[blparent] Blind parents traveling with kids

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Robert,

A very intriguing question.

For any parent, it takes focus and patience to deal with children
especially when traveling. Whether blind or not, there will be issues a
parent must face in order to travel safely with kids in tow.

A sighted parent may have to deal with loud kids while driving, or young
children not following directions while walking to the park. You need to
concentrate on everyone's safety, making sure you are aware of all that
concerns. It's no small feat.

When the kids are young, we use the child leash. This can be
controversial for some, but I see no problem with it. The animal
comparison really is apples and oranges at the end of the day. If we
kept a child in a dog carrier, that may be another issue, but a child
leash is far from this, smile.

The leash provides security for both child and parent. When Baby is
still too young to completely understand the dangers of the world, a
leash affords a child some physical freedom while giving parents control
of that movement.

As blind parents, this has been so important and helpful to our peace of
mind when out and about.

A child carrier that you wear in front of you or behind you, like a Baby
Bjorn,  is also helpful when traveling with Baby. It provides complete
freedom of arms and hands while keeping Baby safe with you.

Of course a stroller is useful too. We have used strollers for the kids
up to the age of three. For the older kids over 3, our wagon works
great. Both keep kids contained and safe.

Of course learning good travel skills is crucial to this equation.
Whether you have useable vision or not, without good, solid travel
skills, this circumstance becomes very difficult.

And you can't ever make generalizations, but in my experience, both
personal and that of people I know, you do your best as a blind parent
to ingrain certain concepts into your children like answering whenever
they hear their name called, or checking in frequently with you when out
and about, or staying close when traveling. This doesn't always work,
and some kids learn these things quickly while others take their sweet
time in coming to it, but as a blind parent, and really any parent, this
is important.

Going back to addressing any parent, disabled or not, you just develop
this innate ability to multi-task and focus on more than one thing at a
time. It's like falling in love; until you do it, it's difficult to
explain. This isn't to say it always comes naturally for all parents, or
that situations never arise, but once you have a child, things start to
kick in you never knew were possible, grin.

Bridgit
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:05:44 -0500
From: "Robert Shelton" <rshelton1 at gmail.com>
To: "'Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Don't be distraught!
Message-ID: <006f01ce2c21$ece8dd70$c6ba9850$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

You know, I've been thinking about this, and I can't imagine how you
moms and sometimes dads travel with children.  I fancy myself a
competent traveler, but when I'm on the move, every sense I have is
focused on navigation and traffic.  I get really annoyed when "helpful"
strangers interrupt my concentration.  So, add in a child (or two or
three) with their needs, and your requirement to watch for their safety
as well as your own. How in the world do you do it?  I'd never really
thought about it before, but I'll just say it.  Hats off to you.