Is Your Kid About to Get Glasses? Here’s Help
For many children, getting their first pair of glasses is an amazing experience. They can see better, read with relative ease, and the headaches they may have been complaining about seem to vanish overnight. Poor students may suddenly surge ahead in scholastic achievement and classroom behavior once they can see the chalkboard, projection screen, or textbook in front of them. But for some kids, getting a first pair of glasses is a frightening scenario that brings up a wide variety of potential insecurities.
Many children worry that they will be made the brunt of jokes upon returning to school with glasses. Some may be concerned that needing glasses makes them less able than their classmates, friends, or even siblings. Some kids just don’t deal well with having to wear something on their face full time. And many others just feel uncomfortable with the loss of freedom or control that the entire process of visiting the doctor and “having” to wear glasses represents.
Here are some ways for you to help your children address what may be bothering them about wearing glasses.
Dealing With Bullying, Name Calling, Etc.
If you are concerned that your child may get called names or bullied upon returning to school with glasses because something of that nature happened to you as a child, you can rest a bit easier in the knowledge that name-calling children with glasses is far less prevalent these days than it was in the past.
If on the other hand your child is concerned that they may be bullied, a little positive reinforcement and coming up with some creative responses to the standard names or negative comments they fear can go a long way.
Modeling Positive Behavior
If you (or your partner) wear corrective lenses yourself but have long ago switched to contacts, it will help normalize the wearing of glasses if you can go back to wearing yours for some time around when your child undergoes the transition themselves.
Modeling positive behavior and identifying “cool” people who wear glasses so that your child has someone to emulate or look up to, can help tremendously with their confidence.
Making the Experience a Special One
The eye exam and the choosing and fitting of frames can also be a tremendous opportunity to make the experience a positive, special one for your child. Letting go of some control, letting them choose the coolest frames they can find from within a predetermined price range can empower them and get them to invest in their glasses on a personal level.
Also, do not hesitate to enlist the help of your doctor and the opticians during the exam and the rest of the process. Their reinforcing comments may make all the difference your child needs.
And if you’ve got a child who’s ready for their first or next eye exam, be sure to get in touch with us today. We offer special eye exams for children at Beaumont Vision.