If you happen to see juniors Evan Loose (left) or Jackson Heebner (right) today, make sure you wish them congratulations on their new additions! It’s a boy for Evan, and it’s a girl for Jackson, both of whom took custody of their “babies” today for their Life 101 class. For the next 24 hours, Evan and Jackson will care for their babies as the realistic-looking and newborn-sized dolls randomly cry or fuss while they’re in school, hanging out with their friends, studying, eating meals–and yes–even sleeping tonight. When the dolls cry, they’ll have to figure out what’s wrong and how to soothe it by using various “keys” to simulate a needed diaper change, feeding or burping that will eventually cause the doll to quiet. There’s even a “panic” key just in case Evan or Jackson can’t figure out how to quiet their babies. If the dolls are returned tomorrow with a dead battery, their teachers will know that they were unsuccessful with getting the doll to quiet, and presumably cried until their batteries depleted. Following the 24-hour experience with the dolls, students will write a reflection about how they felt carrying the babies around school, getting up in the middle of the night, or arranging “childcare” if they had to work or participate in sports or extracurriculars after school. 

Describing how students feel when they turn in their dolls the following day, Mrs. Anne Thomas said that "the number one thing we hear them say is that they felt a lot of frustration and anger with the baby. They become frustrated when they’re in class and the baby starts to cry and they’re trying to find the key to make the crying stop and everybody’s looking at them,” she said. “It’s a very realistic experience and they soon learn how unpredictable babies are–and that they will wake you up about three times during the night,” she said with a laugh.  

The simulator dolls were awarded to the Food and Consumer Science Department by the Exeter Community Education Foundation as part of their teacher mini grant program; this is the first year that teachers Mrs. Anne Thomas and Mrs. Trisha Master are incorporating them into their curriculum in their Life 101 and Parenting and Child Development classes. Throughout the semester, approximately 60 teenagers–all of whom say they’re not ready to be parents–will each take custody of one of the three babies for 24 hours. While Mrs. Thomas and Mrs. Master say that the goal of the project isn’t necessarily to dissuade teens from having a baby but to teach them about the responsibility of caring for one, it certainly has reinforced students’ aversion to becoming parents before they’re ready. “They all say they’re not ready for the responsibility when they bring them back the next day,” said Mrs. Thomas. “They realize that it’s a lot of work and that babies need a lot of attention.”

Senior Stephania Nicoloudakis, who recently participated in the project, agreed. She took her "baby" to Giant, where she said it suddenly cried in the middle of her shopping trip. “It was pretty embarrassing,” she said when nearby shoppers were looking at her in the store with a crying doll–some of whom thought it was a real baby at first. “The experience really taught me that having babies is not nearly as glamorous as it seems to be. They can be very, very annoying. And at this stage of my life when we have school and stuff to balance, it was too much for me–and I only had it for one night,” she said, pausing to continue: “I’m not even close to being ready.” 

Holding his new baby boy, Evan seemed to agree. "It's going to be bad tonight," he said with a laugh.