Stumble it!There’s a Baby In the House..
Not really a baby exactly…more like a 5lb sack of flour. My 13 year old son is in the midst of a week-long sex education program at his school. Know how I found out? My son asked me to pick up a 5 lb bag of flour when I went to the store this week-end. I thought he wanted to bake cookies.
Monday arrived and he grabbed the flour as we headed out the door to school. And, finally during the drive he explained the program. Many of the kids were taking “Real Care Babies” home over the week-end to simulate life with an infant. My son opted for a sack of flour. Great.
When I picked him up from school (it was pouring rain) he had the sack stuck under his shirt so it wouldn’t get wet. The “baby” had my son’s neck gator (from his ski gear) wrapped around it. Evidently you were supposed to “dress up the baby”. The bag was labeled and stamped so he couldn’t replace the bag (IF he dropped and broke it).
I think the program is wonderful but I had mixed feelings about the flour vs. “Real Care” babies. Would my son learn more if a fake baby woke him up during the night? Sure. But would it keep him from having pre-marital, un-protected sex? And me? Did I really want to be awaken by a screaming, mechanical baby??? After all, I’ve already done my time on the night shift with screaming babies, thank you very much.
On the other hand…. how can a bag of flour possibly re-create a human infant and all it’s complexities? My son told me he had to “put the baby in day care” or somewhere safe before he could go to sports practice. Those were the “Care Rules” . The day care turned out to be the couch in the gym. Nice.
Along with the flour bags and babies, the students are learning about reproduction in Science and “life and relationships” in PE. Next week they are required to do a research paper on STD’s. The program is great and I’m glad they’re doing it. I particularly enjoyed it when my son held the flour sack to his chest, “so the baby can hear his heartbeat”. Man, you cannot make up stuff as funny as this…
March 4th, 2009 at 11:35
I think it’s great they’re learning about it at this age, but you’re right a bag of flour isn’t the same as a screaming baby. But they’re cheaper then purchasing a “fake” baby that cries and poops and all that. At least they’re implementing this.
I can just imagine them bringing those fake babies home and hearing it cry after i’ve done my baby duty would drive me insane as a mom. BUT I bet you there are mothers that would take care of this baby for their kids.
What a sweet thing your son did by holding it to his chest to hear the heartbeat, you’ve obviously done something right
March 6th, 2009 at 09:13
I LOVE that they do this program these days. I have to say, a bag of flour is better than not doing it at all, however my own opinion is that I’d MUCH rather wake up at night to a teaching tool baby than a real grandbaby born years too early.
The program here in my area doesn’t give them the flour option. The kids bring the baby home and they also wear an electronic wristband that can only be removed by the teacher at the end of the assignment. The wristband records how the student does with the “baby”, and will also let the teacher know if the student left the baby with someone else or was just too far away to be considered “safely supervising”. Interesting!
March 6th, 2009 at 23:47
This is much better idea than the eggs we had to carry around…
Hearing the heartbeat — that’s too cute!
March 10th, 2009 at 08:56
It’s not like a 5-lb sack of flour is ANYTHING like an infant with real needs. but it does teach the responsibility angle.
My kids assiduously avoided these classes in high school (Biology II gets you out of Health), but they get honest lectures from yours truly at home.
To anyone out there who disagrees with teaching sex ed in school–Information is Power!