As the colder winter months roll in, bundles of lumpy packages begin to pop up in the hallways. Wrapped in anything from baby blankets to miniature clothes, the lumps are revealed to be packs of flour, masquerading as human babies.
The source of such “flour babies” is the senior health class. Before the class’s conclusion, seniors are assigned to be the caretaker of a bag of flour, namely by being responsible for its well-being for the span of a week. However, such an assignment is not without its difficulties. Mandated to never part with it during the entire school day, students have shared how meddlesome carrying a pack of flour could be.
“It was challenging to carry this baby the entire day, but it was actually kind of fun,” senior Shira Shani said. “It was frustrating though to carry something so heavy everyday.”
While at times irksome, it was clear that some enjoyment was to be wrought out of the project, with several students mentioning how entertaining it was to have to put clothes on a pack of flour.
“I really liked dressing my baby,” senior Ava McLaughlin said. “I bought a koala onesie for it from Target!”
Others garnered their sense of amusement from other sources, with a couple of seniors being inventive when it came to the transportation and carrying of the “flour baby.”
“My favorite part was probably putting the baby in my car,” senior Connor Shea said. “I placed it in a car seat and just drove it around.”
While the project proved to be one of both entertainment and irritation, its true purpose lay in the midst of the lumpy clothes and constant transportation: responsibility. The reasoning behind the project’s clingy aptitude all lay in the teaching of seniors about the true burden of parenthood, as well as its warmer, funnier nature.
Much to the relief of the senior health class, the flour baby project is nearing its end. But what is for certain is that in the midst of such a testing assignment will come the eventual realization of the joys and sacrifices to be wrought of parenthood.
“The project is very important in the sense that it makes a high school student be responsible for something other than themselves, and I think it’s an important life skill to have for every student,” senior health teacher Suzanne Cassidy said.
