Keeping it Together: Have you heard of practice babies?

No perfect parenting method exists. But a number of decades ago, educators thought differently – so much so that they acquired babies from local orphanages for home economics students to "parent."

You read that right. My name is David Oliver, one of Paste BN's wellness reporters, and I'm here today to talk to you about these so-called "practice babies."

Yes, the infants lived among college students at dozens of universities between the 1920s and the 1960s. Articles have popped up about practice babies over the years, but the lore resurfaced on TikTok earlier this year along with the hashtags "#truecrime," "#horror" and "#creepy."

Some historians are divided on the "practice baby" era and whether it is deserving of the appalled response it receives. Research shows these infants were well cared for and likely received more attention than they would have in orphanages, but also promulgated troubling gender norms. So why, exactly, do people care so much about practice babies? It challenges the family structure we're accustomed to today. And it also makes us wonder about how we might've turned out if raised in such a manner.

For more about practice babies, click here. And check out other stories from the team below.