[blparent] sighted children at convention?

Sat Apr 3 18:03:21 UTC 2010

Dear Julie,

There will be a preteen track at convention this year with activities for 
kids 11-14 (not sure that's the correct name for it.)  Anyway, there will be 
activities scheduled for that age bracket, so your son should be able to 
keep busy.

Debbie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Julie J" <julielj at windstream.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 8:21 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] sighted children at convention?

> Debbie,
>
> Thank you so much!
> This story meant a lot to me.  that sort of experience is exactly what I 
> hope for my son.
>
> He'll be old enough to go and do things on his own this year at 
> convention. I'll encourage him to go to some of the teen social things. 
> Hopefully he will meet some kids and make some friends.
>
> His first year at convention he attended the child care.  He met a few 
> kids there.  then last time he was too old for the child care, but still 
> to young to attend the teen things.     Eleven is a tough age! *smile*
>
> Is there anyone that has kids in the young teens?
>
> Julie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 10:41 AM
> Subject: Re: [blparent] sighted children at convention?
>
>
>>
>>
>> Dear Julie,
>>
>> I started bringing my sighted daughter to conventions when she was ten or 
>> eleven.  She had never seemed to be troubled about having a blind mom, 
>> and like your son, had known blind people all her life.  I was really 
>> struck, then, by the bonding she did at convention with other children of 
>> blind parents.  There wasn't any sort of formal gathering, but they found 
>> each other and connected.  I'm not sure how much they talked about their 
>> experience of having blind parents either, not in any prolonged way, but 
>> there really seemed to be a sense of sharing.
>>
>> I vividly remember an incident my daughter described to me one year at 
>> convention when she was fourteen.  She and a sighted friend, Crystal, got 
>> into an elevator with their towels and bathing suits, heading up to the 
>> pool.  A sighted man, not with the convention, got in and immediately 
>> started talking to the girls.  He said, "I can't wait to check out of 
>> here and get away from all these people with their dogs and their 
>> sticks!" Janna told me proudly that Crystal gave him a hard look and 
>> said, "Those are our parents."  If she had been alone, it might have been 
>> a far more painful experience, but because the girls shared it and 
>> supported one another, she felt empowered.
>>
>> Debbie
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Julie J" <julielj at windstream.net>
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 8:13 AM
>> Subject: [blparent] sighted children at convention?
>>
>>
>>> Hello all!
>>>
>>> It's been a while since I've been on this list. It's good to be back.
>>>
>>> My Kiddo is 13 now.  Time flies when you're having fun...or something 
>>> like that.  *smile*  I know a lot of you have younger children, but I'm 
>>> hoping there will be someone with some ideas for me.
>>>
>>> We had an incident in a store yesterday which really bothered my son. 
>>> There were some children in line behind us who were rude on a variety of 
>>> counts.  The rudeness that really bothered my son was when the kids 
>>> decided that me being blind was funny and worthy of making fun of me for 
>>> it.   I ignored them for a couple of reasons.  I really had no clue what 
>>> to say.  but the mother was standing right there and I have difficulty 
>>> parenting other people's kids in front of their parents.
>>>
>>> I know I probably should have said something, but it is too late for 
>>> this episode.  I'll come up with something for next time.  What I'm most 
>>> concerned with is my son.   He was really upset about these kids.
>>>
>>> My son is sighted.  He has been around blind people all of his life and 
>>> sees it as normal.  I am the only blind person in my town or at least 
>>> the only blind person out and about anyway.    He will be coming with me 
>>> to the NFB national convention again this summer.  I think it's 
>>> important for him as much as it is for me, especially now that we aren't 
>>> around many blind people on a regular basis.
>>>
>>> I know he gets lots of questions about what it is like to have a blind 
>>> mom.  I talk to him about it and try to help the best that I can.  but 
>>> what I really think he needs is to talk to other sighted children with 
>>> blind parents who have struggled with similar issues.
>>>
>>> Is there any sort of opportunity like this at convention?  If not, are 
>>> there parents here that would be interested in getting a group together?
>>>
>>> thanks!
>>> Julie
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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>
>
>
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