Teen Dreams versus Reality

During my sophomore and junior years of high school, I took a class called family relations. In this class, one of our assignments as to bring a raw, unbroken egg to school. We were to name the egg as if it were our baby and for the entire next week, we were to care of that egg as we believed parents should care for an infant.

At the time, I thought the project was fun and educational, but boy did it ever fall short of what becoming a real parent was like.

Looking back, how many of you, during your teen years entertained thoughts that you were going to grow up, get married and give birth to the worlds most perfect kids who would come home from the hospital and right into sleeping through the night?

How many of you used to look around at the mothers dealing with their brats in department stores and whisper to yourself, “my kids will never act like that”?

Those were the days, weren’t they?

I do have to admit that I have some pretty good boys. Even if I do say so myself. I am complimented on their behavior and manners quite often and take great pride in the teens they are – especially in the world we live in now. However, getting here was FAR from easy.

I’m looking forward to my kids taking classes that deal with modern living and family relations. I’m anxious to see just how times and methods of teaching have changed.

I’m pretty sure our school doesn’t have the funds to support a class using robot babies like those used at New York’s Glen Ridge High School.

Have you seen the robot babies that kids can care for that acts very much like a real and demanding baby. The kids taking the class must wear wrist bands that transmit a signal to the robotic dolls.

The babies are programmed to respond only to the person wearing the wrist band, so kids can’t pass off the baby’s care to someone else.

The baby needs to be fed, changed, and rocked…everything that a real baby needs.

At the end of the project, the teacher can measure how well the kids have cared for the doll.

Mishandling, skipped feedings, and ignored cries all figure in.

This would be far more realistic than carrying around an egg or a bag of sugar all week. But do you think it’s enough to change the mindset of teens who are weaving plans for their own futures that include the perfect marriage, perfect job, perfect home and perfect kids?

Tags: family planning, parenting, teens, baby, teenage mothers