Year 12 Community and Family Studies

Year 12 Community and Family Studies (CAFS)- Parenting and Caring Panel 

Before life was turned upside down with COVID-19, our gorgeous Year 12 CAFS students had a taste of what parenting may be like. In Stage 1, students ‘gave birth’ to a baby and were expected to parent and mind their baby for a week. They first trialed a doll or sand baby to experience the challenges of getting around the school or in public areas with a pram, and quickly discovered some of the accessibility issues parents and even more so people in wheelchairs must face on a daily basis. They also discovered the negative looks and comments from the public, a teen parent must face, when having a baby while still attending school. They named their children (some were lucky to get twins) and soon discovered exactly how heavy a 3 kg baby can be when holding it for long periods or juggling books and bags as well as their precious child and prams. Babysitting from grandparents was limited to once a week.

Stage 2 of the process involved parenting an electronic ‘real care’ baby, a long-term goal was reached when the TAS and PDHPE faculties purchased 10 of these real care baby dolls. The new electronic babies record all treatment of the baby and produces a report on the parent on how well they cared for their baby. These amazing babies, cry for different reasons, need to be fed, burped and changed regularly and kept many of our ‘student parents’ up at night over the experience. About half of the Year 12 students have had the real care babies now and many found it insightful but challenging. The other half will get to experience this lifelong lesson when school life returns to normal. An amazing experience for all involved, and as a result I don’t think many of our students will be rushing into parenting anytime soon.

Mrs Shannon Clough and Mrs Lauren Muller

Community and Family Studies Teachers