Sugar Baby

Have you ever heard of the book, Sixth Grade Sugar Babies? My son's teacher read it to the class, and all the students wanted to do their own Sugar Baby activity. They would carry around a sack of sugar for at least 24 hours with the purpose of understanding what a huge responsibility it is to care for an infant. Sam seemed enthused about the project when he explained it to me, so we went to the store and bought the 4 pound sack of sugar. His enthusiasm was was dampened when the class drew slips of paper to find out whether their sugar baby would be a boy or a girl. Sam's slip of paper said, "Its a girl" which he thought made no sense whatsoever.

The students had the option of dressing their "baby" (now grudgingly named Olivia) in baby clothes, so he went through a few boxes of baby clothes  I've saved to find something that looked like a girl would wear. He came up the stairs with a white sweater in hand (part of a baptism outfit, I think) After a few tries at dressing this armless sack of sugar, he gave up, opting for a simple flannel receiving blanket. 

After school, he and his baby got off the bus, having survived the school day together. He observed that for most of the girls in his class, it had been a chance to relive the years of playing dolls. They had babies that were fully accessorized, with outfit changes and mini-car seats. He came home mildly annoyed and still not sure where the head was supposed to be on a sack of sugar.

According to the directions of the assignment, if the student couldn't carry their baby along, they had to get a babysitter. There was NO way he was hauling "Olivia" along on his paper route, so I was appointed as the caretaker of the sugar. It had been a long day at school, so I willingly took it upstairs for a nap. 

That night, we were getting ready to go to a graduation party, and Sam started thinking about how he was going to manage his "baby". "Can I just leave it in the car?" he wondered aloud. After considering his teacher's directions to treat the sugar like a real baby, he concluded that wouldn't be an option. He made one phone call to a friend he could count on NOT to laugh, but that potential babysitter wasn't home. I made one final suggestion. "Maybe you'll be like most new parents and stay home from the party." 

He stayed home from the party. Tomorrow he has to take it to school once more so that each student can prove that their "baby" survived the weekend. 

After that, Sam has decided that we're making cookies out of "Olivia."