[blparent] fun stuff for boys

Fri Dec 11 16:44:50 UTC 2009

It does to an extent, though I think the lack of extent is more on my
end then yours. 
Thank you for the nice words about my daughter, btw. I'm sure once Devan
feels more secure, he'll thrive. Sounds like he had a rough time for
awhile.

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Rhonda Scott
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 11:30 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] fun stuff for boys

Deven is not all that inquisitive or observant like your girl is. He has
an 
attention disorder. But if he really enjoys something, he will learn
about 
it to a point, or want to do the activity consistently. He does tell his

friends that both his parents have "fake" eyes though, and they find
that 
cool and tell him he's making it up about his dad having them, because
they 
can tell with me, but not with his dad's.

The sorts of things I'm talking of are not always good. He will move
things 
from where we have them so we can find them easily; keys, my husband's 
tools, my office supplies. He will take candy and food without asking,
or if 
we tell him no when he wants it, if dinner is close to being served. He
has 
a healthy environment with us now, but did not come from 1 when he lived

with his biological mom. So we are working on helping him feel secure,
be 
honest, not exaggerate things that happen, and know that we love and
accept 
him for who he is, not someone he thinks he needs to say he is. If all
of 
that makes sense.

He's very smart when he feels like applying himself. But he gives up on
the 
things that challenge him. When he's good at something like a sport or a

game, he is overly competitive, to the point of becoming frustrated and 
sometimes angry if he loses. So it's going to take time and work from
all of 
us to build him up. I think family time together will help with that.

Rhonda

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (IS)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at ngc.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] fun stuff for boys

Ronda,
He may not care how well you thro a ball or frisby, he may just want the
time with you. I wasn't the truck playing type until my daughter
discovered them and really likes it. So now we play trucks together.
Will I ever like it as much as she does, probably not. Still, I enjoy
the time with her and it's fun seeing how her mind works.
Maybe you could ask him to help you throw and he'd probably like that
because even if you never do it well, you're showing him that you care
about him, and that you value what he knows, and we all like that.  My
daughter is into puzzles, the kind where you have a picture and you have
to make the pieces be like the picture. She loves to "help you make
puzzle Mommy!". She's so serious about it too, that I think we have a
future teacher or something.
I'm curious, what stuff does he do thinking you won't notice? My little
girl has begun asking about my eyes. She asked me if the doctor could
fix Mommy's eyes, then if batteries could do it, and then if Daddy could
do it. We then started talking about foods, and she told me she didn't
like carrots and I said "Carrots are good for your eyes" and she said
"my eyes not broken Mommy, you eyes broken!".

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Rhonda Scott
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 6:40 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] fun stuff for boys

It does feel complicated. I have a similar situation with our 10 year
old.
He loves war games and anything to do with computer games, TV, Wii, PS2
and
movies. It's difficult to keep his attention, but he says often how he
would
like to spend time doing things with us. So we're trying to find things
that
are interactive, will pull him away from video games and TV, but will
also
hold his attention. All you can do is keep trying, and share your
frustrations with others who understand them. That's where I'm at right
now
too.

Deven likes things for a short time, has a lot of broken toys he played
too
rough with. That's frustrating too because I have problems buying him
new
things when I'm afraid he will destroy them, whether on accident or on
purpose. Kids like expensive things now, so it's hard to justify
spending if
it will be broken in a week or 2, plus it hurts our feelings, frustrates
us
and makes us angry. But I think there are answers and solutions, we just

need to find them somewhere, somehow.

I really want to show Deven that the blindness thing is not a huge
obstacle
in terms of parenting him. All kids will test, and I find myself paying
close attention to him because he tries to test often, doing things he
thinks we won't notice. I want to interact with him more, but I am not
the
ball playing type, and I can't throw a frisbee worth beans. I think it's

important for us, here, to show him we are parents, not blind parents,
if
that makes sense. But I have turned this into a completely different
topic,
I see. LOL

Rhonda

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Allison (NFBA)" <nfbarizona at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 4:26 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] fun stuff for boys

Thanks all for suggestions.

Are the nurf balls still fun (and safe) for us to play with if they
don't
have bells in them?  Has anyone tried this?

I'll check out the discovery toys link.  Does anyone have specific
suggestions in terms of discovery toys?  I feel a little overwhelmed by
all
the choices.  Also I need something fairly high action to hold the
little
guy's interest.  He's used to the fast-paced nature of World of Warcraft
and
Wii games.  He's a smart kid though.  Grade level in reading and a grade
ahead in math.

We do have Braille cards that we play Go Fish and War with.  He loves Go
Fish.  We have Uno too but he gets bored quickly with that because the
games
can run so long.  We also have the Freeze-up talking category game that
he
loved for like a week and now never looks at.  *sigh*.  This feels so
complicated.

Thanks again,
Allison

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Veronica Smith" <madison_tewe at spinn.net>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 7:35 PM
Subject: [blparent] fun stuff for boys

>I was at Walmart today and scooping out the toy section and saw some
really
> cool stuff that an 8 year old would love.
> Fur Real Friends had a dinosaur.  You put your hand or finger in its
mough
> and it bites down on you and makes a sound like it is eating your
hand.
> They also had dogs and cats, monkeys and other critters.
> They have Nerf balls and basketball rims and of course my absolute
> favorite
> Hot Wheel sets.  These are all the things I love to play with, with
Gab.
> You can be sighted or blind and have a great time with your
imagination.
> Alison, you can also buy regular playing cars that are Braille and
play
> games like Go Fish, Crazy Eights and of course War.
> V
>
>
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