LISBON — Eighteen students from Lisbon High School participated in the Real Care Baby Simulator Program (also known as “Baby Think It Over”). The students took a baby simulator home along with diapers, bottles and a car safety seat for 48 hours.

The objective of the program is to teach students about infant care, the Period of Purple Crying, and how parenting choices, prenatally and postnatally, impact a child’s development.

“Thank God I get to give it back!” was the sentiment of one student.

Julie Petrie, physical education and health teacher at the school, garnered support from her colleagues to allow students to parent the babies throughout two school days.

The simulators are programmed to require soothing, burping, diaper changes and feedings. The computer inside each baby records how he/she was handled, how the head was supported and how many cues were missed or ignored.

Petrie shared, “My students learned valuable lessons such as appreciation, responsibility, empathy, caring for another person and how to nurture. It taught them that being a teen parent is very challenging and something that they aren’t ready for at this point in their lives.”

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