[blindkid] Age-Appropriate and isolation?

Marianne Denning marianne at denningweb.com
Tue Jul 15 10:34:39 UTC 2014


You remind me of growing up.  I had a different experience.  I grew up
in an extended family in a very small town (less than 600).  I had a
best friend who lived across the street so I was included in many
activities but was still isolated at times.  I was into what the other
kids were into at the same age.  The only area where I remember being
behind was Barbie dolls.  I played with my dolls until 8th grade.
That was probably because of the isolation.  My siblings were all
significantly older than me so I was raised as an only child.

I loved to ride a bicycle and was never as brave as Michael Hingson
(Thunder Dog).  The school district purchased a tandem bike for me and
I had 2 friends who would ride it with me.  We had many hours of fun
riding that bike.

I do believe parents may need to encourage their children to be
"normal"  My Mom always made sure I was dressed like other girls.  We
had many arguments because she thought I should wear blouses that were
lower cut than I felt comfortable wearing.  Now is that a role
reversal? She was not involved in the NFB but she put into practice
many of the beliefs of the organization.  It helped me be successful
as an adult and she is my hero.  Keep up the hard work parents!
On 7/14/14, Gerardo Corripio via blindkid <blindkid at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>   HI guys
> I've got hopefully and interesting topic for discussion, raised by my
> recalling a phenomenon of mine which I don't know if it's normal? I was
> almost always isolated as a kid; I never went outside to play with the
> neighborhood kids; hardly ever went to friends' houses after school etc;
> the afternoons I remember spent at home (apart from doing homework)
> playing by myself, tape recording myself etc. Music I liked Spanish
> Children's music until I was about thirteen or fourteen when on a trip
> here to Mexico to see relatives, an aunt introduced me to young adult
> music, and several years later, thanks to my sister who at the time was
> ten or eleven and I was almost let's see eighteen or nineteen years old,
> months from graduating from high school, I began with her, to get
> familiar with English Pop young adult music!
> AS for TV, until I was maybe in SIXTH grade, I used to like     PBS
> programs like 123 Contact, Reading Rainbow, and don't laugh when I say
> Mr. Rogers Neighborhood! Imagine the looks I got when in middle school
> told my friends I liked those things on TV especially Mr. Rogers! How
> would I suppose to know that this wasn't age-appropriate? I learned what
> they watched, and began watching kind of age-appropriate programs etc etc.
> After my little minibiography of my early years and how
> age-unappropriate I was, and because I wouldn't like for future
> generations of blind kids to grow up this way, I'd encourage you parents
> to as early as possible, via the NFB especially, seek role models! If my
> parents would have known of the     NFB, I sometimes think how different
> my life would have been! Also if I would have had brothers or sisters
> near my age, also, but OK things happened as they did, right?
> Any other viewpoints on this subject, or experiences you as parents
> might have had with your blind children?
>
> --
> Enviado desde mi lap
> Gerardo J Corripio Flores Psicólogo, Terapéuta Reiki
> Saludos desde Tampico, Tamaulipas México
> RompiendoBarreras espacio de psicología/Superación Personal Sábados 10PM
> México http://radiogeneral.com ¡los esperamos!
>
>
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-- 
Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
(513) 607-6053




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