Hello everyone!
It has been busy, busy here in our neck of the woods.
We have been getting outside and enjoying the warmer temperatures.
It is also warm enough to start planting. I am not the greatest when it comes to caring for plants so keeping it minimal is great for me.
When I said minimal I wasn't kidding...
this is it...this is all that has been planted so far.
We still have our veggie garden to contend with and most likely that will get started this holiday weekend.
Along with the warmer and longer days comes summer break and
the school year is drawing to a close. Our 14 year old had an interesting "end of the year" assignment last week in health and wellness class. Each student was assigned an infant to care for over a period of 24 hours.
There was a carrier and a diaper bag with instructions and everything needed to provide proper care.
I don't know how many of you are familiar with these "babies" but this was my first time experiencing it other than just hearing about them. They are programed to work with a bracelet the student or "parent" wears. The bracelets do not come off so there is no way to have someone else do the assignment.
It is programed to begin crying at various times of the day and night. When it cries you carefully pick it up making sure to support the head ( it records improper handling) and hold the bracelet up to the back. It will scan and the baby recognizes the "parent" has picked it up. From there you must determine what it needs in order to stop the crying. There is a bottle with a magnetized device in the nipple.
If that is what the baby needs you will hear it making the sounds of drinking and breathing through it's nose with each swallow.
Feeding time takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
If a diaper change is needed there is a magnetized disc in the rear of the diaper and it will notify the program that she is now clean and dry.
I wanted to help (it looked kinda fun) but the purpose of the assignment was to give teens a glimpse of reality and responsibilities that come with having a baby. There were a few challenges trying to determine what the cries were for and how to satisfy them. I heard it from across the hall during the night and knew he was being awakened once again by the crying and would have to get out of a nice cozy bed to do a 2 or 4 am feeding.
He told me the next morning he had 2 feedings and 1 diaper change overnight and exclaimed that was just way to much time to be up during the night...LOL!!
Getting ready for school and caring for a demanding little person was also a challenge but he stuck with it and made sure everything was done before he strapped her in to head out for the day.
Overall it seemed to be a good experience and a nice lesson in just a small portion of what is huge responsibility. He made a B on this assignment. Some points were taken off for excessive crying during the night, and the head was not supported well on one occasion. We congratulated him on his effort and the B was a good grade considering he has never babysat alone.
Off to school to give someone else a turn at this thing called "parenting" :)
Next time I will be sharing some new thrift store finds, some of which will be used in my new bathroom.
KAREN