THE WORK ETHIC APPLIES TO BLIND CHILDREN, TOO

THE WORK ETHIC APPLIES TO BLIND CHILDREN, TOO

Future Reflections Fall 1991
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THE WORK ETHIC APPLIES TO BLIND CHILDREN, TOO
by Catherine Horn Randall

Reprinted from the Month's News, the newsletter of the National Federation of

the Blind of Illinois.
An article published in the January, 1986, issue of Reader's Digest

entitled "How to Raise a Happy Child," by Edwin Kiester, Jr., and Sally Valente

Kiester, made me stop and reexamine my carefree childhood. The truths I read and

re-read in the Digest article can be especially applied to the lives of blind

and partially blind children and teenagers, as well as to their sighted peers.

This forty-year-old Harvard study began to try to understand juvenile

delinquency. The study traced the lives of 456 boys from inner city Boston. When

the boys' lives were compared at middle age, one fact was cited. "Regardless of

intelligence, family income, ethnic background, or amount of education, those

who had worked as boys, even at simple household chores, enjoyed happier and

more productive lives than those who had not."

According to Dr. George E. Vaillant, author of the study, "Boys who worked

in the home or community gained competence and came to feel they were worthwhile

members of society. And because they felt good about themselves, others felt

good about them."

According to the article, an eleven-year-old philosopher of the 1980s

instructed his mother as follows: "You only need to know three things about

kids. Don't hit them too much, don't yell at them too much, and don't do too

much for them."

As a child during the dark ages of the 1950s, I was not expected to do

regular chores at home. I emptied waste baskets sometimes and made my bed

occasionally, but I was not regularly expected to do these jobs or others as a

contributing member of the family. Over the years I have asked my mother why she

did not expect me to do chores at home, and her answer has invariably been that

my school work took up most of my time. I then have to remind her that I did not

start bringing home much homework until I was twelve. I feel it is a disservice

to any child, and especially to a blind child, not to be expected to share

family responsibilities along with everyone else. Just because a child or

teenager happens to be partially or totally blind should not exempt him or her

from learning to take responsibility.

When homework assignments became routine, I was expected to do them. I

loved school and didn't mind working hard to complete assignments. The one area,

therefore, in which I was expected by my parents to follow through, I did. But

in life we must learn to also complete jobs we don't like. This is called living

up to our responsibilities.

Blind children have the right to learn to become independent people. This

means they need to know how to do every chore around a house competently. I did

not know how to iron when I left home for college. I sent my blouses to a

laundry service, and I took a lot of ribbing about it. So many things in life

would have been so much easier if I had learned to do them as a child or as a

teenager.

As a high school English teacher, I have learned that if students are not

expected to meet and exceed reasonable standards of performance, they won't.

This philosophy applies also throughout life outside the classroom. Blind people

must be able to perform everyday tasks as competently as their sighted peers.

The blind child, like any child, needs to feel that he or she is an integral

contributing part of the family team. As your child or teenager learns to master

household tasks, his or her self-confidence will improve. The blind child needs

to be a participant in life, not just a spectator.
The most important gift you can give your blind son or daughter, after

assurance of family love and support, is to teach that person to become as

self-sufficient as possible. In addition to developing good cooking, cleaning,

and laundry skills at home, insist that Braille and cane travel skills are

written into your child's Individual Education Program (IEP) at school.
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