Baby Simulators Teach Lessons at Olympia

by Tricia Petersen, OHS Torch reporter

Mrs. Goff’s Child Care class recently  took on the caring for the baby simulators for a weekend; the students faced responsibilities similar to caring for a real baby 24 hours a day.

Daulton Finchum, senior at Olympia High school, said that it is similar to caring for a real baby because he had to plan around it. While the simulators do offer quite a bit practice in caring for a baby, Mrs. Goff said, “ It’s not the same as caring for a real child because it is an inanimate object and it doesn’t interact or give positive feedback.”

Mrs. Goff has been teaching this lesson for six years and the teacher before taught it for four years. She hopes that this simulator teaches students that it is very stressful caring for a baby.

According to Daulton, Mrs. Goff’s goals for this lesson came true. He stated that it was stressful when it woke up in the middle of the night.

Although it seems to be stressful for the teacher also. “ Yes, it is stressful because you never know how serious the student will be about the assignment,” said Mrs. Goff.

“Typically a weekend caring for a simulator impacts the understanding of how much time, care, and patience is required,” Mrs. Goff said.   Daulton agrees with his statement that he is  “not ready for a baby now, but in the future.”