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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 19, 2011 11:32:13 GMT -5
I have a 15 year old niece that's a sophomore in HS and taking a child development class. Her assignment this week is taking care of a baby.
Now, I've heard of assignments like this earlier, but normally it's a doll, or a sack of flour. Apparently things have been taken to a whole new level.
This doll has sensors on it that connect with the teacher's computer. So if the baby's neck's not being supported, it dings. If the child's not fed/burped/changed/cuddled, it dings. My niece's grade is dependent upon how well she cares for this baby doll. My sister has humorously named the child Consequences.....the result of sex. She's hoping that the point gets through to my niece.
So my niece asked if she could take the morning off from school. Apparently the doll had her up from 3:30 on, crying and she was taking care of her until her alarm went off. My sister was a hardass and told my niece that she'd be going to school....on time.
Now the big problem. My niece has a BIG dance tournament today that's been on the agenda for ages. So now she needs to find a babysitter. Apparently, my sister's not willing to let her 10 year old daughter loose with this doll (I can't begin to imagine how much this doll costs), so my sister's on the hook to babysit a doll. I asked her how much she was going to charge my niece to babysit? My sister really doesn't want to babysit a doll, but would gladly babysit a baby.
Take home message, my niece does NOT want kids anymore. Now, we'll just have to see if she remembers this lesson.
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mmhmm
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Post by mmhmm on Nov 19, 2011 11:40:06 GMT -5
That sounds like a great program, mich! If only something like that could be available to every kid 10 or over. We might just see some real education in what happens when you are irresponsible and end up preggers!
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ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ
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Post by ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ on Nov 19, 2011 11:42:40 GMT -5
I've heard of those dolls being used in sex-ed classes to teach the teens a hard lesson in growing up too fast. And it wasn't just the girls - even the boys in the class had to become "single daddies" for the assignments and care for their "babies" 24/7.
Your sister and niece's story is kind of funny though.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 19, 2011 11:43:06 GMT -5
Call Casey Anthony to baby sit-she needs the money to pay off a few bills.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 19, 2011 12:10:44 GMT -5
Is there any reason that your niece was thought to be at high risk of becoming pregnant? Otherwise, I would wonder why it was a good idea to send a half-asleep kid to her math and science classes over a doll.
She's not at a high risk of being a teenage mother. As I said in my OP, she's taking a child development class as part of her HS curriculum. This past week was her turn with the doll.
And the reason why my sister thought it was a good idea to send her tired daughter into school was to make her realize that babies do not keep normal hours. Even if she does not have a child as a teenager, as a responsible adult, she will have to function on the sleep her child will allow her to receive. She will be expected to show up at her job and put in a full day, regardless of how many times the baby cried during the night.
Sometimes, the lessons learned the hardest are the ones that stick with us the longest. I remember babysitting a young child when I was in HS and it was the most miserable night in my life. Not only that, the parent was supposed to be home early and didn't show up until well after 2 am. I still had to get up 4 hours later and catch the bus to school. I was dogassed tired, but the take home message was that I didn't want to have a kid under these conditions - and did not.
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Artemis Windsong
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Post by Artemis Windsong on Nov 19, 2011 16:01:10 GMT -5
I attended a volleyball game my GD was in. Several of the older girls had baby carriers. I was really sad until I realized later in the evening they were the dolls.
I know there are a lot of girls that were "trapped" by pregnancy by BFs in my age range (1960s) either as a dare or just to create a problem. I talked this over with my aunt and she said in her age range (1930 - 1950 as teens) the guys would get the girls pg to shame them then abandon them. So many of the girls had no idea what had happened to them then end up pg.
This is why there is sex ed now. I don't know how much it prevents activity. I have also seen a lot of girls try to trap a guy only to have the guy bolt on them.
A good stat in my state is teen pregnancy is reducing. I think the parents are smarter and start the girls earlier on b.c.
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lazysundays
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Post by lazysundays on Nov 19, 2011 17:05:34 GMT -5
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TD2K
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Post by TD2K on Nov 19, 2011 17:14:02 GMT -5
Definitely a step up from the old dolls that they used for this. I heard of one school that used eggs, one boy hard boiled his
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Nov 19, 2011 18:05:00 GMT -5
One day of being groggy in math is worth the lesson, even if she is not high risk. The deal is create a culture where everyone thinks the one that did get pregnant is stupid - not that she is cool. These things come in fashion and happen in waves. But, if all the kids in the whole high school think it is uncool, then someone is less likely to let it happen.
There are two types of high schools around here - the kind where teen moms are accepted, and the kind where they are not. I am going to consider that when making a choice for my kids.
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Malarky
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Post by Malarky on Nov 19, 2011 18:38:04 GMT -5
One day of being groggy in math is worth the lesson, even if she is not high risk. The deal is create a culture where everyone thinks the one that did get pregnant is stupid - not that she is cool. These things come in fashion and happen in waves. But, if all the kids in the whole high school think it is uncool, then someone is less likely to let it happen. There are two types of high schools around here - the kind where teen moms are accepted, and the kind where they are not. I am going to consider that when making a choice for my kids. I completely agree with this. Luckily, my daughter attends a school where the the few who do get pregnant are judged by their peers as having made really poor choices. My son did the carry the raw egg around for a week last year. It ended up needing "stitches" but he got some credit for drawing ont the stitches and a bandaid.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Nov 19, 2011 19:16:29 GMT -5
A good stat in my state is teen pregnancy is reducing. I think the parents are smarter and start the girls earlier on b.c. -------------------- But....but....won't that just encourage promiscuity? A much better alternative is Chastity Balls, where girls gather around a giant wooden cross and promise their daddies not to do "it". How could it possibly NOT work?
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Nov 19, 2011 19:18:03 GMT -5
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 19, 2011 19:33:17 GMT -5
In my day menacing dads worked better than fake dolls.
They had computer sensored dolls in your day? I thought that this was a reasonably new occurrence.
That'd be the only way you could get an accurate comparison.
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sesfw
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Post by sesfw on Nov 19, 2011 21:23:30 GMT -5
When DD was in high school (late 70s) she and a boy in her class were 'parents' of something, I can't remember what. They had this item for a month and took turns each week of having the care. Fortunately the parents made sure the kids didn't leave the house without making sure the 'baby' was looked after. Interesting lesson and DD was married 2 years before g-dtr came along.
These computer dolls sound great and I hope the boys in the class had their turn caring for the 'baby'.
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on Nov 19, 2011 22:21:18 GMT -5
DD had the sack of flour for a week. It was pretty funny at the band concert when all the grandparents wanted to know why there were all these 10lbs sacks of flour sitting in the chairs. I heard one grandparent ask if she was supposed to bring flour for a food drive.
I have seen kids with the electronic dolls at school events. Only the kids who were taking childhood development had those, everyone else gets to buy a sack of flour.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 20, 2011 11:05:26 GMT -5
Turned out, my nephew (he's a senior) got snagged for babysitting duty yesterday. I wonder how good a job he did?
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Post by ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ on Nov 20, 2011 11:43:34 GMT -5
LOL - I'll bet that was fun for him on a Saturday.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 20, 2011 11:47:09 GMT -5
I wonder how much he charged my niece....
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