The Art of Child Carrying

The most wonderful gift in the world is that of a child. Which is very hard to believe if all you have to go on is all the brats you see outside or doing silly things in your building. And also hard to believe if you ever remember being one. I know I was a brat. I had two older brothers who taught me well.

This new insight came to me after spending a weekend with my niece. I've always loved my niece but living so far away from her hasn't given me very much time to get to know her at all. So this past holiday weekend my mom brought her up, and the 3 of us girls had a weekend of play and fun. And I can go on and on and on and on telling story after adorable story about my nieces antics. I never claimed that she wasn't a brat, but she does have a heart of gold to go with it. And with out even trying she helped me on my quest to find better ways to do things, my quest that will help release the bonds that bind me. And this new lesson I learned was the art of Child carrying.

My niece is only seven, cute as a button and only 26 pounds. After the first day of swimming and walking to go get dinner and back she was complaining that her leg hurt. I took the cue from my mom that she would be ok. (I really know nothing about raising kids, but I am eager to learn). So for fun I dug out my old cane that I hobbled around university with, set it too it's lowest setting and gave it to her to play with. I swear every time she was home she used it too!
The next day she was still complaining of a sore leg, so she asked me if she could ride on me. I have done so around the house just to play with her, but to actually have her on my lap while we were out and about well this was entirely new for me, so I was willing to try it. So once we left my apartment, I told her to climb up and she settled on my lap, and I put my purse in front of her making a nice convenient seat belt. And it was a lot of fun wheeling her around. I still wish I had my new chair, because it would have been easier, on me, her and the chair. Oh and my back...ow. So while I got a lot of exercise wheeling around with an extra 26 pounds balanced on my lap, and my mom had to walk to keep up with us, my niece got a free ride! And she loved it. Every time we were going somewhere she asked if she could ride on me, and I'm a sucker for being called 'Auntie". Now this new art of child carrying is quite useful. It shows that you can still help a child, play with a child, and at farmers markets its a good method of keeping them from running away. Mothers on the other hand, are quite a different story...did there have to be so many jewelry stands?

Even when I could walk, I've always had trouble looking after and carrying babies around, let alone toddlers, or kids. My balance was way more precarious then theirs was. That has always been a sore spot for me, and probably a reason I have never really allowed myself to get to close to children. But now a whole world of possibilities has opened up for me. As long as the child is strapped in, in some way, probably tighter for babies, but loose like a purse strap for seven year olds, their are many ways to look after and play with kids while being in a wheel chair. And you still have pretty much free range of motion to wheel and make corners. It's a pretty amazing experience. Though because not only are you carry extra weight, you are also balancing, so your lower back muscles take quite a lot of strain. Having good back support would be crucial if you were planning on doing this for more then a few days, and even after a few days, all I can say is "ow ow ow".
The best thing about my niece is that when she came up here she knew nothing about disabilities or wheelchair's or anything. But instead of being annoying and asking dumb questions, like "why can't you walk" in a high and mighty voice, she actually tried to understand the whole process, and asked interested as well as interesting questions. For example she wanted to know How I turned in the chair. So I actually had to take the time to consciously think about how I did that. And later when she was playing in my chair she tried it for herself. She also wanted to know why I didn't like the chair I was in and wanted to know the differences. So when we met up with a friend of mine for coffee who gets around in a more efficient and better looking chair, she made the point of asking if my new chair would be like that one and we proceeded to talk about why that style of chair would work better then this one.

and that brings me back to my first point, a child is a wonderful gift. They see the world through fresh eyes, and bring joy and perspective to a world that was slowly slipping into darkness.