Babies' wake-up call for teens.Byline: Ron Livingstone Oh! baby... a group of young adults are this week undergoing a major lesson in life - with a seriously rude rude - [WPI] 1. Badly written or functionally poor, e.g. a program that is very difficult to use because of gratuitously poor design decisions. Opposite: cuspy. 2. Anything that manipulates a shared resource without regard for its other users in such a way as to cause a awakening or two being par for the course. The eight young people - six males and two girls - volunteered for the pioneering Lads To Dads And Mams To Prams course at Fairbridge Teesside in Middlesbrough. The course uses computerised dolls realistically programmed to make the same demands and human responses as their flesh and blood counterparts. The "babies" have gone off with their "mams and dads" on a three night residential stay in North Yorkshire North Yorkshire, county (1991 pop. 698,800), 3,209 sq mi (8,313 sq km), N England. The county comprises the districts of Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough, Selby, and York. . The dolls, each costing around pounds 500 and provided by the NatWest bank, will have to be looked after 24 hours a day. And a computer record of how well the "parents" coped will be replayed at the end of the course on Friday. The scheme is the brainchild brain·child n. An original idea or plan attributed to a person or group. brainchild Noun Informal an idea or plan produced by creative thought Noun 1. of Lindsay Kyle, assistant development co-ordinator at Fairbridge. "There is an extremely high teenage pregnancy teenage pregnancy Adolescent pregnancy, teen pregnancy Social medicine Pregnancy by a ♀, age 13 to 19; TP is usually understood to occur in a ♀ who has not completed her core education–secondary school, has few or no marketable skills, is rate in Middlesbrough - maybe the highest in the country," she said. "But this is not just about looking after a baby. We are also addressing the issues of sexually transmitted infections and making informed choices about relationships. "It'll be fun but also demanding." One of the shocks the group will encounter is the heroin-addicted baby whose piercing cry and life-like shaking mimics the "cold turkey" withdrawal these infants have to endure. Another is an alcohol-addicted child with its shrunken shrunk·en v. A past participle of shrink. shrunken Verb a past participle of shrink Adjective reduced in size Adj. 1. frame and Down's syndrome appearance it will retain as an adult. Shellie Wilson, 14, of Ambleside Avenue, Redcar, a year nine pupil at West Redcar School, is clear about her motives for joining the course. "I did it to prove a point to my mam - that I don't want to have kids yet," she said. "When I'm 19 I want to join the Army and be involved in catering." The youngsters arrived at the Scout centre, Commondale, last night before going shopping - complete with the dolls. Lindsay added: "A whole range of issues came up. One lad said: 'I don't want a black baby' - that's the one we gave him. He might one day be in a relationship with a woman with a black child." The babies will be switched off on Thursday night when the group can relax. On Friday there will be a first aid for babies course and an evaluation. They will write postcards home about their experience - which staff will post a week later. |
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