[blparent] Introducing Myself and First Question

Sat Sep 12 15:59:57 UTC 2009

We had walkie talkie's when we went to New Hampshire a few years ago.  We had one in our car and my friends had one in theirs.  If we stayed close enough, we could keep in contact and no one got lost.  If we got too far away, it would have been better to have a cell phone. Oh well, we all had fun anyway. V

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Robert Shelton
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 8:20 PM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blparent] Introducing Myself and First Question

Walky-talkies...  I remember it well.  In 1979 we lived on the outskirts of Knoxville Tennessee.  The property next door to ours was a couple of hundred acres of woods.  My two oldest boys, 7 and 5 at the time, loved to go hiking off into the woods.  It was a very innocent time and a lovely place, but we wanted to have a way to call them home.  I researched it carefully.  We got some inexpensive walky-talkies from a toy store, and I even went so far as to take one into the woods all the way to the top of the ridge and on to the other side where there was a clearing.  Walking in a forest requires a whole different set of cane travel and navigation skills, but that's another story.  Anyway, everything worked fine -- great reception everywhere.  It was fool-proof.

So, came the day my boys went off by themselves on their nature hike.  Everything was going great -- Mom: "Breaker 19 ... you boys doin' OK?"
Boys: "Yeah Mom, we found the neatest flower..."
Thirty minutes pass...
Mom: "Breaker 19... what's your 20?"

Dead silence.  Progressively greater panic sets in.  I know the area pretty well, so I'm just taking off to find them when I hear a rustle and little voices.  They were fine, and hungry, but they got tired of the static noise from the walky-talkies and just turned them off.

I think modern ones can be set up to ring when you call, so you probably won't have the same problem, but that's one of my favorite memories.  Now we live in Houston -- no small kids, but here people don't let their kids out of their yard, I guess for good reason.  

-----Original Message-----
From: kate02 at bellsouth.net [mailto:kate02 at bellsouth.net] 
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 7:02 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] Introducing Myself and First Question

Hi Angela and welcome to the list.

First for the record let me state that I can’t stand the mall but have ended up there for one thing or another.  I think its more I don’t like big crowds since it adds a level of stress to parenting.  

So with that in mind here’s a few things My husband and I find helpful.  

When our daughter was an infant we had her in a snugly or backpack until she could walk well.  We then used a harness with a tether.  There were some shopping trips where we would pull a stroller behind us though we were not big fans of having our Daughter behind us since where we live it seams people like to hover over strollers and I just never liked that.  As our oldest is now about to turn seven, we have found that there were techniques we used that work to this day.

Our Daughter will answer when called.  I did what I could so she would mind the answer when called rule.  As a Toddler, if she didn’t answer we went home or we sat on a bench and spent the rest of our time waiting for a ride.  Yes, I took mine to a children’s museum and when she took off and wouldn’t answer, and ran around the place, when I caught her I made her sit with me on the bench outside till our ride arrived 20 minutes later.  She never did that again luckily.  Come to think of it, I think I got the idea after reading it here.

We have now began looking for wrist walky-talkies since I don’t want to give a seven year old a cell phone.  

But I think the best thing I can suggest is to see what’s out there and do what works for your family.

Hope some of this helps.
Kate

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Angela Frederick <angelahoward at mail.utexas.edu>
>
> Hi, Everyone,
> 
> I've been reading many of your stories on the list for over a month 
> now, and I thought it was time to introduce myself.  My name is 
> Angela Howard Frederick.  I'm not a mom yet, but my husband and I are 
> planning to start trying to have a family very, very soon.  I have 
> many unanswered questions about being a blind parent and have really 
> enjoyed reading about all of your experiences and strategies.
> 
> I've always been a planner; I try to solve problems about a year or 
> two in advance my husband says.:)  So, I have my first question about 
> blind parenting I was hoping some of you could help me with.  After 
> dodging hundreds of little kids at the mall on Monday, I was 
> wondering how I would handle my kids in that situation.  What 
> strategies do you use to keep your kids from running away from you 
> when you are out?  Also, how do you keep your kids safe and out of 
> trouble when you visit someone else's house and don't have as much 
> control over the surroundings?
> 
> Thanks so much for the advice, and I'm sure I'll have many more 
> questions in the near future.
> 
> Angela
> 
> 
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