A kindergarten in Taitung County asked children to put balloons under their shirts to simulate some difficulties pregnant women face when performing everyday activities, hoping to raise empathy in the run-up to Mother’s Day.
The children were asked to keep a balloon under their shirt for three days to provide an experience of how pregnant women feel, kindergarten head Huang Tsai-wei (黃采薇) said, adding that while children knew pregnancy was difficult, there was a difference between knowing and simulating the effects.
While the kindergarten has held such events in the past, the duration was shorter — one day — which was deemed not long enough to allow children to appreciate the difficulties pregnant women might go through, Huang said, adding that the kindergarten had extended the event to three days this year, with yesterday being the second day.
Photo: Wang Hsiu-ting, Taipei Times
To begin with, the children thought it was fun to have balloons under their shirts and some played with them until they popped, Huang said.
However, other children were afraid of the balloons popping and guarded them carefully, Huang added.
As the project went on, the children became more irritated at inconveniences brought on by the exercise, as they had to play, use the restroom, eat and sleep with the balloons, Huang said.
However, when told that mothers carry a growing baby for nine months, the children tried their best to finish their activities, Huang said.
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