Meridian High School students recently got to experience what it was like to be a parent when they participated in the Flour Baby Project – an effort to prevent teenage pregnancies.

The focus of the Flour Baby Project is centered on preventing teenage pregnancies and in developing an awareness of the serious responsibilities and demands of parenthood, said Kimberly W. Shirley, Health and Family Dynamics teacher at Meridian High School.

“Too many teenagers become pregnant and drop out of school during 9th, 10th, and 11th grades,” Shirley said. “The goal is to reduce those numbers through early intervention and awareness. This activity is one step toward that goal and has had a great impact upon students during this unit. Parents have been extremely supportive and have recommended the activity be conducted for longer periods of time.”

Shirley said the project spanned across all Health and Family Dynamics classes. The students created his or her baby’s birth certificate, dressed the baby and made sure to bring the baby to school with them every day. The students’ comments during this project were educational.

“Some girls complained that they would never have children because they couldn’t keep carrying the “heavy baby” (a 5-pound bag of flour) and the boys learned that fatherhood is equally as stressful.

If the student could not be with the baby, Shirley said it was his or her responsibility to obtain a babysitter.

“I saw several students who did not take my class walking around with flour babies,” Shirley said. “I’d stop them and ask whose baby they had and they would answer that they were babysitting. It is evident this project had a positive impact on more than just my students.”

Most of the students who participated in the project realized one thing – they were not ready to be a parent anytime soon.

Alexxus Land who is in the 10th grade said she learned having a flour baby is a big responsibility.

“I learned that nobody should want to have a baby at such a young age because to me having a baby is exhausting,” Land said. “I carried my flour baby everywhere. Every day Mrs. Shirley would check on our baby to make sure we were taking care of it.

“Some students would try to harm our baby, thinking it was a big joke. I was so happy for this project to be over and I definitely realized I’m not ready to be a mother.”

“It’s not good to have a baby before you are done with school because a baby is hard to take care of while in school,” said Steven Anthony. “So get done with school and college before having a baby.”

Kiera Clemons said the baby was heavy making it very frustrating.

“We had to use the restroom with that baby and get your lunch with it,” Clemons said. “I learned that I am not ready to be a mother. I definitely don’t want to be a teen mom.”

“When I tell you that raising a child is tiring then take my word for it,” said Roderick Jimerson. “I had to walk around campus with the baby and my arms were extremely sore.”

Tariona Mitchell gave her flour baby the name of Tamia La’kiyah Zakeyia Mitchell. 

“I had Tamia in the 10th grade. I know right? But, I got to experience the life of having a child at a young age,” Mitchell said. “The thought of having a child is harder than you think, you have to treat the flour baby as if it were a real live human being.

 “This project taught me that having kids is a big deal and that you will probably have to stop your life to take care of someone else. This flour baby project was a good experience and I believe it taught us a lot about having kids at young ages.”

Aubreel Knighton said she learned caring for a flour baby is hard work, especially if you have twins.

“It’s just as hard as a real baby and you have to take it everywhere you go,” Knighton said. “This is very hard for a teenager who is still in school. We could easily misplace the baby with all the other activities on our mind.”

Knighton said they didn’t have to feed or change the baby but had to take it everywhere.

“It was a little harder on me because I had twins that both weighed five pounds, so basically I was carrying around 10 pounds, plus my books and sports bag. The lesson was that if you had a baby this early while you were in school, could you handle it?

“Honestly, I don’t think I could because I have so many things on my mind and the last thing I think about is a baby. So don’t get pregnant and most important don’t have sex. It could change your life.”

Students Taurus Anderson, Zy’Breun Horn, Ca’Derrias Manning, Elijah Robinson and Brooklyn Cade all agree even though the project was fun they don’t want a baby anytime soon – because once you bring a life into this world, it’s not about you anymore.

Shirley said altogether she believes the project was successful. At the end of the project, students donated their unused non-damaged bags of flour to Love’s Kitchen.