We’re torn between wanting to call one of these robot babies into our office and staying far, far away after reading about this woman’s experience.
Brave BuzzFeed staff writer Crystal Ro decided that she’s a “grown-ass woman [who] should be fully capable of taking care of a baby — right?” (Her words, not ours.) So she took care of a robot baby for 72 hours, and documented the whole thing.
“On paper, it seems like I could handle taking care of a baby: I have a full-time job, a decent place to live, a supportive circle of friends and family… So, what’s the holdup?” she writes. “I don’t really have a good answer for that. All I know is that I am one of the few childless thirtysomethings in my friend groups. So, I recently wondered how my life would change with a baby in it. Well, a robot baby, anyway.”
Meet Rachael, Ro’s robot baby. This isn’t your average home ec flour sack or egg baby. Nope; Rachael comes equipped with multiple sensors, paired with a personalized wristband, so you can’t pawn her off on someone else.
Ro’s foray into pretend parenthood started off easy enough. “Setting up the Pack ’n Play was pretty easy, and I think that gave me a false sense of security,” she says. But, as actual first-time parents will attest, the car seat was its own monster.
Day one began with 10 minutes of feeding, a diaper change, more feeding, some crying and rocking.
“By 10:30 a.m. Rachael was finally back to sleep, and I was feeling pretty good. ‘That wasn’t so bad,’ I thought (insert more retroactive laughter at myself here).” says Ro.
Ro proceeded to bring Rachael with her to run some errands. First stop, the post office.
“There were a few sympathetic smiles from other post office patrons, though I don’t know if they were like ‘Aww she’s weird’ or ‘Cute, a single mom!’ Either way, I could definitely feel their eyes on me as I went up to the counter,” she writes.
Luckily, there were no tears. Ro has her first real-mom thought: “When I got back in the car, I was relieved, and actually very happy that I got in and out without there being a ‘situation.’”
Confidence boosted, she headed to the mall. We won’t give it all away. But this scorecard tells you what you need to know.
Want to see how Ro handled bringing a baby to brunch, the grocery store, even work? Read the full story here.
We’ll leave you with this:
“As my co-workers ate lunch nearby, I thought it would be fun to show them Rachael. I struggled to get her out of the carrier for a better view, and as I did so, our senior Parents editor noted that I had just broken my baby’s neck.”
Makes you think twice about the newborns in the office policy, huh?
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