Computer baby care mimics reality for child development students

Participating+in+the+spring+semester+project%2C+junior+Dorothy+Collier+takes+care+of+a+fake+baby+for+a+weekend+as+part+of+her+child+development+class.

provided by Dorothy Collier

Participating in the spring semester project, junior Dorothy Collier takes care of a fake baby for a weekend as part of her child development class.

Abby Wang, Staff Reporter

Babysitting is something many high school girls can relate too. However, taking care of a child that on a permanent basis is a different thing and that’s the focus of a spring semester project in child development classes where students are learning what it takes to take care of a baby.

Students have to take care of a computer baby,” child development teacher Kristi Swinnea said. “Students take the baby home for the weekend and they’re waking up in the middle of the night. All kinds of stuff, they have to hold the baby’s head, right, or they’ll get points counted off, they have to figure out what the baby wants. The baby could want could be crying, because they want to be rocked or burped or have a bottle or a diaper changed.”

The project lasts 53 hours from 5 p.m. Friday night to 10 p.m. Sunday night.

“I think it’s a really great way to learn,” sophomore Kimberly Nguyen said. “A project of taking care of a computerized baby is way more fun than any test because you actually get to experience hands-on, what it takes to be a mother and take care of a child. You’re actually experiencing it firsthand and I think that is really cool.”

Students will use the RealCare Baby 3 which follows the patterns of a real baby.

“They usually come back and say ‘I am never having kids!’ It usually scares them off for a while.” Swinnea said. “I hope they come out of my class feeling a little more prepared for maybe someday if they want to have children or even work with children.”