My E-Baby Experience Project Instructions   The goal of this project is to simulate the daily life of a parent with a newborn baby. You will be required to care for an electronic Ready or Not Tot (e-baby) for 48 hours. Pay attention to your feelings toward your baby as you experience everyday life with the added responsibility of a newborn. These feelings will be very close to those of an actual parent of an actual baby! Will you be full of parental joy and pride? Will you feel pangs of anger, resentment and stress? How do you think these feelings will affect the bond you have with your baby?

REQUIREMENTS: 1. E-Baby (*with car seat, keys, clothing, returned Injury-free after 48 hrs.) Babies must be with students at all times! Babies must go to school with you. NO EXCEPTIONS! Your baby is not to be found in a locker, in backpack, being tossed or thrown, or anything of the sort… if you are seen doing any of these things, Mrs. Keller reserves the right to relieve you of your parental duties. This doesn’t mean you are our off the hook… it just means your grade will be lowered. Your baby must be left in Mrs. Keller’s Daycare Center during the school day. Please come attend to your baby during your lunch period. Babies must be collected from daycare at the end of your school day. If you have a function outside of school hours in which you cannot take your baby (like sports practice) you must get a babysitter. You may not leave your baby at the sitter’s longer than 3 hours. The only time you may use a sitter is if you CANNOT take the baby. Embarrassment is not a reason to leave your baby with a sitter…tough it out. You must care for your baby as if it is real. If an accident happens please let Mrs. Keller know immediately so she can determine if it is a little “boo-boo” or if it’s more serious .

2. Baby Book (with front and back cover) Contents: Tending Chart Daily Baby Log/Baby Sitting Log Birth Certificate Pictures (minimum of 3) with captions Essay

sample

You will choose the response sheet or care log to complete during your 48 hour simulation.

DAILY BABY LOG Day 1: (Day 2:) Schedule of the day: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I am feeling… _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ The effect these feelings might have on an actual baby….. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ My child had a babysitter today: When:_____________________________________________________________________ Babysitter’s Name:__________________________________________________________ Reason for sitter: ____________________________________________________________

Babysitting Log **Baby may not be with a sitter longer than 3 hours! *If no sitter used, write “NONE”  

Pictures at least 3 with captions

Essay: Minimum 1-page, typed personal reflection on what you learned about parenting from this experience, Use the following questions to guide your writing: What was it like taking care of this baby all the time? What significant things about parenting a real infant did you NOT have to deal with? How was your normal routine changed by this parenting experience? If you had a real baby, would you be willing to give up some of your social activities? Would you have a choice? What things would you have needed or wanted to buy for your baby if it were real? Estimate the cost. How would you have had the money to make these purchases? How did the baby affect your relationship with your family? Friends? Significant other? How would a baby affect your educational plans? Would you be able to continue in school or have a job & be the kind of parent you’d like to be? Do you plan to have a baby one day? If so, at what age would you like to become a parent?

E-baby Care Your e-baby will operate on a 48-hour program. There will be 25-31 tending opportunities during this time. Care periods range from 5 to 30 minutes. You will need to determine what kind of care your e-baby needs: feeding, diapering, burping or attention (play) by inserting the correct key. The abuse indicator light will come on if you shake, drop or roughly handle your e-baby. If you use the PANIC key, the TAMPER light will blink. Your e-baby has a position sensor and will cry after 10 seconds if the baby is put face-down or upside-down. Once you correct the position, the crying will stop! If you remove the control box, the program will be ended.

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