The sound of a baby crying in the classroom has become a routine sound over the past few weeks as the Child Development students tackled parenting on a robotic scale. The infant simulators that students have taken turns “raising” cry periodically and must be fed and soothed to calm. It gives students a small taste of what parenting is like by forcing students to feed, burp, change, and hold the simulator, making sure to treat it gently and support the head correctly.

“I felt that the babies were a bit easier than a real one for the fact that you didn’t have to actually change the baby or really feed it,” teacher Wendy Neyland said. “After this experience, the girls might think twice about wanting to have a baby.”

Taking care of the baby was frustrating for students who had to wake up in the night to soothe the baby.

“I was very excited to see how it would be to be a mother for a few days and dress up my little girl,” junior Diana Guerrero said. “Going into the second day, I was tired and ready to give her back.”

The simulators cry and need attention at random times require different activities to quiet each time, which meant that students never really managed to get into a rhythm with the simulators; each round of crying meant trying everything to get the baby to stop.

“My baby girl was fun to dress up, but after having to hear her cry multiple times at night and in the day, I was ready to say goodbye to her,” junior Ally Gaskins said. “Now I’m questioning if I want a baby.”