A part of Child Development 1 is taking the baby home for a night. After school you pick it up and take it home. Everybody gets a bottle, a diaper to change and it’s in a car seat. When you have a sport, it’s not turning on until you’re done.
The first time it cried when I had it was around 7 p.m. Staying home is probably the best idea for that day but if you take it somewhere you always have to pay attention to the baby. At first I thought something was wrong because it didn’t start crying until later when I got home. When it started crying, I was stressed that I couldn’t figure out the problem, but it didn’t take long and then it stopped. It cried again around 10 times before I went to bed, and giving it the bottle was the most exhausting activity because it took a while. At night it woke me up a few times and I was really tired, but I was glad I could find out quickly what the baby needed.
Some other students talked about their experience of taking the baby home. Senior Mikayla Larkin talked about her experience with taking home the baby. She did not like the experience, but said, “It helps young people not to have a baby early.” She definitely doesn’t want to have a baby for a long time. “The worst thing about having it was that I didn’t have all the materials for the baby.” Larkin didn’t have the bottle and had to hear it scream and cry and it stressed her out.
Mrs. McFadden is the child development teacher at Liberty for two years now. Before she came over to Liberty, McFadden taught the class for five years at another school and always had the infant simulator.
“Not only do students learn about the challenges of daily life with a baby, I think they also learn about responsibility and how to prioritize what’s important when caring for the baby,” McFadden said. “I loved all FACS classes when I was in high school. I love classes that allow me to be creative and learn in a non-traditional way.”
McFadden’s child development teacher was her favorite and inspired her to do FACS in college. She loved all FACS classes but child development was her favorite.
“Our child development program offers a unique opportunity to work directly with students for a glimpse into what a career in education looks like,” Mrs. McFadden said.
In my opinion, taking the baby home for a night is a good experience. I think you learn how much work it is to take care of a baby, and I noticed that I’m definitely not ready for a baby yet.
