SAN JOSE, CALIF. —This week Phi James’ psychology students here at Silver Creek High School have taken on the task of raising sock babies, documenting their babies’ growth throughout the week of the 27th!

This is the time of year when Silver Creek High School psychology students raise sock babies and document them “growing up” from birth to the age of 12. This development section is particularly well-liked and frequently discussed by both students and teachers because teachers have the power to notify James of any maltreatment to the infant, which results in grade deductions for the child’s parent. 

They must be taken everywhere by their parents who must treat them as if they were living children. The gender of the babies are revealed with a gender reveal party where James distributes cupcakes with either blue or pink frosting – blue representing male and pink representing female. Once the baby’s gender is determined you must name them and dress them up to look like newborn babies.

Natasha Charncherngkha, a senior in James’ fifth period psychology class describes her experience raising a sock baby. 

“​​I thought it was funny at first but honestly, I was kinda happy because I’ve always wanted a daughter and felt like I’d turn out to be a good mom. This project has tested my skills,” said Charncherngkha. 

With having to treat the sock like an actual baby, Charncherngkha has had to learn to manage her time. She has basketball and other extracurriculars and still needs to decide whether or not the baby will come with her or if she needs to find someone to babysit for her.

To add to the enjoyment of the project, being able to customize your baby adds to the personalization. Charncherngkha named her sock baby Iris, after the goo goo doll’s song “Iris”, which is one of her favorites. She also used an old sock that had a snoopy design on it, cut out some holes to make a sweater for her sock baby. Charncherngkha also added blush marks on her face but this had a lot of people calling her baby a furry since they thought she had whiskers and a nose.

Although this project is highly spoken of, issues arise with time management and the need to keep the baby with you at all times. The students in James’ class, at times, are unable to use their hands to do basic things such as carrying things or having to use their cell phones. They are forced to put the baby down somewhere safe or have to ask someone to hold their baby while they quickly do what they need to, which is quite the hassle. In the end, the excitement and joy that comes with raising a sock baby overpowers the cons, conniving more and more students to take the class.