what grade did your child do the "egg baby" project for school?Is 6 grade too young?

[wildernesslodgelover]

MrsPete-That's what I am kind of thinking...just seems a little young for them to really "get" it.

horseshowmom-that is very sad. Like MrsPete said, I almost think a 5th grader is incapable of being promiscuous...I really think at that age a child is a "victim!" No matter the circumstances, very sad.

Ok, so it seems like others have done this (egg baby project) at a young age. It is for DD's science class. I would have thought it would be more for high school age, but I am not upset or anything by it. A few parents are upset...mostly about the lessons on reproduction than the actual egg baby project(although the two are intertwined, obviously.)

Thanks again for the responses!

 

[horseshowmom]

MrsPete-That's what I am kind of thinking...just seems a little young for them to really "get" it.

horseshowmom-that is very sad. Like MrsPete said, I almost think a 5th grader is incapable of being promiscuous...I really think at that age a child is a "victim!" No matter the circumstances, very sad.

Ok, so it seems like others have done this (egg baby project) at a young age. It is for DD's science class. I would have thought it would be more for high school age, but I am not upset or anything by it. A few parents are upset...mostly about the lessons on reproduction than the actual egg baby project(although the two are intertwined, obviously.)

Thanks again for the responses!

Just to clarify, my intention was not to insinuate that the child was promiscuous nor that she wasn't a victim. In this case the "father" is a high school boy. I agree that it's very sad.

 

[Becky2005]

Ours don't do it at all unless they take Child Development class which is in High School. So the earliest they can do it is 9th grade and ours is a baby simulator not an egg.

My DD is taking it next year and she can not wait. She already has plans to dress the baby up and is hoping she gets a girl doll. She helped her friend with hers a couple years ago. Then again, my daughter has been around real infants for quite a while being the oldest....her baby brother has been known to call her "little mommy".

Edited to add: They do a basic puberty type talk in 5th grade and then in 7th grade they have Life Science which goes into more details. No egg project was ever involved though. I know my best friend did that in high school, I did not (we went to different High Schools).

 

[avgeek81]

I did the egg project in 5th grade. I remember drawing clothes and hair on the egg. I think pp might be right that the lesson may be lost on kids that young. I remember thinking it was cool we had this little thing to carry around, not thinking gee this is gonna stop me from having a kid young because i dont want the responsibility

 

[xApril]

I never got to do it.

In middle school, I took health all three years (then they made a rule that we couldn't do that, since it's essentially the same thing every year ) and the eighth graders were allowed to take the dolls that you have to change the diaper of, feed, etc. for the weekend. I never participated in it though.

 

[malibuconlee]

I want to say I did it in high school. However I don't think 6th grade is too young. We had two girls give birth while we were in middle school and I was from a pretty small town!

 

[sparks19]

We never did the egg thing. I did the bag of flour baby in highschool parenting class though.....

I sat on my flour baby once lol

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

In the 1980s, we did a potato (it won't turn rotten by accident --at least from a food safety perspective). We did this in 8th grade. One of my classmates was hungry one day and bit into the potato. "Authorities" made him surrender his child. (the teacher took his baby).

Anytime in middle school would be appropriate since some children become babysitters around 12/13.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Just to clarify, my intention was not to insinuate that the child was promiscuous nor that she wasn't a victim. In this case the "father" is a high school boy. I agree that it's very sad.

If he's a high schooler and she's a 5th grader, unless she's been retained many times that's abuse. How did the pediatrician not call CPS the first time? How was she still unsupervised enough for it to happen two more times?

If my 5th grader were to come to me and ask me to take her for a pregnancy test there are going to be some dramatic steps taken.

 

[stsomewhere]

My son did this last year when he was in 6th grade. It was hard boiled. He had to take care of it for a week.

 

[horseshowmom]

If he's a high schooler and she's a 5th grader, unless she's been retained many times that's abuse. How did the pediatrician not call CPS the first time? How was she still unsupervised enough for it to happen two more times?

If my 5th grader were to come to me and ask me to take her for a pregnancy test there are going to be some dramatic steps taken.

Got to agree with this completely, but I don't have the answers to the questions (other than the fact that I doubt it was a pediatrician, just a regular doctor or perhaps even a nurse practitioner - not sure about that). Perhaps they thought she was just saying it to get attention, I don't know. Sadly, many children live in a world far different than what my child and yours live in.

To answer the retained question, she's probably been retained at least once, maybe even twice, but that's still very young IMHO (and yours too, I'm quite sure).

 

[The Mystery Machine]

just wondering. My daughter goes to a small, private christian school so I kind of thought this was a little early. Would love to hear from parents of public schoolers, private schoolers, etc.

Thanks!!

I have an almost 20yodd and a 14yodd and both of them never had to take a family or childcare class ever.

Like a PP you only would do that in HS *IF* you took a Child Development class.

 

[BrerMom]

Our 6th graders carry balloon babies.

 

[lilosurf11]

I was in 8th grade when we had this project and I could not stand it. I think that explains why I don't want children. Nothing against them - It's just not for me.

 

[Sehsun]

When I was in 9th grade, we had to carry around a "flour baby" for a week in our Life Management class. I really enjoyed it. Then again, I played with dolls until I was 12-ish and loved caring for infants (still do!).

 

[ZephyrHawk]

6th grade = 12 years old = sexual maturity for most American females.

It's a perfectly fine time for them to start learning about the difficulties of caring for offspring.

I never did this in school, but I always wanted to. I never had time for fun electives.

My son did this last year when he was in 6th grade. It was hard boiled. He had to take care of it for a week.

Wait, hard boiled? That's not fair. I know in my school if it turned out you boiled your kid at the end of the week you failed, just as if you dropped it and broke it!

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

I personally think this is the most unrealistic simulation ever dreamed up and I absolutely hate the message it sends... whether it's eggs, bags of flours, or simulation dolls. Ugh.