‘This Is Hard’: Eighth-Graders Try Out Parenting Skills
Some of the flour babies wore duct tape for protection.
Some sat, forgotten, on piles of books while their parents came to last-minute agreements over names. One eighth-grader in Connie Stacy’s health class casually blew the flour dust off his baby’s head.
At the front of the room, pairs of youngsters read aloud their contracts, agreeing to seven days of parenthood.
“This responsibility includes full daily care of my ‘flour sack baby’ as if it were a real child, looking out for its welfare as the most responsible parent posssible,” the contract reads.
This was day one of the weeklong flour baby exercise at Centennial Middle School. It’s a lesson calculated to give the eighth-graders a better perspective on teenage pregnancy.
Teasing and laughter rang across the room, as other students waited their turn.
“I don’t want a Nike swoosh on my baby,” said April Preston, objecting to her partner’s attempt to make their baby a little hip.
It didn’t take long for reality to begin to sink in though. By the end of class, Preston murmured, “This is hard.” She held her books, her 10-pound bag of flour and her cabbage patch doll.
Classmates Kristy Crabtree and Kris Rancourt had their first challenge deciding who was responsible for baby Trevor during track - both had practice Monday at the same time. Kristy’s coach finally established a day care in the girls’ locker room.
At home that first evening, Kristy and her mother got out baby clothes worn by her 18-year-old brother, including sweaters knit by Kristy’s grandmother.
Fun to try on, the sweaters wouldn’t do for “Trevor” the next day in school.
“Oh, no. They’re too big. He drowns in them,” Kristy said.
Cute clothes or not, the lesson was coming through.
“I never thought it would be hard to take care of a kid, but it’s heavy and I have to carry it with my books and everything,” Kristy said. “You can’t just put it down and leave it somewhere.”
On Wednesday, the lesson got a little sharper. The eighth-graders heard from teenage mothers who attend Spokane Valley High School, an alternative school.
“I don’t want anybody to be where I am,” said Jayme Transue, 18, married and mother of Sativa, who will be 2 in May. “I’ve lost too much.”
What, in particular?
“My childhood,” said Transue. “That and my sleep.”
Transue and her classmate, Rebekah Lakman, 16, ticked off the difficulties of motherhood: finding time to be with friends, finding money to pay bills, getting up in the morning. Finding a few minutes to be alone - even in the bathroom.
“I have one more thing to add,” Lakman said. “It’s hard walking down the street (with your baby) having people downgrading you because you’re so young.”
Quilt for the Earth
Sixth-graders in Shirley Millar’s class at Ponderosa Elementary School took on this assignment as part of their environmental studies:
“We pretended that Mrs. Millar was a billionaire and she wanted to put billboards for saving the environment all over the world,” explained student Kristyn Koehler, 11.
The billboard designs so delighted Millar, she found a way to display them - in a patchwork quilt.
One panel shows an ill Planet Earth, with a thermometer in its mouth.
Another, done by Kristyn, is dominated by a moose. One antler becomes a live tree branch complete with leaves and birds nest. The other antler is broken and barren.
Classmate Heidi Begovich, 12, designed hers after the rain forest of Brazil.
“We wrote the president of Brazil and asked him to stop cutting down the rain forest,” Heidi said.
EV kids win anti-drug awards
Students from East Valley Middle School won several awards in the recent Teens Against Substance Abuse Campaign competition.
The contest involved creating anti-smoking, anti-drinking and anti-drug messages in various media.
Winners from Kim Cunliffe and Lori Jacobson’s classes included: Valerie Caulk, Cassie Child, Tanya Katterfeld, Alyson Mahan, Jane Anderson, Stephanie Boorman, Megan Buchanan, Amanda Girven, Kaylin Greene, K.C. Henderson and Josh Japp.
Golden singers at CV
Central Valley High School’s A Capella Choir, directed by Dana Sewell, came home recently from national competition with a gold rating, the highest possible award.
In Chicago, the three festival judges ranked the choir with a 91, 94 and 97, out of a possible score of 100.
“The students sang the best that they have all year,” Sewell said. “They were also very well behaved. We had zero discipline problems while we were there.”
If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a Valley school or about the achievements of Valley students, teachers or school staff, please let us know at the Valley Voice, 13208 E. Sprague, Spokane, WA 99216. Call: 927-2166. Fax: 927-2175.
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