My Sugar Baby - Liam

So for the past week starting from Friday October 29th, I had to carry a fake baby around where ever I went. It wasn't those mechanical babies that cried, but it was just a boring old bag of sugar decorated with pantyhose and baby clothing.

Ever since I was little, it was one of my "things to do before I die" kinda thing. I would always see people in movies and dramas carrying around these fake babies. I thought it would be so FUN!

I was wrong.

I think the best part was making the baby. So our teacher, Mrs.Stableford told us to buy a list of things so we can make our sugar babies such as: Pantyhose, bag of sugar, eyes, pacifier, baby clothes, pillow stuffings, etc. We expected her to tell the class how to make the baby. Do a step by step process...When class started she said "Okay GUYS!..START MAKING YOUR BABIES!" We had no clue how to make it so we spent half the period just figuring out how to make it. Eventually we found a way, and I made my baby boy LIAM!

Here are some things I learned while carrying Liam around everywhere for the past week:

1) BABIES ARE HEAVY.

So Liam only weighed around 7 pounds? At first I thought to myself "oh, this isn't so heavy," but after carrying him around everywhere for a couple of minutes, my arms was in pain! Omgosh. Also I couldn't go to my locker because one arm was occupied with Liam so I couldn't put my binders in my bag or wear my jacket.

2) Help from Family and Friends are a MUST!

When I needed to go to my locker or the washroom, my friends had to take care of him. When I didn't wanna take care of Liam, my friends took him. At one point, I left my baby in one of my classes not even remembering I had a child with me. When I got to my next class, I remembered that I had a son! I ran back to one of my classmates class, and he told me that the guy next door had him. I ran into his class and grabbed Liam. Thank God they had my back because if I lost it, 15% of my mark gone right there.

3) Strangers are really scary! LAWWL :)

So 2 out of the 7 days, I had to take Liam to my tutor school. I had to bring him to the viva bus and ttc subway. In the subway, I got the WORST glares from people, especially old ladies. At one point I said to them, "It's a fake baby." This woman was staring at my baby so hard I thought lasers were going to come out of her eyes or something. Gosh, I was so embarrassed. First I look like a 10 year old. Second I'm carrying around a baby. Third, it's fake. Yup, I'm a typical 16 year old.

4) Some people have to keep their personal opinions about my baby to themselves.

"WHY IS IT BROWN?" "IT'S SO UGLY!" -PUNCHH- Yup, those were some of the comments or reactions I got from many classmates (especially boys.) As time passed by, I started to attack back naturally without me even realizing. "You're baby is kinda ugly." ...

"Well, you're pretty ugly too." It kinda pisses you off when some people don't consider what you're going through. I learned how real parents feel when random strangers criticize a new born. Also, if their kids have mental or physical illnesses, I'm pretty sure there will be those people that will make fun of the parents. Those kinds of people actually deserve a punch in the face.

5) Support from your family affects how you view your baby.

My dad thought this project was USLESS. He said how Liam looked like some kind of demon child. He wasn't considering the fact that I made Liam and he was worth a huge chunk of my mark. Every time he said some rude comment, it was influencing my views on Liam. While I was hearing all these stories from my classmates stating that their parents bought extra clothes for their grandchild or whatever, my dad was yelling at me about Liam. On sunday, I couldn't even bring Liam to church because he didn't wanna be known as the "parents of a child who is carrying around a demon child." He was not giving me an legitimate reason as to why I couldn't bring him to church. I knew for a fact that people would've liked Liam at church. :(

6) Parenting is hard.

I've only had Liam for only 7 days. He wasn't even real but brought so many problems to my life. My arms were getting tired, random strangers giving me all these stares, etc. It opened my eyes to the real lives of parents. My mom told me the moment I brought Liam home, "I hope you will realize what I went through." Being a parent is HARD WORK. It's stressful, time consuming, and an emotional roller coaster. We all say, "yeah parenting is hard...blah blah blah." but if you guys do this project, you will actually get a glimpse of what it is like to be one. I am not ready to be a parent, and I won't be for another good 10 years.

When this project started, a lot of classmates came up to me and asked me, "this project is useless." "I don't get why you're taking this course." and a million more questions. I like these kinds of courses cause these kind of lessons help me in the real world and in the future. Even though I was happy to hand in Liam to my teacher, I will miss seeing his droopy eyes and his extra-fat thighs.