I decided to interview my little cousin Christine. She recently did a health project and had to take care of a mechanical baby for one week. I thought it was hilarious as well as interesting. The high school I went to never did anything like this and I was so interested in how she reacted to it. The following is a conversation we had over AIM, I just put our names in to make it easier.
Me: So what was this project your mom was telling me about?
Christine: for my health class we had to act as parents to a robot baby. We were able to pick our husbands and I picked Mark. we had to feed it, burp it, change it and give it attention. it was so weird - there were these keys that you had to put inside its back that 'gave' it different things - like attention, feeding, diaper...really weird. we named it Baby Paul. mom thought it was the greatest thing ever. we got graded on how long the baby cried and if we dropped it, or let its head fall back. there's some computer thing in it's back that tracks everything and you lost points for stupid things
Me: So at the end of the week, on a scale of 1-10, how frustrated were you?
Christine: um like a 15! it was soooo annoying. i look liked like crap cause i hadn't gotten any sleep
Me: How was your hubby doing with all of this? Who do you think took more responsibility? Or did you have to split it up equally?
Christine: haha Mark hated it, but so did I. but it was our grade so we couldn't really ignore baby paul when he cried. I probably took the mothering role a little too much - like if the baby cried nonstop and Mark had him, I would just take him and make him stop crying with the keys. I was just so annoyed with the thing haha. but for the most part, I think we did everything together.
Me: Did you guys take it seriously? Or did you have fun with it?
Christine: The first and the second day we loved our little baby paul, it was sooo funny and everyone wanted to play with him. but by the third day, we were ready to quit - it turned into homework and it stopped being fun.
Me: Hahaha you're too cute - So what did you do when you were at school, or wanted to go out and couldn't bring Baby Paul?
Christine: we had to bring him to school, and if he started to cry, we had to take care of him - but we couldn't do it in class - we had to go outside in the hallway or something. I think I went out 2 or 3 times and didn't bring Baby Paul. I had michael watch him one time, but then mom told me that he let his neck fall back and thats like a 7point loss. i was pissed. mom did most of the babysitting if i couldn't get to it
Me: So I'm guessing you brought it out with you sometimes - what were people's reactions to seeing you carry around a mechanical baby?
Christine: yeaaaah - lets just say i was embarrassed. never again. kids in school that had no idea we were doing the project gave me the weirdest looks. and if i had to take him into cvs or stop &shop i had to actually RUN around and get my stuff before he started crying. but if he did, i had to go out of the store because people looked at me crazy. it was sooo bad. hateful
Me: Hahahah I can only imagine. So did this change the way you look at teenage moms?
Christine: hells yes - i could NEVVVVER do it. with softball and wanting to have a LIFE - no.never. i wouldnt want to! and if mark or mom or someone wasnt helping me with him, i probably would have gone insane. i don't know any teenage moms, but good for them, cause it's really hard - school and everything, ew.
Me: Did you see Juno?
Christine: YESSS
Me: What'd you think? Was it realistic or no? Funny/stupid?
Christine: umm. no - i don't think it was that true. her parents didnt even get mad! you know my mom. she would've had my head! and john would have kicked my ass. forget what they wouldve done to mark. but i did love it. sooo cute. and the director was a stripper haha how funny is that. but i definitely dont think that's what it would be like in real life. i think it was more of a joke, but I still liked it. but real life would be less funny and more hateful i think
Me: I haven't seen it yet haha I think I'm the only one
Christine: omg.. go rent it right now
Me: Would you ever have a child before you got married?
Christine: probably not. only cause it seems to hard to do by yourself. I know my mom did, but i wouldnt want to.
Me: Last one - What age do you think it's ok to start having kids?
Christine: after college. yeah - like 26 or something
Lets just say I laughed a lot during this interview with my cousin. She's so energetic and optimistic about life. She made it pretty clear that having so much responsibility at such a young age is pretty hard. I think she also made it clear that she wants to wait a long time before she tries her hand at motherhood. She ended up getting a B+ on the assignment, which she was more than pleased with.
Me: So what was this project your mom was telling me about?
Christine: for my health class we had to act as parents to a robot baby. We were able to pick our husbands and I picked Mark. we had to feed it, burp it, change it and give it attention. it was so weird - there were these keys that you had to put inside its back that 'gave' it different things - like attention, feeding, diaper...really weird. we named it Baby Paul. mom thought it was the greatest thing ever. we got graded on how long the baby cried and if we dropped it, or let its head fall back. there's some computer thing in it's back that tracks everything and you lost points for stupid things
Me: So at the end of the week, on a scale of 1-10, how frustrated were you?
Christine: um like a 15! it was soooo annoying. i look liked like crap cause i hadn't gotten any sleep
Me: How was your hubby doing with all of this? Who do you think took more responsibility? Or did you have to split it up equally?
Christine: haha Mark hated it, but so did I. but it was our grade so we couldn't really ignore baby paul when he cried. I probably took the mothering role a little too much - like if the baby cried nonstop and Mark had him, I would just take him and make him stop crying with the keys. I was just so annoyed with the thing haha. but for the most part, I think we did everything together.
Me: Did you guys take it seriously? Or did you have fun with it?
Christine: The first and the second day we loved our little baby paul, it was sooo funny and everyone wanted to play with him. but by the third day, we were ready to quit - it turned into homework and it stopped being fun.
Me: Hahaha you're too cute - So what did you do when you were at school, or wanted to go out and couldn't bring Baby Paul?
Christine: we had to bring him to school, and if he started to cry, we had to take care of him - but we couldn't do it in class - we had to go outside in the hallway or something. I think I went out 2 or 3 times and didn't bring Baby Paul. I had michael watch him one time, but then mom told me that he let his neck fall back and thats like a 7point loss. i was pissed. mom did most of the babysitting if i couldn't get to it
Me: So I'm guessing you brought it out with you sometimes - what were people's reactions to seeing you carry around a mechanical baby?
Christine: yeaaaah - lets just say i was embarrassed. never again. kids in school that had no idea we were doing the project gave me the weirdest looks. and if i had to take him into cvs or stop &shop i had to actually RUN around and get my stuff before he started crying. but if he did, i had to go out of the store because people looked at me crazy. it was sooo bad. hateful
Me: Hahahah I can only imagine. So did this change the way you look at teenage moms?
Christine: hells yes - i could NEVVVVER do it. with softball and wanting to have a LIFE - no.never. i wouldnt want to! and if mark or mom or someone wasnt helping me with him, i probably would have gone insane. i don't know any teenage moms, but good for them, cause it's really hard - school and everything, ew.
Me: Did you see Juno?
Christine: YESSS
Me: What'd you think? Was it realistic or no? Funny/stupid?
Christine: umm. no - i don't think it was that true. her parents didnt even get mad! you know my mom. she would've had my head! and john would have kicked my ass. forget what they wouldve done to mark. but i did love it. sooo cute. and the director was a stripper haha how funny is that. but i definitely dont think that's what it would be like in real life. i think it was more of a joke, but I still liked it. but real life would be less funny and more hateful i think
Me: I haven't seen it yet haha I think I'm the only one
Christine: omg.. go rent it right now
Me: Would you ever have a child before you got married?
Christine: probably not. only cause it seems to hard to do by yourself. I know my mom did, but i wouldnt want to.
Me: Last one - What age do you think it's ok to start having kids?
Christine: after college. yeah - like 26 or something
Lets just say I laughed a lot during this interview with my cousin. She's so energetic and optimistic about life. She made it pretty clear that having so much responsibility at such a young age is pretty hard. I think she also made it clear that she wants to wait a long time before she tries her hand at motherhood. She ended up getting a B+ on the assignment, which she was more than pleased with.
I think this is a very good way to educate teens on the responsibility of being sexually active. I'm not saying the only way is to practice abstinence, but teenagers should be informed about the MAJOR consequences sex can have on their lives. This project should teach teenagers that being sexually active is nothing to take lightly, and to always practice safe sex. Although I'm sure many kids in her high school took this only as a joke, I do believe that there were a number of teens who found the reality of being a teenage parent pretty scary.
I wish my high school had the funds to do such an exciting project like this one. In my high school, we were forced to carry around bags of flour as our 'babies'. Needless to say, it wasn't nearly as exciting or effective as Christine's health project. I feel strongly that teenagers should be informed with advice and knowledge about pregnancy, STDs, and becoming sexually active. Many teenagers are put in positions where they don't have anyone to turn to. By having such inf formative health classes, hopefully teenagers that are put in certain situations won't have to feel alone and could find a safe haven within their community.
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