Cape Town - Visitors to Sun Valley Primary School may be shocked to see Grade 7 pupils sitting at their desks cradling or bottle-feeding their babies.
But the school isn’t experiencing a rash of teenage pregnancies – instead its “flour baby” project is teaching pupils about the realities of parenthood.
Teacher Brad Keller said the project required pairs of pupils to create a baby out of 2.5kg of flour, stuffing and stockings and then take care of its every need for two weeks.
They were not allowed to leave their babies unattended and, just like other new parents, had to get up a few times a night to attend to their ewborns.
“We sent a letter home to the parents (of the pupils) to say they have to wake up two or three times during the night and their parents have to fill out a form to say whether the children had been waking up.”
Keller said because there were more boys than girls there were some same-sex couples and single parents.
Each “parent” was required to take care of the baby for seven days and when one had sport practice, for example, had to arrange for the other to take care of it or arrange a babysitter.
Pupils were also required to calculate the once-off costs of having a baby, including hospital fees, cots and formula as well as a monthly budget, based on the scenario that they were recently out of school or still in school.
“They find it quite challenging and exhausting and they really understand at the end of the two weeks what an amazing and intense undertaking it is to have a baby.”
Keller said pupils also had to keep a diary containing everything from their child’s birth certificate and immunisation dates to daily entries on their experience.
“It has taught them how to care for someone other than themselves but also about the importance of choosing the right partner. As part of the project they also had to assess each other. I think a lot of them don’t want to be parents anytime soon.”
Pupils said going to a shopping mall with their babies had also been “an experience” and while some people were aware of the project, they had to explain it to others.
Indigo Camichel said she had learnt that “before you have a baby you really have to be prepared and have the money”.
Joshua McGuinness said that while everyone thought the project would be just about “carrying around a baby for two weeks”, they soon realised that it was a lot of work. His peer Rikky Raven said: “It’s expensive.”
Cape Argus