Having babies early is no fun
Riverlea Primary School Grade Sevens had an interesting project which they had to endure for 10 days.
According to the Natural Science teacher, Michelle Moothoo, the learners could barely stand the last few days of the project.
This project was named the ‘Sugar Baby’ project for Natural Science. The learners were educated about the human reproductive system and it was structured to show the boys and girls what it was like to have a baby at such a young age.
The reality of it all is that many young girls fall pregnant in their teens and early teens.
“Girls from the age of 12 years old are now allowed to have legal abortions since the government legalised it. So, what the girls do now is that when they fall pregnant they either go to the hospital to administer the pill which aborts the foetus or you will find that some of them go the illegal route where they use the hanger wire to pull the foetus out,” said Moothoo.
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Youngsters need to understand the responsibilities of parenthood and the consequences of their actions.
The learners were required to carry two bricks that were wrapped in blankets and carry backpacks with clothes to wipe the brick babies and to change their nappies.
Some girls still had dolls, so they used that instead. They had to do this for 10 days and the boys and girls had to participate in the project because they learnt what it was like to be a parent at such a young age.
Moothoo said that the children started complaining after the first four to five days because they wanted to play but couldn’t. For some, the make-believe parenthood was fun but it soon became a burden.
“The learners had to carry the babies everywhere they went, whether it was changing classes or going home and even on weekends they had to have the babies with them,” said Moothoo.
They were also required to write a daily diary about how the day went with the babies and even had fake clinic cards.
Moothoo said that on day 7, the children could no longer deal with parenthood and she decided that the lesson was learnt.
“The children finally understood how much responsibility it was to be a parent said that they do not want to be parents now because they still want to have fun and be kids,” said Moothoo.
The learners learnt a valuable lesson from this project and their teacher is just hoping that the message was received by learners who were already sexually active.
