The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

    Psych students coddle eggs to simulate parenthood

    Fourteen psychology students took part in a project last week that required them to carry around eggs for two days and treat them as if they were their own children. Those who participated opted to do so in lieu of taking the first unit test.

     “The project was intended to be a parenting simulation,” psychology teacher Luba Bek said. 
    Students had to wake up in the middle of the night to feed their eggs, burp them, and carry them around at all times, including at school as part of the exercise.

    Eggs had to be carried in a safe basket approved by Bek.

    Some students chose to carry their eggs around in baskets or small gift bags padded with cotton to ensure the egg’s safety; Chris Okano ’08 carried his egg in a furry rabbit-shaped purse, while Sam Farmer ’08 used a plastic bag with an air hole cut out so the egg could breathe.

    In the event of other commitments such as sports practice or play rehearsal, students had to ask a parent or a friend also partaking in the project to baby-sit for  a maximum of six hours over the two days.

    “[The project] was very realistic,” Ziana Bagot ’08 said. “Even though the eggs couldn’t cry, we still had to do all the things a real parent has to do. It was a great learning experience,” Ziana Bagot ’08 said.

    Students also had to keep a log detailing the egg’s daily routine, recording feeding times, sleep patterns medication requirements if the egg received was “sick.”

    The eggs were stamped with a customized stamp in order to prevent students from accidentally breaking their egg and replacing  it with another.

    Had they broken their egg, students could have still opted to take the unit test.

    “The eggs’ names were creative,” Bek said. “There were some common names like Laila and Hugo, while others chose more original names,” Bek said.

    Okano named his female egg Damirta after Dylan Treivush ’08, whose middle name is Damir. Chris Tennenbaum ’08 called his egg Nestor after a character in Homer’s “The Iliad.”

    “It was really cool,” Maddy Sprung-Keyser ’09 said. “It was a good opportunity, and fun to take instead of a test,”

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    Psych students coddle eggs to simulate parenthood