[blparent] playgrounds and climbing structures

[Bernadetta Pracon]

Ronit,
Could you possibly walk alongside the structure on one side? If this is 
a toddler structure, I can't imagine that it's very tall, nor that it's 
not secured with rails on either side, or something similar. It's a 
tough call with newly walking toddlers, because though you want them to 
explore their environment and have experiences appropriate to their 
age, you also want to watch out for their safety.
I think you should stay close by and walk alongside or even around the 
structure as your son explores it,  and ask an available person who 
might be willing to just keep an eye on him from time to time and let 
you know if anything's wrong. Climing up into the structure, while it 
might help you feel at ease regarding your son's safety, it will 
frustrate him, like you said, and might prohibit him from being able to 
establish friendships and connections with other kids at the park. 
Because, as you said, other mothers aren't in the structure with their 
kids, so he might feel a little too singled out--the other kids might 
see that as well. True, you have to approach things differently, and as 
a mother of a small child, I completely understand your apprehension 
for his safety. But sometimes, you just have to let things happen. 
Blind or sighted, if parents let their kids explore and play, injuries 
are bound to occur. Kids are kids. they have accidents. Yes, you might 
be scrutinized more heavily as a blind parent by onlookers and such, 
but the kids of sighted parents get into trouble at playgrounds too. 
It's really a question of how much you are willing to let him explore 
and how you'll deal with the potential of him getting injured--even slightly.
My uncle took my two year old cousin to a playground a few years ago. 
He's a sighted, responsible parent. She went down a slide just a foot 
away from where he stood and her arm happened to be angled a certain 
way, so that while she slid down, her arm broke in two places. He 
wasn't really able to do anything about preventing it short of not 
allowing her to go down the slide, or personally taking her down it. 
Sometimes, we just have to allow our kids a little bit of freedom, even 
if they're as small as toddlers. It's important for a child's 
independents to be able to explore in a presumed safe setting. I'm not 
saying we should allow  or kids to roam the streets alone or take bike 
rides at ten o'clock at night, but if you're at a playground and you're 
supervising your kid, there's only so much you can do. Let him go and 
explore a little.
If you need a piece of mind, perhaps you can go to the park when there 
aren't any kids around, or at least not on that particular structure, 
and have someone sighted explain it to you in thorough detail. You can 
even go inside of it to explore it on your own and commit it to memory, 
so that you can better gauge whether  this is safe for your son to go it alone.
That's an idea.
Hope it helps.

Bernadetta