Baby Think It Over / Ready Or Not Tot

[pjrose]

Yikes - DD just brought home one of these baby dolls for the weekend! For those not familiar with them, it's a fairly realistic baby doll that randomly cries throughout a 48 hour period, and has a little computer or recorder inside that keeps track of crying episodes, whether it was attended to (held, fed), whether it was abused (shaken), or neglected. A lot of schools lend them to students in child development or parenthood or other classes. She is responsible to keep it with her and care for it the entire time.

I was expecting it NEXT weekend, when we don't really have any plans, but THIS weekend she has a movie date Saturday with her new BF and Sunday we are going up to her brother's college for his first play.

DH thought she wouldn't be able to go on her movie date with the baby, but I think it'll be just fine if they have to leave the movie to care for it!

As far as the play goes, it's a luncheon theatre with a talk by the director, and I told her no way is she bringing that baby doll in and embarrassing her brother. I've already emailed the teacher and said that it will have to stay in the car (I think we can turn it off so people won't think we left a crying baby in the car) and it will show neglect for several hours. (I had previously emailed the teacher and said that this weekend would not work and the teacher agreed to not assign it to DD this weekend, but clearly that plan got lost somewhere along the way.)

So..... I have heard that these babies are great birth control - anyone out there have experience with them? DD loves babies - so I hope that this is a terrible experience for her.

 

[Luanne]

My girls never took the class with these dolls. But my hairdresser's dd did and she had some hysterical stories to tell.

Now, if you want an effective method of birth control for your dd, have her work as an aupair or nanny for awhile. ALL of the girls we had work for us said they were going to wait a really long time before ever having children. :hysterical:

 

[Rose Pink]

Back in the day when my kids were doing this, the equipment wasn't as sophisticated. They got to care for 5 pound bags of flour or sugar. Many of those bags were the worse for wear and heavily taped up when they got back to class.

It is supposed to be inconvenient, embarrassing and a major bother. That is the point of the exercise, to show teens that babies are not just cute playthings but a 100%, 24-hour commitment.

 

[pjrose]

It is supposed to be inconvenient, embarrassing and a major bother. That is the point of the exercise, to show teens that babies are not just cute playthings but a 100%, 24-hour commitment.

I was going to ask the teacher to turn it up to its loudest, most demanding, and most obnoxious setting, but DD brought it home a weekend sooner than expected.

DD has been sooooo excited about bringing it home - I sure hope it's a very difficult experience !

 

[Rose Pink]

DD has been sooooo excited about bringing it home - I sure hope it's a very difficult experience !

Do not be a doting grandma and let your DD talk you into babysitting.

 

[maddaug]

I was just having anxiety about this doll.............

My DD had the baby a couple years ago. Geez I couldn't get any sleep that weekend. It was aweful. Her bedroom is next to hers and I heard that doll cry all night long. I finally got up to help just to shut it up. I couldn't help the doll. It must have been a colicky doll. Our DD looked so tired trying to help her baby doll. She definately learned from this experience.
Fast forward a couple years, our younger daughter will have the same class this year. I was just thinking about how I wasn't looking forward to hearing the crying throughout the night. It will be good for her though.

Good luck and run a fan on high..........

 

[pjrose]

Do not be a doting grandma and let your DD talk you into babysitting.

Not to worry! I already nixed her plan of having a friend babysit all day Sunday - not happening! She'll miss two hours due to the play, but other than that, she'll have the baby the whole weekend

 

[ricoba]

Am I the only parent of teenagers who would object to social engineering assignments such as this taking place in a public school?:ignore:

 

[Art4th]

Am I the only parent of teenagers who would object to social engineering assignments such as this taking place in a public school?:ignore:

Why would you object?

 

[swift]

Am I the only parent of teenagers who would object to social engineering assignments such as this taking place in a public school?:ignore:

This doesn't bug me the way the craft projects do. Like the 4th grade missions project where they have to pick a California mission and build a replica of it. Or the 8th grade roller coaster project. Some of these come back so elaborate that you know there is no way in heck that the kid built it!!!

 

[Jestjoan]

I think it's a GREAT idea............

 

[pjrose]

Am I the only parent of teenagers who would object to social engineering assignments such as this taking place in a public school?:ignore:

DD brought home an info sheet that we had to sign - I believe we could have opted out and she could have had an alternative assignment if we objected.

I am curious about why some might object - I'm interested in different perspectives.

 

[Debbyd57]

My daughter brought one home last year and I think it cried more than either of my two kids did. It was a great deterrent to wanting to get married and have kids!! She decided she was NEVER having any children. :hysterical: I actually felt sorry for her after looking at her eyes the next morning. I don't think it slept much and even after 17 and 24 years, I can still remember how tired I was after getting up with my two. All in all, I thought it was a great experience. She even took it to a restaurant on a date. :rofl:

 

[Fern Modena]

But isn't part of the assignment that you can't plan in advance for the baby doll? I would expect that the assignment works much better as a deterrent if the student doesn't know exactly when it is going to happen.

I'd suspect that while *you* planned that it would happen next week, the teacher never had such a plan in mind.

Fern

I was expecting it NEXT weekend, when we don't really have any plans, but THIS weekend she has a movie date Saturday with her new BF and Sunday we are going up to her brother's college for his first play.

As far as the play goes, it's a luncheon theatre with a talk by the director, and I told her no way is she bringing that baby doll in and embarrassing her brother. I've already emailed the teacher and said that it will have to stay in the car (I think we can turn it off so people won't think we left a crying baby in the car) and it will show neglect for several hours. (I had previously emailed the teacher and said that this weekend would not work and the teacher agreed to not assign it to DD this weekend, but clearly that plan got lost somewhere along the way.)

 

[pjrose]

The kids do get the option of which weekend to sign up for. I suspect that most of them are fairly clueless - especially 4-6 weeks in advance - about plans their parents might have made to go out of town etc.

I suppose if the doll was handed to them without warning on Prom or Homecoming weekend it might be more of a deterrent - if it was the weekend of SATs or an academic field trip, then the parents might intervene and not let the doll interrupt.

I suspect it's enough of a deterrent that they don't know when it's going to cry, for how long, and what will make it stop. In the case of this particular doll, they have to insert the right key - feed, attention, diaper, burp - before it'll stop squalling. For another brand, they have to press a bottle to its lips, or hold it in a particular position for a period of time known only to the program locked up in the doll. Assuming the doll's designers know what they're doing, it'll be quite noisy at 2AM! DH is planning to sleep downstairs on the couch so it won't wake him up, but I'm staying up in my own bed so I'll know what's going on. I'm an insomniac anyway, so it won't hurt my sleep!

 

[Rose Pink]

In the case of this particular doll, they have to insert the right key - feed, attention, diaper, burp - before it'll stop squalling.

:hysterical: If only real babies were that easy!

Does it have the heft and feel of real infant?

 

[Twinkstarr]

This doesn't bug me the way the craft projects do. Like the 4th grade missions project where they have to pick a California mission and build a replica of it. Or the 8th grade roller coaster project. Some of these come back so elaborate that you know there is no way in heck that the kid built it!!!

I'm totally with you on the craft projects! Last year my then 5th grader had to build a replica of a Native American home. They were all out at school and out of 4 classes, my guess is my son and about 4 other kids did theirs without out parent.

Would love to chat more, but the 6th grader has to do a poster for his Soc. Studies class. They picked countries out of a hat. He ended up with Laos. Lucily we were able to find some good pictures on the internet for his poster.

 

[pjrose]

:hysterical: If only real babies were that easy!

Does it have the heft and feel of real infant?

She slept through the first long crying spell at around midnight Later on it was fun (for me) watching her struggle trying to figure out which key would work five or six times in the wee hours - hee hee .

It's about the same weight - around 6 lbs. http://www.enasco.com/product/WA19647H

 

[Gerie]

Just curious. How old is your daughter?

I hope you will continue to relate your daughter's experiences with her "baby."

 

[DeniseM]

I teach teenage parents in a high school setting. They have real baby dolls keeping them up all night. Amazingly, most of them turn out to be good little mothers - and we give them a lot of support in school, since many have little or no support at home. Although they love their babies, they all wish they had waited until they were older.

Interestingly, for many of them, getting pregnant is a real wake up call. I had a student tell me this week that before she got pregnant she was smoking and using marijuana and estacy and hanging around with the wrong crowd. Getting pregnant turned her life around. Now she's clean and she wants to finish high school and go to college.

 

[Rose Pink]

It's about the same weight - around 6 lbs. http://www.enasco.com/product/WA19647H

From the website:
Include a “panic” key for quieting difficulties without discontinuing the entire simulation.

My babies didn't come with panic keys! I want my money back. LOL.

 

[pjrose]

Just curious. How old is your daughter?

I hope you will continue to relate your daughter's experiences with her "baby."

She's 16. Today she went to a movie with her new BF. He is now her ex BF because he refused to hold the baby doll for a second while she needed her hands free, and because he didn't want her to go talk to another girl she noticed who also had a baby doll. His loss, and I'm proud of her for recognizing that he wasn't a "keeper".

At the mall and later at the grocery store LOTS of people stopped to talk - all ages, and all thought it was a great idea and commented about the difficulties of having babies young.

From the website:
Include a “panic” key for quieting difficulties without discontinuing the entire simulation.

My babies didn't come with panic keys! I want my money back. LOL.

Oh yeah, I wish mine had had that built in! No refund policy, though.

:hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical:​

 

[tlsbooks]

We saw a girl carrying one of these at Chipotles last weekend. She was talking on her cell while waiting to order and had the doll shoved under her arm.

As a payback, it cried loudly (propped up inside her purse) while she was trying to eat.

 

[laura1957]

My niece had one for a 3 day weekend last year, I thought it was wonderfuL!!
It certainly shows that having a baby is NOT all nice and cute.

For my younger daughter we used another form of "birth control" - she was my older daughter's birth coach, and was in the delivery room when my grandson was born. She has decided that it will be a LONG time before she wants kids of her own!!

 

[pjrose]

My niece had one for a 3 day weekend last year, I thought it was wonderfuL!!
It certainly shows that having a baby is NOT all nice and cute.

For my younger daughter we used another form of "birth control" - she was my older daughter's birth coach, and was in the delivery room when my grandson was born. She has decided that it will be a LONG time before she wants kids of her own!!

What a great idea!

DD's "baby" had a computer glitch and did not turn off Sunday afternoon after 48 hours - it kept her up an additional night

I still would like her to borrow one that cries more than this one did. The Ready or Not Tots do not cry enough! I've heard that RealCare Baby is a lot more realistic.