In Mrs. Maddox’s Learning About Children class, students were assigned Real Care babies for either one night or one weekend. They had to take care of it like it was their own child. 

Many students have recently been getting their babies from Maddox’s class and we interviewed some students who participated. Due to information that we have gathered, we have concluded that Real Care babies were a good experience, however defiantly annoyed many people, due to reasons such as crying extremely loudly, many times during the night and day. The real care babies are obviously not real-life babies, but they do resemble them and give experience for young people who want to work with children. 

Foote shared her personal experience, which includes how she spent her weekend. “I don’t recommend getting the baby for a weekend. It woke me up multiple times during the night, and I got barely any sleep. However, the experience was alright. I liked taking care of the baby, and I thought it gave me more of an image of  [what] having a baby [would be like]. ” 

If you are interested in taking Learning with Children or the early childhood development pathway, talk to your school counselor. Class registration for 2023-2024 is just around the corner!