Do you suspect your child needs glasses? When children are going through vital developmental in their early childhood, they get about 80% of their learning through visual stimuli. Therefore assessing and testing their eyes during these early years is vital to ensure that they reach social and intellectual milestones.
Plus, it gives them the self-confidence to go out into the yard or playground and explore.
As parents, there are tell-tale signs that can be picked up during infancy and early childhood that point toward vision problems. Generally, the more serious the problem, the earlier it’s picked up.
During the first few months, a baby has very poor vision, with little visual acuity, and seeing mostly in black and white. After six months, their sight should naturally sharpen, and they should have better hand-eye coordination.
At this point, you should take your child for their first eye exam. After this, an eye exam should happen from the age of three onwards every year.
A simple, well-proven surgery can restore sight to millions, and something even simpler, a pair of glasses, can make millions more see.
Thulasiraj Ravilla
Signs of Poor EyeSight
- Constantly sitting too close to the television or holding a book close to their face
- Squinting to see clearly
- High sensitivity to light and shielding the eyes
- Avoiding certain things like close activities (reading, coloring), or distant activities (playing with a ball or tag).
- Frequent rubbing of the eyes
- Complaining of a headache or tiredness in the eyes
- Watery eyes
It never gets old watching someone receive their first pair of glasses and regain their vision and their life.
Neil Blumenthal
What’s Wrong?
The typical problems that young children experience are:
Farsightedness
Common with kids and can lead to crossed eyes. This can easily be corrected in the early years by wearing glasses or contact lenses.
In very rare cases, surgery is needed. However, left untreated, crossed-eyedness or strabismus can lead to permanent and irreversible vision loss.
Nearsightedness
It is also called myopia and means that children can’t see the blackboard and other faraway objects.
Astigmatism
This is when your child has blurred or distorted vision at all distances. In most cases, these common conditions can be treated with correctly prescribed glasses or contact lenses.
The Immovable Mountain
Your child may be as stubborn as a mule and refuse to wear glasses (let alone contact lenses). If you run into opposition, try some of these methods:
- Let them select their own glasses.
- Explain the advantages of wearing glasses. Like you will be able to play sports now, or you will be able to see the computer better to play video games.
- Some children are worried they will be teased or feel different with glasses. Calm their worries by giving them an example of a superhero, cartoon character, or famous person with glasses who they can look up to.
- Don’t visit the optometrist to select glasses when they are grumpy, sick, or hungry.
- Make sure that the glasses fit correctly and are comfortable for them.
12% of people with glasses wear them as an attempt to see better. 88% of people with glasses wear them as an attempt to appear smarter.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana