[blindkid] When your child realizes she's different....

[Andy & Sally Thomas]

As an aside, I'm an adoptive parent and I am my children's real mother.  My 
kids do have a birth mother and they know that but as the mom who has been 
with them through thick and thin and will always be there, I have no doubt 
that I am their real mother.  Birth parents often have a difficult decision 
to make to place their child for adoption and I'm not denigrating them for 
that.  I just feel strongly that language is important and I won't take a 
back seat in the mom category.

Sincerely,

Sally Thomas


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <landjwest at bellsouth.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] When your child realizes she's different....


> wow, thats a hard one. My daughter is 13 and she was born blind. Her birth 
> mother had std's. At age 15 mths her birth mom scalded her in a tub of hot 
> water. Maleka has sever scars on her whole body and one day when she was 
> in the tub she felt her skin and asked why is was bumpy and mine wasn't. I 
> told her that she had been burnt when she was a baby. She then asked a 
> very tough question, "Mom, did you burn me?" Now I faced two questions, 
> one who did it and two now I must tell her I wasn't her real mom.
> I did what I think every other loving mom would have done. I told her that 
> once she had a real mom who brought her in this world and that one day 
> that mom wasn't watching her closely and she feel into some real hot 
> water. I never could have told her "Your real mom burnt you"
> Then another day she asked me why her brother could see and she couldn't? 
> Well I explained that all of us have things we struggle with in life and 
> hers is her sight. Maleka is delayed but my friend she knows alot more 
> than we think she does. I told her that one day when we are in Heaven she 
> will have brand new eyes and will be able to see. I jokingly said you will 
> get to see me! To which she responded "No I want to see Jesus first." I 
> was stunned and am very ok with taking a second seat to Him.
> Maybe my story helped alittle I don't know but i had to share. If you 
> would like to see more visit my page at www.mymaleka.com
> God Bless,
> Laura West
> -------------- Original message from "Kieszak, Stephanie 
> (CDC/CCEHIP/NCEH)" <sek7 at cdc.gov>: -------------- 
>
>
>> My 6 year old daughter has recently started talking a lot about being
>> blind and about her "acrylic" eyes, as she refers to her prosthetics.
>> The other night, she said to me "Mommy, can you get me something so I
>> can see with my eyes instead of with my hands?" I felt like someone had
>> plunged a knife into my heart! For you parents of older kids, was there
>> anything you ever said or did that helped when your child seemed to be
>> feeling sad or angry about being blind? I tried reminding her of all
>> the other blind people we know who also don't see things with their eyes
>> but that didn't seem to help. Any suggestions would be greatly
>> appreciated!
>> Stephanie
>>
>>
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