[blparent] blparent Digest, Vol 105, Issue 20

[Jennifer Bose]

The subject of teaching kids to cross the road definitely came up for
me today. My husband and I are both blind and we've just started
sending our girls to a daycare center not far from our house. There
are a couple of ways to get to the center, but the easiest for us
involves crossing a four-lane highway where I had an accessible
traffic signal put in. It's great for us or any other person who wants
the added audible cue.

Today, I set off with my black Lab guide dog Nitra, my baby daughter
Tara in a back carrier and my three-year-old daughter Abigail wearing
a harness which she makes sure I'm holding onto. It's a monkey with a
long tail. Anyway, we all got to that street crossing and Abby was
looking down. I noticed and asked her if she was looking for
something, but she just giggled and said she was looking at Nitra's
toes. I pointed to the cars and told her to make sure she was watching
them. We also started saying things like: "Go, cars. go", until the
light changed. I usually explain to her that I'm going to bring the
harness a little closer to me when we cross these streets, so she was
ready for that. We all stepped out when I told Nitra to go forward and
Abby called out to the drivers: "Wait, cars, wait!" I basically try to
teach her to watch the cars and watch for the light to change, and we
just try to be careful.

Tracey, where did you get the Chicco Keyfit stroller? I'll have to
look at that one. I love the idea of independently-turning wheels.

Jen