Posted on 01/18/2020 5:39:25 AM PST by daniel1212
Today, the RealCare Baby 3 infant simulator is a fantastically sophisticated, computer-programmed doll that costs up to $1,000 to replace if you lose it. (I know because I had to sign a waiver; Anna’s school has six of them, provided through a grant from a local education foundation.) The student wears a corresponding wristband that logs his or her responses to the baby through a radio frequency identification tag. Then she — and most of the caregivers are female — has to determine what the baby needs, based on distinctly different cries. “Just like a real baby, you eventually kind of can tell — that’s a fussy, I-just-need-to-be-rocked cry or that’s a really hungry cry,” says Samantha Forehand, marketing communications manager for Realityworks, the small Wisconsin company that makes them.
The fake baby must be fed, burped, changed, and soothed, and though its needs may seem random, its patterns are real. The programming is based on the habits of real babies, logged by real parents. There are 14 different programs with easy, medium, or hard settings selected or randomized by a teacher before the baby is sent off with its caretaker on a Friday night. A weekend immersion program is recommended; by Sunday, the students are usually crying, too
The RealCare Baby has a patented neck with sensors that can detect if its head is not supported properly, prompting a unique cry that issues an ominous warning. It also registers three other “abuses” — shaking the baby, holding it upside down, or physical abuse — and records neglect if the student doesn’t tend to it. Unlike an egg or a sack of flour, this baby gives reports on how it has been treated. And it resists baby-sitting by a willing relative: the doll only responds to the wristband worn by the student who brought it home. That’s the genius and the curse of it. If she fails, everyone will know — the maternal guilt is built right in.
My daughter was infinitely patient with the baby, named Lila, but she quickly adopted the habits of a harried mom...By the third day, she was frustrated that she couldn’t find time to take a shower...I watched the stress creeping up on my daughter and tried to be a good grandmother.
I remembered that pressure — there was no escape. I hated that she felt it, already. ...This baby never had a dirty diaper. Unlike real babies, RealCare Babies are fluid-free. They don’t consume, spill, spit, or emit anything, let alone shoot it across the room in projectile fashion. Yes, Lila took a long time to burp, I granted. But at least she didn’t spit up all over herself afterward and need a complete wardrobe change “every single time, even in the middle of the night,” ...
Anna has always been a natural with children — she’s just like my mother in that way — and her devotion to a fake baby was remarkable. As a bonus, she suddenly seemed to recognize all the things I was doing for her. My independent, chronically dissatisfied teenager was being appreciative.
The RealCare Baby is used in 67 percent of school districts in the country...Whether this endeavor actually deters teen pregnancies is an open question.
All 3 boys had COLIC. #1 Was hyper 4 hrs sleep.
Bookmark for later...
Were this assignment given to my children we would be returning it to the school the same day.
This is wrong on so many levels.
I always thought that the ‘infant simulator’ experiment was an invention of the eugenics folks. They designed them to make the experience (mimicking the care of an infant) as stressful and distasteful as possible to indoctrinate children against having babies.
No, but it craps out welfare checks like nobodies business!
Here’s an idea...
Give the kids a rifle simulator (nerf gun)
A copy of the constitution, declaration of independence, photos from concentration camps where guns were confiscated and a parental tutorial for three weeks of simulated concentrating camp life.
THAT’LL LEARN YA
=o)
The Real Care Mike Bloomberg will record if you have guns and if you are drinking Big Gulps. 😋
Wait until a Planned (non) Parenthood model comes out.
A fitting analogy.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to just bring home a Democrat?
LOL...Funny...aborted...
LOL...hysterical. I watched this episode a few nights ago.
The system is more of a “babies are a burden” than realistic. That’s why it won’t be “babysat”.
Another issue I have is the “you have to read the cries and treat it appropriately”. There are real world parents who struggle to do that.
Those students who try that should be marked as unfit parents.
But as they get older and know what good and evil is and to choose btwn the two, there is sometimes a place for some corporal communication, out of love.
Related, I wonder what the history is to the last name of the lady in the article who said,
I-just-need-to-be-rocked cry or that’s a really hungry cry,” says Samantha Forehand,
Baby swing did it for us.
Thank heavens, you answered my probing question without having to ask.
My family had four. And I clearly remember my dad, 2 years out of the army working 3 part time jobs to pay for everything. And once he got a job at the Post Office, he worked another job to pay for my mom to go back and get her teaching certificate.
And going through their paperwork as I was cleaning out the house when they passed, they had months when they were late on their $86 mortgage.
I simply cannot imagine. They made it possible so that by the time they retired when I was in my early thirties I was grossing more than twice their BEST year of combined salaries.
They were remarkable people.
The motors on swings would burn out as each baby got really hefty. The bouncer lasted a lot longer.
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