“Meet William. He’s Olivia’s interactive baby assignment for her Early Childhood Education Class.
Now, meet Olivia with William. Olivia is 14 years old and will be turning 15 in May. She is the oldest of four children. I have a 6-year-old girl, a 4-year-old boy, and a new baby girl who is just 3 weeks old.
Olivia has had William since Friday night. She is absolutely exhausted and ready to quit the class and give him back, or maybe even throw him back!
My favorite moment so far is when she came into my room last night around 3 a.m. She was crying real tears while feeding him his bottle.
She was begging me to help her because she just wanted to get some sleep. (Yeah, no.)
Sunday night, William magically started crying as soon as I set the table for dinner… it was almost like he knew. Long story short, Olivia had to warm her plate up 3 times. His feedings were taking nearly 20 minutes during which he required a burp, diaper change, and about 12 minutes of rocking.
After a disastrous dinner, Olivia went to take a shower. She loaded William up in his car seat and took him in the bathroom with her. She finished up rather quickly and explained that she decided to take a bath instead. She didn’t have time to wash her hair and was afraid he would start crying and need her.
Olivia failed her assignment. Having siblings in NO way prepared her for what it might be like to have her own child. I believe this assignment should be mandatory for both boys and girls in high school.
It’s definitely been a learning experience! Olivia just walked in with a new baby, John, to try again this weekend.”
