I Was a Teen Mom For a Week

 Story and photo by Jaelin Hicks.

At Friendship Collegiate, students in Coach White’s health class were assigned to take care of robotic babies. These babies may be robots, but they behave the way a real baby would. They cry, they need their diaper changed, and they need to be fed. The purpose of this project was basically to see if students were ready to have babies of their own. How would they feel about it? Are they ready? Do they understand the responsibilities?

The baby comes with a carseat, diapers, a set of clothes, a bottle, and a baby monitor. The baby is set to randomly cry throughout the day, and it's the student’s job to figure out why and meet their needs to get them to stop. Coach White kept track of the baby using a wristband we received, and needed to scan, every time the baby cried.

I was one of the students who had to take care of a robotic baby, and my experience being a temporary teen mom was awful! There were times when I was having lunch, and the baby would start crying. There were times when I was having fun, and the baby would start crying. I struggled carrying the whole carseat around, and had to keep finding someone to watch the baby when I needed a break or to do something. Half of the time nobody wanted to watch the baby. 

This experience taught me to take things slow and enjoy my teen life while I can. Once a baby is born, partying and thinking about only myself and my time will be over, and my priorities are going to be based on the baby and their needs. To my fellow teens, being a teen mom can be really difficult, to the point you probably would be hard on yourself, because you want to manage being a teen and having fun, while also trying your best to be a good mom. Enjoy your teenage years child free, because you only get one shot at it. 

Jaelin Hicks is a senior at Friendship Collegiate Academy.