Students enrolled in Child Development classes got to experience the joy along with a hint of stress as they took on the roles of single parents with newborns. Instructor Amy Tyner designed this project to help students understand the sacrifice their parents made for their existence, and if completed in the correct manner, prepare them for future turns of events.

The week before Thanksgiving, Mrs. Tyner hosted a “gender reveal party” for each class to learn the gender of their “flour babies.” Then, the week following Thanksgiving, students designed or created their babies using five-pound bags of flour. The babies hopefully served as a simulation of true parenthood.

“Although these babies are just a bag of flour, teens still get the idea of how difficult parenting is,” Tyner said. “Being responsible for something 24 hours a day, seven days a week is A LOT. Carrying them around, documenting everything about them and making sure they are taken care of in spite of an already crazy busy life can take quite a toll on anyone but especially a teen. I would hope this project would help my students understand the impact a baby can have on them and wait until they are older to become a parent. As I have said many times, ‘Once a parent, always a parent.’”

Beginning Dec. 8, students got to absorb the whole experience by having the opportunity to carry their “flour babies” class to class, day by day for the entire school week and following weekend.

“This project [was] my outlet to learn both sides of child care,” sophomore Aryes Morgan said. “I know I am not near prepared to have a newborn, but in the future I want to know deep down that when the time comes, I can provide the love and affection for that child of mine.”

This experience was not just limited only to future mothers, but male students got a taste of being a caregiver, as well.

“This opportunity [gave] me the chance to learn from the women’s point of view of caring for a little one,” junior Zander Gonzales said. “And this project help[ed] me vision the future of fatherhood.”

Overall, this project was a success for future generations of parents. Students experienced firsthand the pride that comes with surviving one week, and parents finally received the recognition that they deserve.