[blparent] Pulling Strollers

Sat Jul 20 16:59:44 UTC 2013

On 7/19/13, Jess <jessandellie101611 at gmail.com> wrote:
> V,
> Yes, they make strollers with reversible handles. I had one for the few
> months I was doing the DCYF stuff  for my daughter at that time.
>
>
> Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Smartphone
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Veronica Smith <madison_tewe at spinn.net>
> Date: 07/19/2013  5:40 PM  (GMT-05:00)
> To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List' <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Pulling Strollers
>
> Steve, did you have a stroller with a reversable handle?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Steve
> Jacobson
> Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 9:50 AM
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Pulling Strollers
>
> Melissa,
>
> Your mother is thinking only in terms of what she can't see.  She is not
> taking into account that you will be just as aware of what is happening
> behind you as you are with what is happening in front of you.  You do need
> to be aware of people taking more than a casual interest in your kids
> whether they are behind or in front of you, but this is true of sighted
> parents as well.
>
> I pulled two kids in strollers and amazingly they have survived and are both
> grown up now.  A more likely problem than someone removing them from the
> stroller was that occasionally one of my kids would remove her shoes and
> throw them out of the stroller.
> Again, that would have been just as big a problem whether I was pushing or
> pulling, though.  <smile>
>
> You know, when it comes to parenting, there are simply a lot of things to
> worry about.  You hear about kids being stolen, for example, and there
> probably isn't a parent who doesn't think about it happening to them.  The
> question really becomes whether it is more likely to happen to you as a
> blind parent.  I am not aware of anything like that happening to a blind
> parent, though, and there are reasons for that which your mother is probably
> not considering.  What your mother is likely doing is closing her eyes and
> thinking of all the things she can't do.  This just is not an accurate way
> to view the situation.  Let's just try to look at the big picture for a
> moment.  There are things we as blind parents do routinely.  We try to make
> sure that our kids have close that make some noise so we know what our kids
> are doing.  We are probably more careful about making sure that our kids are
> securely buckled into the stroler.  We try to learn our kids tendencies.  If
> we have a child who is likely to learn to unbuckle the safety belt, we'll
> take steps to make it more secure.  We learn to sense by the vibrations
> transmitted to the handle of a stroller whether are child is moving around
> some, is wrestless or maybe up to no good.  <smile>  Your mother isn't
> thinking of all this when she closes her eyes, but all of these things taken
> together means that it would be pretty difficult for someone to take your
> child.  In addition, your child is probably more protected when being
> pulled.  When you push a child, there is very little in front.  When you
> pull a child, you are in front and the handle is somewhat of an obstacle.
> The back is higher than the front so it provides some protection from
> behind.  Most of the time strollers have an umbrella or other covering, and
> this makes it more difficult to get access to your child.  Finally, if you
> are pulling a child, this implies you are in motion.  To somehow remove a
> child with all of the above being considered while you are moving without
> you being aware of something just is not likely.  If there is some worry
> that this is a concern, there are additional steps that could be taken as a
> parent, and we could talk about some, but I feel you are dealing with a more
> general problem here of someone picturing parenting with their eyes closed
> without the benefit of your alternative techniques and experience.
>
> Still, a question like this isn't all bad.  As responsible parents, we can't
> just assume that we have thought of everything.
> Analyzing how we approach situations is a necessary part of being a good
> parent.  We have to be careful, though, not to constantly second guess
> ourselves.  People tend to forget that accidents happen to kids of sighted
> parents, that sighted parents sometimes loose focus, that while there might
> conceiveably be cases where we will miss something that someone with vision
> would see, there are also cases where we might observe something that might
> not be visible.  mostly, though, we're going to observe in different ways
> those things that a sighted parent will observe visually.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
> be
> On Fri, 19 Jul 2013 08:27:13 -0400, Melissa Treaster wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>As some of you know I have a baby on the way. My mother this morning
>>told me that she thinks that if I would to pull the stroller
> behind me would make my baby at risk. Meaning I guess someone could come up
> and take them. It's makes me feel like I am going to have to fear people
> come up to me. In some ways question can I do this? My husband however has
> no problem with me doing what I need to take are child to and from places on
> my own. Oh mom did ask if there any training for O&M for blind parents.
> Sorry had to vent after being upset this morning.
>>Thanks guys!
>>Melissa
>
>>Sent from my iPhone
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>
>
>
>
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Hi, listers.

I'm struck by the fact that questions about pulling strollers come up
over and over again from new parents; after all, these questions are
important. The conversation about the safety of babies is also
important. What would be a wonderful thing to come out of all of this
is a concrete list of strollers that parents can pull. From my own
experience asking about this, I heard about reversible-handle
strollers on this list and heard about people who had bought strollers
they could pull but the brands were now discontinued. I would take the
information I found and then do some research or go shopping and never
really come away with the right stroller in the end. I now have a
beautiful double-stroller (I have two little ones) with a handle that
does not reverse but with seats that can turn. It's a red City Select
model. A friend of mine who's an engineer rigged up a harness for me
to wear to pull it, but with rear wheels that really don't swivel,
it's not the best solution, so our babysitter and other sighted people
just push the girls in it. Either I'm not too patient or too clear,
but when I would ask about strollers that could be pulled, or had
reversible handles, even store department managers would say they
didn't have them or weren't sure what I meant. I had come to the
conclusion that pullable strollers just didn't exist, really. I ended
up using front and back carriers a lot, which I liked, and also have a
red wagon we can pull the kids in, which is a lot of fun.

We're a very helpful, well-meaning group, but the information about
the best strollers to use comes out in a very piecemeal way. What I'd
like to do is somehow note down the details for newer parents of
exactly which strollers are pullable and where people got them. If
there are ways we could keep concrete lists of tips like this for
other people so that the process of finding answers to questions like
this wouldn't be so arduous, it would be great. Sharon, is this
something you already provide through your classes and online chats?
If someone really wants to just find out which strollers to focus on,
for example, and cut through all the anecdotal information, where
should they look?

Jen