Look who's crying now

After just five and a half hours into the project, my daughter was ready to call it quits. The experience had already broken her physically and emotionally.

Elizabeth had a tough time looking into her mother's eyes, admitting defeat. Visibly shaking while trying her best to choke back her tears, she kept her arms snugly tucked around her in a futile attempt to find some level of comfort.

Unfortunately for my daughter, there was nothing more my wife and I could do for her. Elizabeth committed herself to the project weeks in advance, somehow thinking it was much easier than the alternative of writing a lengthy essay.

But by Friday evening, she would've opted to write an entire novel versus having to walk back upstairs to deal with the newborn baby crying in the makeshift crib in her bedroom.

For Elizabeth and other students in her teen living class, the weekend was the eye-opening experience few of them ever imagined. For three days, they became the caretakers of newborn children (of sorts) as part of the school's teen living "Baby Think It Over" simulation.

Her ordeal started Friday afternoon as the newborn randomly began to fuss and cry. It was the 15-year-old's job to diagnose what was wrong and take action.

Most times, the baby needed a quick diaper change. A brief coo and acknowledging beep from the computerized child let Elizabeth know when the job was finished.

However, the diaper change was usually followed by the lengthy bottle feeding and burping. If all went according to schedule, the baby would quickly fall back to sleep. Sometimes, Elizabeth's "daughter" needed time to nod back to sleep only to wake up an hour later.

The experience proved equally stressful for Elizabeth's sisters.

Kristen, who celebrated her 13th birthday on Sunday, rapidly grew as frustrated as Elizabeth and wanted to give up helping almost as fast as her older sibling. Even Nichole, a junior at the high school, seemed frustrated with the experience as she tried offering her own limited advice.

Even before the baby cried for the first time early Friday afternoon, the realization of having the equivalent of a newborn under her care terrified Elizabeth. Hearing the baby breathe from the makeshift crib only added to the turmoil my 15-year-old faced.

The experience took a sharp turn to the worse each time the baby cried. And by Friday evening, Elizabeth was convinced that she made a seriously bad choice and now wanted to do the other assignment -- the multi-page essay. Wanting to cry, she begged my wife and I to call her teacher to throw in the towel.

Unfortunately for my teenage daughter, the teacher's phone number was conveniently not listed. Like it or not, she was stranded at home with the baby.

In time, the entire family settled into a rough routine. We offered her some much-needed moral support. We converted the living room sofa and recliners in the den into makeshift beds for needed cat naps while Elizabeth's baby slept within arm's reach.

Granted, none of us got much sleep over the next three days, especially in those instances when the baby belted out one of her blood-curdling shrieks. Even our cats tended to avoid coming out of hiding when the "baby" was around.

But Elizabeth wasn't alone. Her experience pretty much mirrored what other teens in her class dealt with over the weekend. Some came back to school with just a few points deducted from their overall score for minor infractions. Others don't do as well with some docked serious points for not providing adequate care for their child.

Here's one thing that really scared me. The babies could register if someone shook or hit them -- or worse. I don't dare guess how low a student's grade would drop if they got caught doing something like that in a fit of rage.

Hopefully, Elizabeth and her fellow students returned to school Monday morning a lot wiser.

Hopefully, each one understands the consequences of become a teenage parent.

Hopefully, these teens choose to wait until they are ready, physically and mentally, before they choose to become a new mother or father.

Unfortunately, the story is far from over for others in the Mountain Home area that become new mothers before they even reach graduation age. Their experience doesn't end after just three days. For them, it's a lifetime commitment.

For these young mothers, no amount of tears, begging or pleading will make their experience end. Their physical and emotional hardships will continue long after Elizabeth and her classmates are able to return their pseudo-children back to the school.

In their world, these parents face an ever-growing stack of responsibilities. They have no time outs or do-overs. For them, they face nothing but penalties for each wrong choice they make.

And there are few to no alternatives these teens can choose.