I have a story to tell. It’s mainly a true story but once upon a time Logan and his band of merry co-conspirators were going to a Godzilla premier party last Friday night followed by a trip to the movies to see the film.. We were going to pick up Logan and his friend, well, we’ll just call the friend Doug. We were going to take them home so they could “hang out” as the kids say these days. Oh they were really looking forward to it.
Only thing is that when Doug come walking out of the school he has a baby carrier with him. Huh?? Oh, poor kid has been stuck with a robot baby for the weekend for his Social Skills class. Take a look at the baby.
Isn’t it cute? It comes with a diaper bag and instructions. It is a computerized baby that cries and needs fed and changed and in generally taken care of. Apparently there is a pretty good market for such babies for use by schools teaching about parenthood.
The baby was supposed to “go live” at 4 pm. That kind of put a damper on the hanging out. 4 PM came and went and not a peep out of the baby. It came time to drive to their friend’s house (we’ll call him Flynn) where the party was going to be. We all loaded in the car including “baby” and headed off to Flynn’s house.
5 PM came and still no peep, Logan and Doug started relaxing because they decided that Baby’s batteries were discharged. Well…
At 5:09 baby woke up. At first with that quiet muffled cry that baby’s get when they wake up. Doug and Logan looked at each other and had that look like they hoped that baby’s crying wasn’t going to get too bad. Baby proceeded to quickly go from a quiet cry, to a “Hey, is anybody out there? type exploratory cry.” To a “I’m really pissed off and I am going to kill somebody full throated howl.” Then either Heather or I said that they better take care of the baby.
Then it was hilarious, Doug was trying to hold the baby but didn’t quite know how to do it, and was yelling for Logan to find out what to do and Logan was scrambling through the diaper bag looking for the instruction book.
Baby was getting louder and louder, Logan was saying “Oh gosh, Oh gosh.” Doug was trying to hold the baby in different positions. And I was being really helpful saying stuff like “Don’t worry guys, Flynn will know what to do!” and then just grinning to myself. Doug and Logan reminded of me of new parents of a baby.
Eventually the instructions were found and the baby’s button pressed and it calmed down. We got to Flynn’s house and the baby was quiet but Logan and Doug were totally worn out. Flynn didn’t know what he was getting into but Flynn’s parents were looking at the now sleeping baby skeptically. I was just wondering if they were going to try and take the baby to the theater.
So we left wondering what was to happen, glad that it wasn’t our problem.
I’m sorry to report that the baby got left in the car during the movies. Is there a DHS for robotic babies? They did better than I would have though. I would have left the baby at the house. Apparently the babies are computerized so that the teacher can download a file and find out just how well or badly somebody treated their baby.
We were just glad that Logan had done the alternate assignment that was a report on the costs of having a baby. We all got our sleep.
Have you had to take care of a robot Baby?
Oh, wow!! That’s a new one on me!! What a hoot!! You guys do have “different” experiences!! Thanks for sharing them!! Made my day!! Take care and have a great week — all of you!!
I fear that if they had robot infants when we were young, we might have opted not to have a real one. I’m glad that wasn’t the case. Still, it’s a reality check for the current generation.
These robots, to my mind, show youngsters what it’s really like to have a small baby around – the best form of contraception nowadays:-)
I think these babies are a great idea. It’s important to know that babies aren’t cute all the time. 🙂
I also think that before anyone can adopt a dog for the first time that they need to take a robot puppy home for a week.
That is a good story and the robot baby does look pretty realistic, especially the feet. I don’t need a robot baby though because I’ve been taking care of my almost 2 year old grandson during the week while his parents are at work since he was 6 weeks old. We are getting ready for potty training soon so the adventure never ends, even when your own kids are grown!
I have never had a robot baby but they sound pretty realistic to me.
I’ve taken care of a few human babies, kids and grandkids, but no robots! I’m thinking I’d do the alternate assignment. Smart call on Logan’s part!
Our middle school had this program and it was a hoot what the kids would come back and tell us about their experiences. Loved how you told the story. It was most entertaining. Glad I don’t have to deal with any wee ones anymore. A fun post.
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That’s hilarious!
A great learning experience. Maybe these kids won’t be so eager to make babies.