Looking after a baby - how hard could it be, right?
Well, as a class of high schoolers from a Canadian Secondary School discovered, pretty freaking hard. And they got to give their "babies" back.
The year eleven students from Chippewa Secondary School in North Ontario, Canada, took part in a "Raising Healthy Children" class where they looked after some very realistic newborns for the weekend.
And their experience will have you chuckling, wincing and saying "TOO REAL."
A spokesperson from the school told Essential Baby, "The students bring home one of the "Real Care" babies for the weekend to apply their learning for the caring for a newborn unit," adding that it's an "optional experience" that most chose to participate in.
"The babies cry, need to be held, rocked, burped, diapers need to be changed and they need to be fed. The dolls also record rough handling, abuse and temperatures."
Yep - learning how to care for a baby has evolved since Spike and her mates looked after eggs in Degrassi Junior High.
"My son got an F cause he put his baby in his back pack and left him in his locker poor baby," one woman wrote. "But he did grow up to be a good father to his sons."
"I had one of these babies in middle school and on the way home the bus was going more slowly after school," said another. "So the kids asked why we were going slow over the bumps and stuff. My mum, the bus driver, replies, 'I've got my grandson on the bus'. "Never have I had over 40 people turn around and look so quickly."
Others laughed that parenting ed classes have indeed come a long way.
"Ok I am like so old!" said one woman. "We had a thing kind of like this but we had a five pound sack of flour that we had to keep with us for a week. Always holding it, caring for it, couldn't leave it with anyone couldn't drop it, no matter what we were doing it was there with it. And God forbid the bag got home in it and the flour leaked out!"
For many parents, reading the texts was a step back in time.
"Their comments immediately brought me back to those first few days home with our first (real) baby...panic, exhaustion, frustration! What a great experience!!" said another.
While some suggested that the program needs to include older kids - just to increase the difficulty level.
"I think it would be even more effective if several parents of toddlers let these kids borrow the toddlers for 24-48 hours," one mum wrote.
"Give them a mouthy 10 year old girl" said another. "My newborn is a breeze in comparison."