Past projects 2
Teen Pregnancy Simulation
Funded Feb 28, 2019Thank you for your generous donations to our baby simulation project. My child psychology students were able to participate in a three-day parenting simulation that challenged them to experience being a teen parent. As their journals showed, it was not easy.
The babies are programmed to cry 12 times in 24 hours and students must carry a care key, which they must insert into the control box in order to stop the crying. One young mother wrote, "When I say that I did not sleep that night, I'm not playing. The baby cried so much that I lost track. It was too much."
Students also get a sense of the stigma that can come along with being an unwed teen parent. One student wrote, "People were giving me dirty looks and asking me why was I such a young mother? Then I explained the project to them and they laughed."
Students' experiences ranged from amused to annoyed as they experienced the roller coaster of parenting an unpredictable newborn. "At first I didn't mind because it was fun, but when I got to my room and was ready to nap, was when it started [to cry] and I started to get annoyed. I just wanted to take a nice peaceful nap, but nope I got woken up multiple times."
In the course of three days, students learn first-hand about putting the needs of the baby ahead of their own needs. "I was happy to give the baby back because of how much sleep I lost," one parent wrote, "and because of how annoyed I was at having to carry the big, awkward carrier around school for two days...Now even after the baby is gone, I still think every sound I hear is the baby crying."
Overall, the purpose of the simulation was to help teens think about decision making and to give them a small sense of how much their lives would change if they became a teen parent. As one student wrote, " I was ready to throw her out the window...In this experience, I learned that I don't want a kid anytime soon. In the future definitely, but I'm not even close to being ready to be a parent."
I want to thank each of you sincerely for helping to make this project happen for my students. The baby simulation will be used for years to come and it will help hundreds of high school students. Thank you for your generous donation.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jones
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose.org Community and 23 other donors.Ms. Jones' Baby Simulation Project
Funded May 12, 2018This month, we started the BABY THINK IT OVER project at Haverhill HS and it is off to a great start. Students are parenting their "babies" for three days, getting up in the middle of the night to care for them, taking them to class, on the bus, and out into the community. Through this experience, they think about what it really takes (time, energy, resources) to care for an infant as a teen parent. Most students remember this experience years later as a memorable high school moment. And from their journal entries, it is clear that they are learning that parenting should wait until they are older and more mature.
Thank you for helping us to get storage bins for the equipment. Your donations were appreciated by all of us. Your help will make it easier to continue this important project.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jones