“The babies cry, you have to change their diapers, and you have to burp them and rock them,” stated Linda Hostetler, the Lifespan Development teacher at Central High School.

A baby’s cry is not necessarily a student’s favorite sound to hear but, it is that time of the year when students in the Lifespan Development class get to take home the babies. According to Hosteler, students are somewhat thrilled to take home the babies, but the project also comes with many responsibilities.

“The purpose of this class is to teach the students and let them understand how much work they have to do, that’s why it’s better to wait until you have a partner because it makes things so much easier,” explained Hosteler.

The babies are taken home on Fridays and returned on Monday mornings. Students have to frequently rock the baby and support the head; however, the babies are not set to a certain time. Students could have a baby that cries constantly, or not at all.

“When the babies start crying, you have to figure out what’s wrong, such as holding it or seeing if it’s hungry,” added Hosteler.

Ms. Hostetler noticed that her students were somewhat excited about taking home the babies, but also nervous.

Sophomore Maggie Watts, shared her thoughts about what she plans to focus on for this upcoming weekend.

“I’m really nervous but I plan on taking care of it by making it stop crying as soon as it starts, this class is a good preparation and I’ve learned a lot of stuff that most people wouldn’t know,” stated Watts.

Students in the class usually create baby and pregnancy books to learn all about raising a child. They also earn how babies develop and how they start to understand different things.

According to Hosteler, this class is a good representation of how different ages handle babies. By showing her classes how babies should be properly cared for, it decreases the chances of child abuse and neglect.