High school students test parenting for a weekend
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

Freshmen in Jill Veres' health class at Moorpark High School got a taste of the life-changing duties of parenthood when they were assigned to care for "a newborn baby" over a recent weekend.

The baby project was implemented to discourage teen pregnancies, according to Veres, who organized a fundraiser last year to purchase 32 electronic babies costing $260 each.

The dolls require seven to eight hours of attention out of every 24hour period to simulate what new parents must do to meet the needs of an infant.

The babies cry when they need to be fed, burped or diaper-changed and when they want to be picked up and loved. Caretakers must stop whatever they're doing and, using a special set of keys, soothe their fussy bundle. Students have to figure out what the baby needs, locate the correct key and insert it to quiet the infant, Veres said.

"When I handed the babies out, the students were very excited and enthusiastic about the project," said Veres. "Both the boys and girls were naming their babies and talking about having a baby gettogether over the weekend. However, when they returned to class the following Monday, students couldn't get rid of the babies fast enough.

"Many looked like they'd been hit by a truck and had dark circles under their eyes," Veres said.

All the students complained they couldn't do anything over the weekend because the needy baby disrupted their plans, the teacher added, and they vowed they wouldn't have a baby for a long time to come.

Many students also discussed the importance of having two parents to raise a child and expressed sympathy for single parents.

Some ninth-graders who went to the mall with their new infants learned another lesson- one they hadn't anticipated- when onlookers outwardly condemned teenage pregnancy.

"Some people stared rudely and I heard murmurs behind my back," said 14-year-old Tanya Puccio. "I know people don't realize that it was just a doll at first, but don't people have any manners nowadays?" she asked, expressing concern that her peers will suffer the same treatment when their turn comes.

"There are many possibilities that people don't think of when they first see a young woman with a baby," said Puccio. "The child could be a younger sibling or the product of an assault." Also, she said, everyone makes mistakes, so bystanders shouldn't make premature judgments. Veres agreed with Puccio.

"It's not right to judge," she said.

In contrast, other students reported that community members were simply curious about the

imulation; they asked questions about the babies, and they wanted to know how the

dolls work,

Veres said.

The project helped

the local

teenagers ap

preciate the work and sacrifices required of good parents. Most important was the end result: the realization that they're not ready for parenthood.

"I was pleased with the outcome of this project, but more importantly I was extremely happy to see that the students received a very valuable life lesson," Veres said.