Students Practice Being a Parent

Students in Adriana Lozanos Child Development classes are experiencing the realities of raising a child.  Mrs LOzano is using high tech RealCare Babies in her classes.  The RealCare Baby makes it possible for people to practice caring for an infant 24 hours a day, seven days a week.   During a simulation RealCare Baby cries for care at all hours, day and night.  Caregiver has to figure out what Baby needs: feeding, burping, rocking or diapering.   The caregiver wears unique wireless ID to ensure accountability while RealCare Baby's computer tracks its care and safe handling.  Detailed data is downloaded after the simulation, including exact times of missed care & specific mishandling—Shaken Baby, head support failure, wrong positioning and rough handling.  Data is also reported on when clothing is changed and which clothing articles Baby is wearing at various times during the simulation.  The baby records temperature of its surroundings and reports when its temperature varies from the Safe Zone.  It can detect and report how long it has been sitting unattended in a car seat.

During this experience students must do a fair amount of reflection.  Most students are enthusiastic about the experience at the beginning, but quickly learn the amount of time and energy required to properly care for a newborn. The Babies are very demanding.  Teenagers can be self-centered, but this assignment requires them to think about something else—all the time. The infant simulators don’t care if the student is doing homework, shores or sleeping.  

Since implementing the baby simulators into our Child Development curriculum, it has had positive results.  Students have returned the following day exhausted and eager to returned them.  Many making comments like, "I am never having any kids!"  The disappointment continues for many of them, when they find out their grade is much lower than they expected.  As a result of the low grade, students must wear the 30 pound pregnant belly for one whole school day or complete an alternative writing reading assignment.

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