[blparent] leaving family to get a dog guide

[Erin Rumer]

I love your ideas about the tape, toys and taking a sheet to class with you.
I'm so glad your son handled it as well as he did.  Please share more when
you have new experiences with getting your next guide.  Something I thought
of is going to class over the summer and signing my son up for a day camp
that  way he's distracted with lots of fun things to do while I'm gone.  We
could then share lots of fun stuff with each other at night when we talk on
the phone and-or when we Skype.

Erin

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Tammy
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 7:16 PM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] leaving family to get a dog guide

Hi,

I left my 1 year old with a friend while I went to get my last guide, and he
barely missed me at all.  Honestly, it was harder for me to leave because at
the time I was a single parent and although I knew his physical needs would
be met, I always worried he'd miss me or need me for something while I was
away, and it wasn't like he'd have his dad there to help with that.  But it
turned out fine and we'd still have that dog if he hadn't gotten sick.  I'm
actually applying for a new dog now, but I'm in no hurry and my
circumstances have changed alot since then, so I wouldn't worry about
leaving my children with my husband.  But some of the things I did for Colyn
when I went to get my dog are that I made him a tape of me reading stories
and little messages for him.  There was one message a day from me, I was
only gone 10 days but it seemed like forever, and I made sure that his
favourite toys went with him, and I took the sheet off Colyn's bed with me
so the dog could scent Colyn before we got home so the dog would know the
scent.  If I remember anything else I'll post on the subject again, but if
you look in the archives of this list, around January 2005 you should find
all my messages on the doggy subject and subsequent replies.

Tammy

-----Original Message-----
From: Erin Rumer
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 8:49 PM
To: NFB blind parent listserv
Subject: [blparent] leaving family to get a dog guide

Hello list,



Thankfully, my current guide is only 4.5 years old and doing well, but I got
to thinking about when it does come time to get a new guide, what will that
mean for my family and particularly my son.  Assuming my guide now works a
nice long life and retires around the age of 10, my son will then be around
6 or 7.  I know that in-home training may be a possibility depending on the
circumstances, but have any of you gone through having to leave young
children with family or friends while off getting a new guide and if so, how
did your kids fair?  Working at GDB for 3.5 years before my son came along
gave me the opportunity to work with lots of folks coming through for a new
dog who have kids at home, but since I rarely got the chance to speak with
the grads after they went home, I never really got the full picture of how
the separation affected the kids, especially if the parent leaving was a
stay-at-home mom or dad.



Thanks,



Erin

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