Today is one of those days that I both look forward to — and dread.
First the negative: Spending 9-10 hours in the car, all in one day.
Now the good part: We get our son back for three months, since another year of college has come to an end.
Truth be told, I shouldn’t really label the day in the car as negative. The first leg, which I do by myself, allows me to listen to whatever I want on the radio — even sing along if I want — or pop in my favorite CDs. And the drive home, for which I’ll have my son to keep me company, is the best part of the day.
By ourselves in the car, G will talk… and talk. I’ll find out what he’s thinking about, what he’s worried about, what he’s excited about, how his finals went, what plans he’s made for next year. I’ve discovered that this window of time, when he’s physically left campus and is on his way home, is a time that he shares. Reflects on his year. And I love it!
Archive for May, 2011
Anticipating the drive
24-hour ‘grandma’
This weekend I heard a sound I hadn’t heard in years in my house — a baby crying.
No, I’m not yet a grandmother (thank goodness) and no, we didn’t have house guests who had a baby. The source of the cries was an electronic doll that my 16-year-old daughter had the task of caring for from end of the school day on Friday until 4 p.m. Saturday. After this 24-hour experience, the “baby” was passed along to another student for her turn.
The project came from the health class all 10th-graders at K’s school are required to take. It must be a relatively new program since my boys, who are four and seven years older, never did this. Now that would have been interesting!
Apparently the teacher programs the “baby” on when it will need to be fed, diapered, rocked, etc., and also how long it will be fussy and to what degree. This doll made cooing noises when it was happy, drinking noises when it was taking the bottle and everything from little unhappy cries to a full-blown wail. Diapers had some sort of electronic patch inside, so that the doll could tell when it had been changed. And K had to wear an electronic bracelet that allowed the baby to recognize her as its “mother.”
Luckily the teacher was kind — the baby “slept” much of the night. It was a good experience for my daughter, I think. Of course, just when we were ready to sit down to dinner on Friday, the baby cried and needed to be fed. “But how am I supposed to eat?” K asked. “You’ll have to eat after you’re done feeding the baby” I replied, telling her if her dinner was cold, she could pop it in the microwave.
Of course, I couldn’t resist adding that there were plenty of times I ate a cold or reheated dinner for exactly the same reason. It allowed for some conversation about how parents generally put their children first and I hope it made her think.
Obviously, the program is meant as a deterrent to teen pregnancy. But for kids like my daughter, who are the babies of the family and didn’t grow up exposed to infants or learning to care for a younger sibling, I think it really opens their eyes. It gives them a glimpse — maybe for the first time — into how much work it is to care for a baby and how committed a parent must be to do it. I hope it also gave her a better understanding of just how much love is needed for this all to happen!
