Fake Babies Intended To Reduce Teen Pregnancies Backfire, Study Finds
The virtual infant parenting program "exaggerates the positives and diminishes the negatives" of caring for an infant, writes Julie Quinlivan of the Institute for Health Research at the University of Notre Dame Australia.
Los Angeles Times:
Robotic Babies Intended To Reduce Teen Pregnancies May Have Had The Opposite Effect
In some parts of the world, schools have kicked it up a notch by giving teenagers robotic babies to take care of for an entire weekend. It's the high-tech version of babysitting an egg for the weekend. Either way, the exercise is meant to emphasize how all-consuming it is to care for an infant — and hopefully motivate students to do everything in their power to make sure they don’t become teen parents.Ironically, the lifelike baby dolls may do just the opposite by glamorizing the life of a teen mom. (Roy, 9/3)