NEW YORK – A new company is providing prospective parents the opportunity to test-drive parenthood, according to their recently launched website. The company, called Flower Babies, is offering them the ability to rent an infant for one week to see if having a child is “right for them.” The service, which takes its name from the classic flour baby home economics project, describes this as “the ultimate test of a relationship.”
“Nursing a sack of flour or taking care of a chicken egg is one thing,” reads an advertisement for the service. “What are you going to do when you have an actual human infant pooping on your designer jeans?”
The infants are “full-featured,” according to the site, and “need food, changing, and constant attention.” There is no information saying where the children come from, but customers are guaranteed that their rent-a-babies have “been given their shots.” While you can’t pick which baby you want to specifically try out, users can request a specific race for their baby.
According to their FAQs, the babies are not adoptable after the one-week test is up.
“Flower Babies is not an adoption service. Instead, we aim to plant the love of children inside of you, so that you can grow a Flower Baby of your own.”
Internet activists were up in arms over the service, with many critics rallying around the #InfantLabor hashtag on Twitter. “Why cant you just get a dog or a ferret??” one tweet read. But not all reactions were negative. Many parents’ organizations released statements applauding the service. A Parents League spokesperson told Newslo that “Flower Babies should be a mandatory test for all potential parents… Lord knows my parents weren’t stable enough to have me.”
The Flower Babies service comes after a number of similar programs launched this year. T-Mobile, notably, will allow prospective subscribers to borrow an iPhone for up to a week to test out their network. Other services, such as Trunk Club, allow you to try on clothing before buying it, while Warby Parker, designer of eyeglasses, is famous for its home try-on service.
However, as one insightful tweet put it, “u cant try on a baby lol.”
6 comments
Talk about commodifying children! This is very disturbing! What kind of mother would allow her infant to be taken care of by strangers? Unless she comes along to supervise the visit? If she’s not, this is child abuse, and I should think Child Protective Services would be all over this!
I hope this is a satire.
It’s almost like saying, If you dont like the baby, return it and we will exchange it or give you a refund, my god. This Flower Babies program treats this baby like a piece of merchandise rather than a human life, or was this an editorial staff member at the paper who came up with this brainchild of a headline.
This is so stupid babies aint a car to test drive like what the f@@k.the thing that worries me is if a pedophile or child abuser gets there hand on a rent a baby and abuses it this is dangerous and rediculous it blows my mind
this is human trafficking!!! and what parent would say oh you’re not sure if you want to be a parent then here take my baby for a week .. This world is one twisted planet
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