Connor: Time with a Virtual Baby

Cayla De Winnaar shares her weekend experience with a virtual baby.

On Friday 9th 2018, I looked after the virtual baby. I called him Connor and I had such a great experience with him. He was a really good baby, perhaps because I thought he would cry a lot more than he actually did. The experience was really good because the baby behaved like a proper baby. At times it was really stressful because I couldn’t handle it. He woke me up three times during the night: 1.00am, 2.36am and 5.50am, yet it was a very  beneficial because I began to understand how actual parents think and feel when they have a baby.

When I was walking around with him, I felt the real weight of a baby. When he was in the car seat, it really hurt my hand because I had to hold him for a long time.  It was a great experience because it made me realize how hard it really is  to look after a baby. When I was in Asda he started to cry and I had to change him, so I went to the baby changer cubicle, I became really stressed because he just kept on screaming. The only embarrassing and depressing thing for me, about having the baby, was that people kept on staring at me, and they thought that I had a real baby at 15.

Overall, this was a great experience and I understand how hard it is to have a baby, especially how tired parents become when they have to be awake for their child. If I had a baby now, at the age of 15, I think I would struggle. I would end up giving my baby to my parents to look after because I would be too tired to look after him. My education would suffer because my life would have to evolve around the baby. I wouldn’t be able to go to school. I would be too tired to go due to waking up all night to go check on him. I would say that the best age to have a baby is when you have a full time job, a time when there is enough money to look after you, your baby, the bills and to pay for a place to live, like a flat.