When taking the Parenting Skills course, students take on the task of taking care of a baby for a chosen weekend. The Real Care babies, also known as the robot babies, are what the students use to learn how to care for a baby as they would a real one. 

After practicing in class for three to four days, students take the babies home for a weekend. During this time, they have to feed, change, rock and burp the babies. The babies may also coo, cough and need to have their head supported properly or risk crying. 

¨The students are very nervous to take the babies for the weekend due to the fact that the babies will wake them up in the middle of the night, and their schedules are unpredictable, just like a real baby,¨ Parenting Skills teacher Mrs. Beth Pavinich said. 

Through this process, students learn that parenting is a non-stop job and definitely not easy. Many of them say that their appreciation for their parents and all parents in general grow after their weekend with the baby.