it, etc. Some buy real things for their child, such as carriers, diapers, bottles and clothes.
“It’s fun dressing the baby up and stuff,” freshman Caroline Parks said. “But I couldn’t imagine having a baby of my own. It’s stressful just having to look after a sack of flour right now.”
In the past, Platt had the students carry the babies around at the end of the semester, for many reasons, like the timing. This year, the students are required to carry and take care of the babies at the beginning, causing some complaints.
“Since we started this project the week of the fair, some students didn’t want to carry the baby around,” Platt said. “It just shows they didn’t want to be tied down just yet.”
