Teens in Parenting Class Aren’t Babied

With a 10-pound weight strapped to her stomach, Christi Mann, 17, breathed heavily and walked slowly. Her back hurt, and she felt like she had to go to the bathroom.

The “empathy belly,” designed to show teens what it’s like to be pregnant, was working. After just 10 minutes of pretending, Christi was exhausted.

“I don’t want kids until I’m 30!” she told her Simi Valley High School teacher.

In home economics classes across Ventura County, high schools are teaching teens to be good parents and spouses. Most local high schools, including Santa Paula, Moorpark, Simi Valley, Channel Islands, Hueneme and Nordhoff, offer the courses.

During the semester-long parenting or child development classes, students learn about prenatal care and the stages of labor, as well as how to nurture, feed and bathe a newborn. They also discuss abstinence, birth control and sexually transmitted diseases.

For the final project in most of the elective classes, the teens carry around homemade rice dolls or computerized “babies.” During their few days of parenthood, the teens cannot leave their babies alone and must keep a diary about their experiences. They take the dolls to class, to work and to the movies, often drawing stares and dirty looks.

Teenage pregnancies have been declining in Ventura County in the last few years, according to public health records. In 1998, 1,056 births to mothers under 20 were recorded, compared with 1,264 in 1995.

But teachers and principals say they need to continue educating teens about the consequences of having a baby while in high school. Most pregnant teens drop out of school and get stuck on welfare or working low-paying jobs, they say.

Supporters say the classes give students a realistic taste of parenthood and encourage them to postpone childbirth until they finish high school, or even college. By caring for a baby around the clock, students realize that parenting is an all-encompassing task.

“It wakes them up to what being a parent is like,” said Diane Visencio, maternal and child health director for the county. “And it shows them the choices and challenges of parenting.”

Some critics, however, say parenting should be taught at home, not at school. They argue that schools should be focusing on academics rather than social skills, especially in an era of tougher standards and stricter accountability.

Teachers concede that the parenting classes may not be the most effective prevention program. Hueneme High School teacher Nanci Burkhart recalled that a student got pregnant while enrolled in the child development class. But they do believe the classes change some teens’ attitudes about sex and birth control--at least for a few months.

“It’s kind of like your first car accident,” said Jill Gregory, who teaches child development at Santa Paula High School. “Does it keep you from speeding? For most kids, yes, it does.”

Students enroll in the child development classes for two main reasons:Either they want to learn to raise children for the future, or they plan to become teachers or day-care providers. Some may be pregnant or have children of their own and are looking for parenting tips.

“This class will show me what it’s going to be like when I have real babies,” said Marielle Espiritu, 17, who enrolled in a child development class at Simi Valley High School.

At Santa Paula High, every student in the class takes home a lifelike baby, which cries at random hours of the day or night until the student puts a key in the doll’s back. The “Baby Think It Over” dolls cost about $250, and an electronic device keeps track of how many minutes they cry and how many times they were hit or dropped.

Carrying a diaper bag and a car seat, the Santa Paula students leave school on a Friday afternoon excited to be parents. By Monday morning, they are tired, irritable and anxious to hand over the dolls.

Hueneme High School has only two of the computerized dolls, which students take home for a night for extra credit. But every student carries around a 10-pound sack of flour or rice for three days. During that time, the teens can leave their sacks with a baby-sitter for only two hours each day, and must have an adult sign off every four hours. They share their duties with their “spouse,” a fellow classmate.

Channel Islands High School requires students in the class to spend two weeks carrying around a bag of rice decorated like a baby. Audrey Rubin, who teaches the child development class, said that all semester, the students can’t wait to get the “babies.” But after the third day, they want to get rid of them.

“They realize it’s a nuisance and a chore,” Rubin said.

Simi Valley High School students sew their own dolls, stuff them with rice and cotton and dress them in diapers and baby clothes. For some, making the doll is the hardest part. Last semester, one girl sewed the arm into the neck. Another made one leg smaller than the other. A third forgot the ears.

As soon as the final stitch was sewn, they received diapers and birth certificates. The students carried their dolls around for four days, two at school and two at home. During that time, they wrote down what they did and how they felt.

At Simi High, teachers and students were on the lookout for students who “abused” their babies by stuffing them in their lockers or leaving them unattended.

Sarah Todd, 17, dressed her doll in blue corduroy overalls and took it around campus. At her locker, Sarah almost dropped it when she leaned over to get a book. During history class, she wrapped it in a blanket and sat it on her lap while she took notes.

Classmate Mark Whaley, 16, cooed at the doll. “Oh, he’s got your eyes,” he teased.

On Saturday, Sarah had to take the SAT exam, so she left the doll with her sister. But that night, she took it along to a pizza parlor to celebrate having taken the test. Sarah said she got a lot of dirty looks, especially from older people.

Sarah said the most frustrating thing was not being able to leave the doll alone. At about 8 pounds, it often got in the way.

Christina Berkan, 16, summed up the experience: “It’s like Super Gluing something to your arm.”

Crystal Wilkinson, 17, said she almost forgot her doll at church on Sunday. She said she would hate to be pregnant as a teenager, without a husband to support her.

“It’s weird to have to be responsible for something like this,” she said. “I want to be a mommy--not now but in 10 years.”