[blparent] First Questions About Blindness

[sharon howerton]

Kathy, this is Sharon from Hadley. I'm glad you found this list.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ldavis5000 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 2:05 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] First Questions About Blindness


> Thank you for your explanation on your daughter's questions.  I am a 
> mentor to a young woamn who is blind with a sighted 18 month old boy. 
> This info will come in handy.  I have printed your email to share with my 
> friend.
>
> Kathy
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at pcdesk.net>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 10:38 PM
> Subject: [blparent] First Questions About Blindness
>
>
>> Hi.  I was wondering if some of you parents who have older children could 
>> recall and share how the issue of your blindness came up with your kids, 
>> and how you explained your disability to them simply enough so they could 
>> understand.
>>
>> A few weeks ago, something came up that I can't really remember, but for 
>> some reason I told Sarah, who is now two and a half, that my eyes didn't 
>> work.  I said they were broken, which is a concept she usually 
>> understands.  She said to me very seriously, "Mommy, they're not open." 
>> So I told her my eyes didn't work even when they were open.  She said in 
>> a very matter-of-fact way, "Just open them."
>>
>> Toddlers move on pretty easily, so the subject was quickly dropped.  I 
>> started noticing that Sarah would say, "By your left, by your left" when 
>> I was searching for something, although she didn't know what "left" 
>> meant. She'd just heard other people saying it.  Sometimes she would stay 
>> "step" when we came to a curb, and although I wouldn't rely on her 
>> directions as consistent or trustworthy, I've thanked her for telling me 
>> just because it seems to me like a considerate thing to do.
>>
>> One day last week, we were going to a restaurant, and she asked me if I 
>> would be taking my eyes with me.  I said yes, and she asked if she could 
>> take her eyes, too.  I said yes, she could, and she promptly poked 
>> herself in the eye, seeming like she was trying to get her eyeball in her 
>> hand. So I told her that we all have eyes which are part of our bodies, 
>> and that they didn't come off.
>>
>> The thing that has started getting me kind of concerned is that Sarah and 
>> I will be playing with a toy or doing something, and she'll start saying, 
>> "Mommy, open your eyes.  Don't close your eyes."  I have no voluntary 
>> control over whether my eyes are open or closed.  Or she'll say, "I have 
>> to close my eyes like Mommy."  Then tonight, I was sitting on the floor 
>> and she stood in front of me, pinched one of my cheeks with each of her 
>> hands, and said, "Mommy, don't do that with your face."  Something was 
>> obviously bothering her because she continued to say the same thing.  I 
>> asked her what she meant, and she said, "The pancake face.  I don't wanna 
>> see the pancake."  (God knows where she got that.)
>>
>> Anyway, I didn't know what to say.  One of the concerns my sister brought 
>> up when I first got pregnant was that my facial expressions don't always 
>> fit naturally with the situation that is going on, and that my baby would 
>> pick up on that.  My sister tends to be kind of superficial and focused 
>> on appearance, and it surely isn't that big of a deal, but I'm wondering 
>> what you all told your kids, or how the issues resolved themselves. 
>> Please forgive the long post, but I felt I should explain the progression 
>> of things.
>>
>> Jo Elizabeth
>> _______________________________________________
>> blparent mailing list
>> blparent at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> blparent:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/ldavis5000%40sbcglobal.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blparent mailing list
> blparent at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> blparent:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/shrnhow%40att.net