Does your kid or toddler get the first pair of eyeglasses? My twin girls are now 6 years old and recently they got eyeglasses!!! Yes, it’s not easy for children to accept eyeglasses (note: it is equally frustrating for parents). Majorly kids are bullied or feel low confidence because of their glasses. What as a parent should do to help kids to wear their first pair of eyeglasses with pride? Here, we will learn how to motivate kids to wear glasses and also get some awesome tips if you are worried about what type of care we have to give our child.
It’s a really worrying situation that the ratio of weak eyesight in children is increasing. Eye Health of children is really perturbed because of the high influence of technology and environmental issues. Some kids have eye issues since birth which are hard to diagnose an at such an early age.
When your toddler gets the first pair of eyeglasses, it’s immensely hard to handle. Our little monkeys are always wanted to play around without glasses. But before preparing your kid, prepare yourself first.
How to prepare yourself( as a parent) for your kid’s first pair of eyeglasses?
Parents especially mothers are so worried about their kids who have to wear eyeglasses. Before preparing your kid, firstly, you should accept the situation.
The day I came to know that my daughter has glasses, I was so anxious. I always keep thinking about what I did wrong so my kids have poor eye vision. Am I not giving them healthy food? Am I making any parenting mistake?
This reminds me of a lot of struggling memories of my twin pregnancy. Having twins is really a blessing but it adds more complications too. So I feel mom guilt that my kids are not as healthy as like others. I start blaming my difficult pregnancy which leads a premature and low birth weight kids.
Every parent on this earth wants to give the best food for the good health of their children. Where I was lagging behind? Am I the only mother who thinks like this???
But eventually, I cover up by a single thought, a single promise I made to my daughters: I will never ever expect more from my kids and accepts with their weakness.
There are other kids who have glasses and are healthy too so why I was so worried. Thank god, I came out from my past experiences so positively.
When you know that your kid has weak eyesight, what to do first when you see that your kid/toddler has glasses?
Firstly, don’t blame yourself about your kid’s eyeglasses. You have to be thankful that now you have a solution for your kid’s eye problem. Simply embrace your motherhood!!!
How do you know that your kids need glasses?
How to know that your kid is facing eyesight issues? They are too little to figure it out by themselves. They might not complain about their poor sight. You have to be careful about their behavior and little complains.
Let me tell you about my experience. At such an early age I didn’t expect that my daughter will have glasses. So I ignore or take it as her habit to watch TV by sitting so close. Sometimes she made many mistakes to copy the class work which I took as her own mistake. As she is a little butterfly, she never sits or concentrates on one thing which creates many mistakes.
One day I asked about her mistakes she replied that whenever she seat on the last row of the bench she can’t see things properly. And immediately we took a decision to consult an eye specialist. And our doubt comes true, she has eye glasses.
Eye vision problem is sometime in heredity. There is sometimes color vision deficiency, retinitis- retina deficiency which in your generation from years. But it’s not always the case.
Your kid might have nearsightedness or short-sightedness (also called myopia) or farsightedness even if there is no one in your family who has glasses. How you can know that your child or toddler has an eye disease or vision problem at an early stage?
Top 6 signs your kid or toddler have poor eyesight or vision problem
- Your child squints when looking at something. Is your child always squints often? If he can’t see the picture clearly, he has a vision problem. It depends on nearsightedness or farsightedness that your kid has an illusionary picture of any object which so near or far.
- Your child sits too closely to television. This is the very common symptom of an eyesight problem. When your kid is watching TV or any gadgets so closely, it’s a clear sign of eyesight issue. Please visit optician or eye doctor and do eye checkup. We generally neglect this early sign of poor eyesight. I did it too.
- While reading always head down to read or write. Your kid has trouble to read or write because of weak eyesight. Make sure that when your child is doing homework, sit straight.
- Frequently complain about a headache Is your child complains about headache more? Double check your child is suffering from any eye disease or not and contact eye specialist first.
- Your kid has watery eyes The child who has weak eyesight or having a problem to see any object always has watery eyes. They have to force more on the retina to see an object so they have tired eyes. Keep noticing that your kid or toddler has excessive water in eyes or rubbing eyes much or not. When your kid is watching anything on a continuous manner have tears in eyes is a sign that your child needs glasses.
- Complains about vision problem with one eye You can close one eye and ask your kid to see any object. Is your kid trying to watch things by putting a hand on one eye? This directly means that your kid doesn’t have a clear vision.
How my kids react to their first pair of glasses?
Twin parenting is terrible. You have two different personalities with the same faces. Well, my little girls are like the sun and the moon. So one of them is so excited about a new pair of eyeglasses. Actually, her attitude helps me a lot to think more positively. While my other girl is absolutely not ready for that.
Luckily they already have classmates who have glasses so they didn’t cry so much to wear their eyeglasses at school. But it’s too hard to encourage your children to wear eyeglasses the first time.
The real trouble is how to convince them to wear eyeglasses. I was so anxious about this. I want to tell my kids why they must have to wear glasses as soon as possible but don’t want that they feel incomplete or sick because of glasses.
I want that they should not take their eye vision problem as any physical limitations. They have to wear their first pair of eyeglasses with pride.
I am sharing a few tips to raise confidence in your kid to wear his eyeglasses and feel proud about it.
5 Best tips to help kids wear their first pair of glasses with confidence.
Tip#1 Tell your kid about the importance of glasses.
Having eyeglasses always a horrible incident for your kid. Your child will never accept it at first. But you have to make them understand the need for glasses in their life. You have to consult their eye doctor to let them explain the pros and cons of eyeglasses.
Show them the difference between the two scenes with or without glasses. And point them how they can feel better after wearing glasses.
Tip #2 Have Fun with Style
Nowadays we have plenty of options for spectacles in color and styles. Even with glasses, your kid will look stylish. Let them pick their own glass frames’ design. Let them make an interest in their eyeglasses. Kids would love to choose their own things and they will definitely fall in love with their first pair of eyeglasses this way.
Tip #3 Give Examples of Others
Let them show the real people who have eyeglasses. You can show how they wear their glasses with grace. I also have glasses even though not from childhood so I put myself as a role model for them. Kids have a fear that they will look bad and other children will tease them. I clicked some photos with them to let them feel good about their eye glasses.
Tip #4 Read Books in which lead character wears glasses
Watch movies or read picture books in which lead character wear glasses. Harry Potter!!!! Yayy!! Your kid would love to look like him. There are many picture book which can show you how a person with glasses is strong. This tip is really effective. I am so sure that this will boost your kid’s confidence and you will face fewer tantrums for their eyeglasses.
Tip #5 Give them time to be habitual
Kids are playful. They love to jump over here and there. New eyeglasses restrict them to play freely. This is the reason why kids hate to wear eyeglasses. Let them give some time to adjust with their new pair of eyeglasses. They will learn slowly to put their glasses. You can have a two pair of glasses for any emergency or say be ready with a backup plan.
How to select the first pair of glasses for kids?
When selecting a material for kids eyeglasses, you must think the need of your kid first. The difficulty is much higher when your toddler has eyeglasses. There are many designs which are suitable for toddlers.
Check your child is nearsighted or farsighted and decide the lens thickness first. To be honest, kids watch mobile, video games and TV more and I selected anti-reflective coating for glasses so these electronic devices harm their little eyes less. Well, they might be costlier but nothing is more precious than their eyes.
The second thing is to choose plastic or metal glasses. I will go for metal glasses as they are more durable and non-breakable and best for kids who are not much care about their eye-glasses. Check if your kids are not able to look over the top so bridges must be a good fit for their face.
The other important thing is the templates. For part-time wearers, the cable template is quite uncomfortable. But for full-time eyeglass wearer, the cable template is the best option.
*** Bonus tip: Always purchase an extra pair of eyeglasses with warranties.
What can I do to protect your child’s eyesight?
As a parent, I am always curious to improve my kids’ eyesight problem. How I can help my kids for better vision?
These are some best tips to take care to avoid eye problems/ eyeglasses for your kid or toddler:
- Eat the right kind of healthy food before and after pregnancy. Normally, as a mother, we always sideline our health but if you are a breastfeeding mom your eating habits always impact on your baby’s health.
- Encourage your child to do be more creative. You can encourage your child to do some indoor activities. I can totally understand that we all are hooked up with gadgets all the time. Enforcing kids to stay away with mobile and video games is really challenging. Instead, you can try to do more physical activities.
- Set a healthy diet in your kid’s food list. Carrots (any red vegetable/fruit contains vitamin A, tomatoes (vitamin C), green vegetables, bell peppers (rich in vitamin A). Having more daylight or sunlight is a natural source of vitamin D. Although straight sunlight to eyes can harm eyesight so wear sunglasses while going outside.
- You can give some eye exercise to strengthen eyesight so that their numbers will not increase. Give some toys to your kid or toddler for visualization. Try to make a habit to relax their eyes by giving them a short break so they will not sit so long on one position and continuously working which makes their eyes more tired.
- You can use a good eye refreshing drops to stop itching or other little problem into eyes. Just make sure that your kid or toddler will clean or wipe their eyeglasses. Eyeglasses with poor condition create more pressure to visualize.
These are some helpful tips to adjust your kids with their new eyewear.
Does your kid or toddler have glasses? What’s their first reaction? How you manage to let your kid wear eyeglasses with pride?
Do you have any question or problem regarding eyeglasses for a toddler or kid?
I would love to hear your struggle story when your kid gets his first pair of eyeglasses.
