[blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with a visualimpairment

Sat Dec 31 17:13:08 UTC 2011

I have the "Mommy I'm Here" device.  It's really loud, but it might work 
well, especially if you have a lot of different children in your home so 
that you can't count on the rule about coming when called.  I don't remember 
how much I spent on the device, but I'm sure it was less than $30.  The nice 
thing about the device is that it will not only grab the attention of your 
wandering toddler, but it will alert anybody else in the area as well.  So, 
God forbid, if there really were something funny going on, a stranger might 
give up and flee.  The problem I have with the device, and the reason I 
haven't used it more, is that it comes with an opening that would work for a 
belt, but if your child isn't wearing a belt, there's no good way to attach 
the teddy bear that beeps when you push the button on your keychain.

Honestly, to please the state and also to make it easier for you to travel 
with multiple children or ones you don't know that well yet, I would 
consider trying to rally a network of sighted people who can help you.  Yes, 
I did say get sighted help.  It may get me chewed out on this list, but 
what's best for the kids comes first, and I've found that it's easier to go 
to places like the zoo or the fair if you travel with someone who can see 
where to go and watch your child when he or she wants to stray a little from 
your side.  Not that I can't, or haven't, traveled alone, but I think my 
daughter has had a more well-rounded set of life experiences than she might 
have had otherwise because I'm willing to accept, and even ask for, sighted 
help when I need it.  Like yesterday, I invited a sighted friend out for 
lunch at Chic FilA.  She got her lunch paid for, so she drove to the 
restaurant.  We got to hang out and chat, and she could see Sarah through 
the glass window that closed off the play area, so I didn't have to check in 
with Sarah every few minutes.  Sarah got some space.  It worked out.  I'm 
just saying, the state is going to be interested in what resources you have. 
That was a question that came up even for my brother, who is sighted and 
fostering a toddler.  I'm sure it will be even more important for you.  I 
know you can't leave foster kids with babysitters unless they're authorized 
by the state, but I bet you can stay with the kids and go places in a group 
with other adults.

Jo Elizabeth

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, 
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of 
the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all of 
these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist

--------------------------------------------------
From: "January Lifebook" <januaryslifebook at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2011 7:47 AM
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with a 
visualimpairment

> This group had an interesting conversation not too long ago about how to
> find your toddlers when they start exploring.  One parent suggested 
> putting
> bells on her little one so that she could hear him.  I have a friend who
> found shoes that squeak for her toddler for when they in public.  Her
> daughter LOVES them and my friend feels more confident in public.  I have 
> a
> little device that I found on Amazon.  I think it is called "Mommy I'm
> Here."  It is a little device that goes on the baby and I have a remote.
> If I lose track of him (say in a play area or at the playground), I push 
> my
> remote and the device gives off a high pitched beep.  I have not had to 
> use
> it yet.  My little guy is pretty good at coming back when called, but it 
> is
> nice to have!
> Good luck with everything.
> January
>
> On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 9:57 PM, Miranda B. <knownoflove at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Jo Elizabeth,
>> Thank you so much for your email! All you are saying is so true, and we 
>> and
>> our caseworker agree! :) The one question I asked our caseworker during 
>> our
>> phone conversation was, "When will enough be enough?" I then said, "You 
>> can
>> not in your right mind tell me that after a point all of these questions
>> from the state won't be crossing that very fine line of discrimination."
>> Thanks again, and thanks to everyone who has replied so far for reminding
>> us
>> that we're not alone and we're not crazy!
>>
>> In Christ, Miranda
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Jo Elizabeth Pinto
>> Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 11:46 PM
>> To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with a
>> visual
>> impairment
>>
>> Give the state any information you can find, but Sheila is right.  Like I
>> told my sister when she worried that my baby would put something in her
>> mouth and choke on it, or get knocked over by the dog, or some other
>> horrific thing--blind parents don't keep the emergency rooms open by
>> themselves.  Accidents happen to everybody, and the best you can possibly
>> do
>> is take every precaution you can think of, and then maybe try to dream up 
>> a
>> few more, and then relax, know basic first aid, and hope for the best 
>> like
>> all other parents do.  I know sighted parents whose children drank cough
>> medicine and had to go get charcoal in the emergency room, or swallowed
>> coins and had to go to the hospital and get them fished out.  I've got a
>> friend who had a neighbor that lost her two-year-old to strangulation
>> because of a cord on a window blind.  I've got another friend who knows a
>> couple with a ten-year-old daughter who nearly drowned in a swimming pool
>> last summer.  None of them were bad parents.  Momentarily inattentive
>> maybe,
>> but who hasn't been?
>>
>> I guess that would be my main stress point for the social workers, is 
>> that
>> you realize as blind parents, you have to be more attentive than your
>> sighted peers.  You have to know what possible dangers are in the
>> environment, eliminate the ones you can, and take extra care to put what
>> shouldn't be reached out of reach.  You have to follow safety rules
>> rigidly--hold hands in parking lots, cut grapes and hot dogs in half to
>> minimize the choking risk, etc--because you know you can't fall back on
>> your
>> vision.
>>
>> Jo Elizabeth
>>
>> "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young,
>> compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant 
>> of
>> the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all 
>> of
>> these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: "Sheila Leigland" <sleigland at bresnan.net>
>> Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 8:51 PM
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with a
>> visualimpairment> I don't know if we did anything differently than 
>> sighted
>> parents should have been doing accept understand that vision was not an
>> option to be used.
>> We had baby gates. We had a baby monitor, when we built a deck it was
>> railed
>> and had a gate on it. We taught him to come when he was called and that
>> lule
>> was consedered unbreakable. We had a fenced yard in fact it was six feet
>> high and then people complained that it looked like a prison. We had a 
>> baby
>> gate separating the kitchen and the living room until our son discovered 
>> at
>> the ripe old age of 2 how to unlock it. Then we were told that he watched
>> us
>> do it surprise surprise he could see. We tried to keep him from climbing 
>> oh
>> welll that only lasted so long. We held hands when we crossed the street.
>> There is no way to plan for everything and sighted people can't do it
>> eiter.
>>
>> And if they claim that they do they are deceiving themselves as well as
>> others.
>> >
>> > Sheila Leiglan d
>> >
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>>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> January Wilson
> Discovery Toys Education Consultant
> (520)331-2342
> http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/home/januarywilson
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