What about other things that make my child look odd?

There are a lot of things that can make your child - who is becoming an adult - look odd to those who can see him or her.   This is just plain not fair.  If the whole world were made up of blind people, no one would care what we look like at all, and many would argue, the world would be a  much better and happier place.  For one thing, we could stop spending billions of dollars on cosmetics and designer fashions! (Unfortunately, humans being what we are, we will always find some way to discriminate against someone for something!). 


Fortunately, some of these things - the things that can make our children appear "odd" - just take some common sense to correct.  For instance, it's certainly easier for a young child to wear sweat pants all the time - easier to learn to get dressed,  for learning to use the bathroom, more comfortable - no constricting waistband to complain about, etc.  But at some point kids grow up and they don't wear sweats all the time to school anymore.  This is really true for our kids, who need to work at zippers and buttons and snaps - and snaps on jeans can be particularly troublesome.  Kids need to know how to do these things.  


How do you know how to dress your child?  

• Hint #1 (and we were REALLY GUILTY): don't dress them like little replicas of yourselves!
• Hint #2: look to see what other kids are wearing in their same age group/class, but also in the next two grades above.  
• Hint #3: Try not to always dress your child in hand-me-down clothes.  Both our kids wore parachute pants long after they went out of style.
• Hint # 4: use some common sense - you want your child to be successful, and that means be able to handle their own clothing as well as being socially acceptable.  That doesn't mean $200 basketball shoes.  It just means being sensible and sensitive to your child's physical and social needs in regards to clothes.  Social needs ARE needs - not just fluffy stuff we can live without.  That said, not everything your teen wears has to come from Hollister.
• Hint #5: Try to balance giving your child some autonomy over their clothing selection with what is reasonable.  Get in the habit of checking the weather report together and talk about what might be a good thing to wear that day.

On the other hand, some things may or may not make sense, and may seem more reasonable at one time than another.  Whether or not to replace very damaged eyes, or underdeveloped eyes, with prosthetics (which do look remarkably lifelike these days and cause very little problems) is a decision parents are sometimes faced with - and may always wonder if they made the right decision.

What else?  Well there are those other "blindisms" - the hand flapping, the craning the head toward the ceiling or always looking down, and not looking at a person they are speaking with.  These are things that take a lot of reminding, a lot of teaching of proper angles, and a lot of training - and willingness on the part of the trainee!  But, fear not, with persistence - and sometimes refusing to acknowledge or speak to them unless they are, (pick one or more: have their hands down, head straight ahead, or "looking at me"), you CAN successfully raise a child who doesn't flap, eyepress, look down all the time, and who is socially appropriate by looking where the speaker is.  Sometimes we just tell a young child "I want to see your pretty (or handsome) face", sometimes we just say, "can you look at me, please?"  If they don't understand, or move their head too far, we ask permission to touch their head and point it for them so that they have some idea where "level" is.  But it takes TONS of repetition, and for a child who doesn't care or understand why they should care, it's hard to keep at it.  Just keep reminding yourself of that job interview.  Your son or daughter will need to look directly at the speaker, not flap, not rock, not spin, or any of those other things we've mentioned so that they will appear as hireable as possible.