[blparent] Question about parenting with blind children

[Kate McEachern]

hi.

I had some sight but still found it helpful to touch things to learn more 
about the item. My parents were sort of modern for their time so my brother 
and I didn't have the "don't touch" rule at home. Most of the time for 
decorating the tree my Mom would bring the ornaments from the basement and 
open the boxes, then she would give us all an area of the tree that was ours 
to decorate. We had ornaments that we each liked including my parents so the 
box or the ornaments we were given were age appropriate.

I don't know how they got this idea but we loved it and now do the same with 
our children. I did notice that now that my parents are older the grand kids 
get the "don't touch just look" rule but I think that's because there just 
tired of things being broken.

Also, even though I had a lot of vision I hated driving around and looking 
at Christmas lights they were just too far away and even though I could see 
the light it drove me nuts to be able to make out that there was more to 
look at but I couldn't see it.

Yes, my family was the one who would walk on to your well decorated Lon and 
touch your standing Santa's and rain dear. Also my Mom once told me that 
when I was like four or three I thought the smell of pine was only around at 
Christmas and she had to ex plane to me once that the pine tree smell was 
just from every day trees on the side of the road and not from a Christmas 
tree farm.

OK, I'm not going to ramble about this any more but that's what my parents 
did and how I felt about it. Sorry if this makes no sense but I tried.

Kate

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bridgit Pollpeter" <bpollpeter at hotmail.com>
To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 1:55 PM
Subject: [blparent] Question about parenting with blind children


> Hello,
>
> It's been a while, but have been so busy. Hope everyone is having a
> wonderful holiday season.
>
> So, while decorating the Christmas tree this year with Pen, everyone
> kept saying, "Don't touch, just look with your eyes." This seems like
> reasonable, sound advice, but then it hit me, a blind child can't look
> with their eyes. I've only been blind as an adult so it never crossed my
> mind that small things like this would be different with a blind child.
>
> Since this epiphany struck (ha-ha) I've been aware of how often children
> are told to not touch, just look. It happened frequently this season
> with Pen again as we were shopping with my mom and sister. I know this
> list is geared towards blind parents, nonetheless, I know many of you
> were blind children, and I'm sure most of you have answers.
>
> How do you allow a child who can't see to experience something like
> decorating a tree in a tactile way, but at the same time, steer them to
> an understanding that this isn't a toy to be touched and played with all
> the time? I'm especially curious about young children who are blind.
>
> Then, as usual, my thoughts went further to include that I think we can
> stifle healthy curiosity in any child, blind or sighted, but limiting
> what sense they use to experience life. I'm not suggesting we let kids
> touch every little thing, but is it really that bad to allow a child to
> "touch" say something like Christmas decorations even if they can see
> them? Rhetorical question, but have any of you incorporated nonvisual
> parenting into a, for lack of a better expression, more traditional
> parenting style, A. K. A. sighted parenting. *I'm simply using these
> terms to distinguish between things.
>
> Anyway, perhaps I'm not being clear, but I'm just curious about this,
> and it may be something I can use for my Live Well blog. I'd appreciate
> any responses.
>
> Sincerely,
> Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
> Read my blog at:
> http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
>
> "History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
> The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan
>
>
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