Parenting with Low Vision – the Preschooler

by Maurie Hill on February 8, 2011

Picture of blocks spelling out the word PreschoolEvery parent deserves a medal for surviving the turbulence of the Toddler Years, but of course the end of one phase just means the start of another.  Now that our walks around town were no longer interrupted by sporadic temper tantrums, it was time to teach my child that her mother couldn’t see very well and sometimes needed help knowing when it was safe to cross the street.  “Stop, Look, and Listen” strategies were strictly adhered at every street corner and parking lot entrance.  We wait for the cars to stop and then we could go.

Go, go, go, we did.  My vision was not going to instill laziness in my daughter.  I taught her that like mountain climbing, we should only walk as far as we could safely and comfortably return home.  Calling Daddy for a ride back was not an option except perhaps during unexpected thunderstorms.  I thought this was an important lesson, especially if we’re going to continue raising the bar on these mother/daughter adventures.  But yes, ducking inside for an ice cream cone break is always acceptable.

Back at home, she had graduated from simple rhyming books that were easy for me to memorize, so reading to her became more difficult.  My tired eyes annoyed her sometimes.  One time she said, “I wish you weren’t visually impaired.”  Yeah, well she also wished I was in my early 30s like her friends’ mothers, but I can’t do much about that one either.

Because I don’t drive, we’ve learned to be more resourceful in finding things to do – like exploring local events at the library, bookstore, or recreation park, where we’ll probably run into a few friends and frogs.  Or if we’re desperate on a gloomy, rainy day, we might take the bus to the Rutland Mall which is an adventure in itself.  Surprising mini-adventures are much more likely to unfurl when you’re not in the comfort of your own car.  At the end of the day, we don’t let a silly vision impairment burden us and narrow our vision.  There is too much to do and since, according to my wise daughter, I’m not 30, there is so little time.

Tagged as: ai squared, low vision, Maurie Hill, parenting, visually impaired, zoomtext

  • Tom Coburn

    As a visually impaired person, I take the ‘blind’ approach to crossing streets. Stop, and listen. You don’t have to ‘see’ to be able to cross streets safely, all you have to do is use your ears, and go when the cars next to you go. You don’t have to hurry, in fact I stop for 2-3 light cycles sometimes until I know its safe to cross. You just go by the sound of the traffic, I cross 6 lane intersections that way, its not hard, just takes practice. Most things in life I use the ‘blind’ approach, just because we have to learn not to depend on our remaining sight as much because its not reliable enough. I do use what little I have, but in situations like crossing streets and other such situations where my remaining sight isn’t reliable enough for safe travel, thats when I use the blind skills that I learned from my mobility instructor. I will never understand partials who are afraid to look the part, because to me, our safety is much more important then how we look to others around us, and totals cross streets all the time, so thats when I realized there is no shame in carrying a cane, there is no shame in using total techniques, long as it gets ya safely from point a to point b who cares how it looks?

  • C_trombley

    Maurie, Your daughter is lucky to have an active and engaged mother. I may have been 30 and full sighted, but believe me, I had much less energy when my daughter was in grade school. I am a self-declared couch potato and THAT bothered my little girl. ;-)

  • Mhill

    Great advice, Tom. I should take mobility training sometime. There is a street crossing across 4 lanes of traffic in Rutland that scares me.

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