[blparent] Moving, and how it affects yourself and children

[Judy Jones]

Now that I have been a parent, I can look back and realize how much my folks 
set the tone for our multiple moves as an Air Force family.

Mom always set a tone of excitement, new was sanomymous with exciting, 
adventure, friends, always looking ahead.  So I guess I naturally adopted 
that.

Of course, I did miss my friends left behind, but we wrote letters.  I 
attended eight different schools in my educational experience.

When we went overseas, my mom would prepare by getting braille texts ahead 
of time, guessing at what I might need to supplement my schooling.  We were 
only allowed 2000 pounds personal possessions, so I shudder to think how 
much my family must have sacrificed, in order to make sure I had the 
braille.  Mind you, this was back in the sixties, before E-books, online, 
etc.

I was always an outgoing kid anyway, so maybe that is why I adapted, whereas 
moving may be harder on other kids.  The important thing is the tone the 
parent sets.

My husband was an army brat, and we actually met overseas as kids, then lost 
touch, got back together again through a mutual friend we didn't know we 
had.  In any case, his mom, in spite of having four kids, took on the job of 
brailling all his texts for him when overseas.  He remembers hearing the 
clatter of the Perkins brailler far into the night many times.

You do what you have to to help your kids with any move.

With this background, moving has never seemed daunting to me.  With my 
husband's work, we have had to make a few moves, and our girls adapted very 
well, too.  They both have very outgoing personalities.  You have to start 
the organization process from the first, and we always did well to plan 
months ahead, a luxury our military parents didn't have, but everything 
worked out well in our 5 moves.  Two of those took place before we had our 
kids, which was six years into our marriage.  I forgot a move.  The one we 
last took in 2008 once the kids were out of the house.  My husband retired 
early, and we moved from Tacoma, WA to Twin Falls, Idaho, not anticipating 
any more moves.

Judy

-----Original Message----- 
From: Eric Calhoun via blparent s
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2015 4:24 PM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Cc: Eric Calhoun
Subject: [blparent] Moving, and how it affects yourself and children

For this blparent message, I want to focus on the child and their feelings.

Most blind kids do not take kindly to a brand-spanking-new environment.
I was one of those.  I was going to miss my own new neighborhood.  But I
coped.  Other children may not, others may.

Make sure that when you move, the children re-visit their own former
stomping grounds.  Don't sabotage any learning experiences between the old
and the new.

Good luck, blind parents.
..

Eric from Los Angeles reminds you to remember to try to be good to each
other.  eric at pmpmail.com; also on Facebook.
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