Senior Flour Babies

For two weeks during the each marking period, seniors in the Family Living class experience the reality of being parents by being tasked to take care of 5 pounds bags of flour. This is supposed to resemble being a teenage parent and having to take care of your child while at school. Seniors at Leonia High School must carry their babies throughout the entire school day and if they are caught without it by their teacher then they lose points on the assignment. During the 2 week long period students are expected to carry their babies around, take care of them, play with them, and watch them throughout the day. It has proved challenging for seniors to juggle their regular school day and their assigned bag of flour.

According to Senior Emani Murphy, mother to a flour bag or “baby” named Kamora, the best part of being a mother to Kamora is, “She’s quiet and well behaved and never fusses.” Emani also commented,  “This project helps us because it is a reminder to not have kids early on in life because it can be a major inconvenience, but overall this project is super fun and I love how creative we can be with it.” 

Senior Marie Boutros will not get her flour baby until marking period 3 but she already has experience with the assignment as she has taken care of many of her friends’ babies. She is very excited to dress up her flour baby and she thinks it is important for students to be responsible when doing this assignment. Marie notes, “The hardest part will be having to bring the flour baby everywhere and keep it safe so it doesn’t get taken.” 

Although it’s merely a bag of flour, the seniors are expected to carry their flour baby in something like a stroller or blanket, dress them up, and keep an eye on them at all times, or, similar to the real world, your baby will be kidnapped. 

Senior Yutaka Uchida is a father to a baby girl and he is very excited about this project because he gets to take care of a baby for two weeks and ensure its safety. He comments, “I find this project enjoyable due to the feeling of a new responsibility added on to my day to day routine.” Yutaka says this project is extremely helpful for the future of students as they get a sense of what the reality of being a parent and taking care of a baby is. 

This assignment has been a tradition at Leonia High School for many years and although the project may be difficult, it is also very enjoyable. In my own experience, I was assigned twin flour babies, a baby boy and a baby girl.  I’m a very busy person and my babies came everywhere that I went, including all of my classes, volleyball games, and practices. They even went to Starbucks on a daily basis. In my personal opinion, I think it is very fun to take care of a flour baby and I hope Leonia continues to do this assignment for many years to come.

Edited by: Katerina Romanides