[blparent] Bells; Yea or Ney?

Tue Mar 15 20:58:38 UTC 2011

I'll trade you, I want my crawler back.  Dylan's walking at 9 months and 
it's way too soon.  If I decide to use bells with him thanks for the zip 
ties idea for attaching.  I never would have thought of that.  And I did use 
the harnesses for my other two kids when they were little, forgot about 
those as well.  Hopefully your getting some help on here Chad.  Also, for 
those of you who don't know, I don't post a lot ... I'm Peggy from Nebraska, 
I have three kids ... Tirsa is 18, Dustin is 10, and Dylan is almost ten 
months.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Melissa Ann Riccobono
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 2:39 PM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blparent] Bells; Yea or Ney?

Hello Chad,
I am a huge believer in bells--although I didn't start using them in earnest
until Austin was walking.  At that point I put them on his shoes, and they
remained on his shoes until he was about three and I felt comfortable that
he would, in most situations, not run from me, answer when I called his
name, and stop if I asked him to do so.  Of course no child is perfect, but
so far so good.  I didn't really use them in our house when Austin was
crawling or walking because I was obviously very familiar with our house,
and also had it proofed so he couldn't get into anything he wasn't supposed
to very easily.  The bells really gave me piece of mind when we were out in
public, especially in those unpredictable toddler years.  They were
especially helpful at the playground or other large areas.  Even if he ran
to use a piece of equipment, I could hear where he was and monitor him.
We also used a harness with Austin to keep him close to us when he
was first walking.  It gave him freedom to walk on his own, but we always
knew right where he was.  We stopped using the harness when he was about 2,
again when we could trust him to follow certain rules such as holding our
hand when we asked.
It must be the week for crawling--Oriana, who just turned 10 months
today, started moving around tons last week and this.  She's not exactly
crawling, but definitely scooting in all sorts of ways and she's starting to
move fast!  Bells and the harness are right around the corner for her!
As far as the bells I used for Austin, and plan to use for Oriana, I
preferred two types.  One is called a Tie Keeper.  It is sold at Stride
Right Shoes and actually attaches to the shoe laces.  The laces fit inside
the bell, and then there is a cap you clothes and the bell stays on the shoe
and the shoe also stays tied.  As Austin got older however, he wanted cool
shoes with characters on them, many of which did not come with laces.  So I
have gotten a bag of bells from Michaels Craft store (I'm sure you can get
them anywhere craft supplies are sold) and attached them either to the loop
in the back of his shoes or the loop in the tongue of his shoe with the
smallest zip strips I could find.  This works great, although eventually the
zip strips ware out and the bells fall off.  The bells and strips are very
cheap however, so this isn't a huge deal.  I did tend to travel with some
extra bells and zip strips in my diaper bag for a while though, just in
case.  Sometimes I was able to find the original bells, and sometimes I
wasn't.  It all depended where they fell off.  I found using 2 bells on each
shoe made the bells loud enough to hear easily.
I know there are some parents who pin bells to the back of a shirt,
or make anklets with bells for their kids to wear.

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Chad Allen
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 1:08 PM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: [blparent] Bells; Yea or Ney?

Hello Blind Parents,

This list is great! I love being able to voice any concern I have regarding
parenthood as a blind person and actually get quality feedback.

Harrison is crawling as of this week and I've asked many folks about bells.
I'm not sure I need them but I want to hear it from the pros. To bell or not
to bell, that is the question.

310.486.8351

www.chadallenmagic.com

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