Bridget McCormack was glad her “newborn” was wearing a sweater as she got ready to bring her baby home. For a spring afternoon there was a definite chill in the air. Plus, the LHS senior said, the little pink sweater was really “cute.”
But no matter how adorable the baby clothes, McCormack would discover the parenting ahead challenging. “You find yourself catching vomit as a parent,” Principal Mark Stern told a health class with the unusual homework assignment -- taking care of the infant overnight.
Senior health classes have focused on pregnancy, childbirth and parenting this quarter, with students caring for a mechanical doll programmed to mirror the needs of a real baby. In the process they learned how much work is involved in parenting, said Nancy Ooms, LHS Health Educator.
Matthew Borodinsky began the task by changing his baby from a dress to sports-theme onesies. Then he was handed a key. That would be used later when the baby began to cry at random intervals. Inserting the key into the mechanical doll’s back would help calm it. When returned, the internal computer record would tell how well he responded to his doll’s needs.
If only it was that easy to hush little baby.
Changing messy diapers – really messy diapers – is how you start your day at 5:30 in the morning, said Stern, who took part in a panel of teachers on April 2 who shared their joys and tribulations of childbirth and parenthood.
The students took part in a community service component as well, donating 30 boxes filled with flour and sugar to the Human Needs Food Pantry in Montclair. Before the age of fake babies, LHS students learned about parenting by cradling a sack of flour. And while the mechanics of the lesson has become more realistic, the scope of the questions from students have also matured, with LHS seniors asking about economic considerations before beginning a family, adoption, parenting mistakes, and how having children affect marriages.
Stern joked that he loved when his wife was pregnant. “We ate pizza and ice cream every night. I’m still trying to get rid of my baby weight.”
