Virtual Babies

I knew this girl who in the tenth grade at her school was given a virtual baby to care for for one weekend.

She did an average job taking care of it and accidently grew an attachment to it. On the following monday that she had to take the virtual baby back to the nurse and recieve her results.

When she gave the baby to the nurse she began to cry because she didnt want to give it up.
Was it a good idea to let the girl have the virtual baby in the first place if she was just going to get that sort of an attachment to it, or was it a good thing showing her that that could happen when you have a child?
Is it a good idea to let teenagers have virtual babies?

 

I think maybe a 0plant would be best. I know virtual babies are meant to teach teens the hardships of parenting but as you see, it can have the oppisite effect. think teaching kids responsiility is a goiod thing, but not those virtual babies, also because theyre dolls, you know, they dont need to be carrying around and playing with dollies, theyre big boys and girls

 

My sister was given one of those things as part of a school assessment. It was hilarious because every time the baby cried she threw the thing across the room and into the wall... no attachment whatsoever

 

I remember when my friend got one....

We were partying that weekend. She passed out drunk on my bedroom floor and when it started to cry, my mom just lifted Chrissy's wrist that held the key, to the back of the doll. She didn't even wake up...

 

we got given eggs to look after at my school. Some girls drew faces on em, wrapped them up in a sock, coddled them....my friend sat on hers and squashed it flat within an hour of getting it. Good times

 

I think they are excellent ideas - it might show kids who want a baby to dress up and make look cute - that they are cute BUT they are hard hard work
Its good she grew attached - just now hopefully she wont go and get pregnant to get that attachment again!!!!

We never had anything and I think im one of the only people in my year who hasnt had a baby!!!!

 

I know in my highschool yrs when i took parenting there were 30 something girls that got pregnant in 4 years. Live your life to the fullest and enjoy it. Theres no rush for kids to have kids. I think that parenting in high school is to teach not to show you to get pregnant and be a responsible parent. Its a lesson and children are a BIG responsiblity for LIFE!!!

 

I remember when I got that stupid doll in high school. It started crying while I was in the shower so I had to put it in a trash bag and bring it in the shower with me because it couldn't get wet. Then I had to hold the key in with one hand while I did everything else with the other so I wouldn't be late for school. My Mom made fun of me and said she was scared for when I had kids.


p.s. I have a daughter now and I have never put her in a trash bag and taken her in the shower with me. Just clarifying.

 

LOL!!!

 

My friend's daughter loves tiny babies (she's 17) and she always wanted my kids when they were babies, but now that my girls are 3 and 7, she makes lists of why she's never having kids!!

 

Well, maybe not this person. The "Baby Think It Over" doll is equipped with a program. IF the baby is abused, not fed, allowed to cry ect, it is ALL recorded, and the teacher can tell if the "baby" was well taken care of or not.

In long term studies, these devices DO actually lower teen pregnancy rates, as well as make teens more aware that real babies are not just Dolls. An egg or a sack of flour (which is what some schools use) just don't work like these devices. Someone who would throw a doll, even a doll across a room, as a teenager, who knows this is a form of learning I would be VERY worried about as a future parent.


The REASON for these devices are NOT "attachment" but so teens will learn a small idea of how much work and how relentless it is to have a baby. Sure, some girls still get pregnant. THIRTY of them? I don't know. I am part of the program at our local high school, and since we started using the devices, along with Parenting classes, the teen pregnancy rate has decreased dramatically, just in our school alone.

 

Sadly, it is only a school program. I think people who would think throwing a child across the room would need the program MORE than a normal girl. But, even though throwing the doll would fail you in the class, you could still have a kid, if she wanted to.

IT'S A LEARNING TOOL and like anything else, has flaws. But, in most cases, in normal people, with NORMAL reactions to babies and their distresses, works well, even if it gives a girl an idea what mother hood is like just a little bit.

 

Well, maybe not this person. The "Baby Think It Over" doll is equipped with a program. IF the baby is abused, not fed, allowed to cry ect, it is ALL recorded, and the teacher can tell if the "baby" was well taken care of or not.



In long term studies, these devices DO actually lower teen pregnancy rates, as well as make teens more aware that real babies are not just Dolls. An egg or a sack of flour (which is what some schools use) just don't work like these devices. Someone who would throw a doll, even a doll across a room, as a teenager, who knows this is a form of learning I would be VERY worried about as a future parent.





The REASON for these devices are NOT "attachment" but so teens will learn a small idea of how much work and how relentless it is to have a baby. Sure, some girls still get pregnant. . I am part of the program at our local high school, and since we started using the devices, along with Parenting classes, the teen pregnancy rate has decreased dramatically, just in our school alone.

I have seen girls cry and get a little upset when they have to give the devies back. Most, however, are MORE than happy to see them go. They are randomly programmed to cry ect, and most girls get very distressed at the work involved ect.

 

Here's an interesting article, from Planned Parenthood. Also, more recent studies have shown that BTIO and the newer "RealBaby" device can reduce high school pregnancy rates up to 50%.

Some schools use weekdays, and longer periods of time, as well, for more "at risk" girls. There are even some Jr High schools who are successfully implementing the program. You can't do this with an egg or a bag of flour.

 

i remeber when i took a class in high school where we were given a virtual baby for a week. so funny i was pregnant and thinking that this virtual baby would be good 'practice" for my fiancee i signed up for it. well a week before i got my "virtual" baby i had to leave school due to major fatigue and i was unable to walk up and down 4 flights of stairs every time a class was over with,plus walking in a crowd carrying a 10 lb bookbag on my back and my man my classes were spread out far from eachother i would have to run across the courtyard to one class then after that run back across and walk up flights of stairs. any who sorry for going on a tangent just thought you would get a kick out of that.

 

In my highschool you had the option of doing the BTIO in psych class - I accidently let the doll's neck "break" (it snapped back) while "babysitting" for a friend. Needless to say, I didn't take that option next semester...

 

Hmmm... yeah. All that information was recorded, and she failed the class... but she couldn't give a shit anyway.

 

Actually, there was very little chance of her getting pregnant. She is a "normal girl", she threw a doll across the room, not a child.

She was doing a "life skills" class to get out of real school work, and they made her keep the doll for a week as an assignment. She didn't care about passing the class because she basically saw it as pointless (I'm not saying the doll is pointless; just that she saw the class, and the doll, as pointless).

She is now in her early twenties, going to university, and has never been pregnant.

 

hey, maybe it worked then!!


by the way your sig is very lovely fister!!

 

I never had to do anything like that for school. Once, I brought an egg to school just because I felt like trying the experiment for myself, but my bitchy friend broke it.