Does my child need glasses?

Did you know that only 2 in 5 (40%) parents believe an eye exam is essential to a child’s healthy checkup schedule? It is most common for parents of young children (ages six and younger) to miss signs of vision impairment in their children.  In fact, most parents of young children do not think that their kids need to have their eyes examined.  Unfortunately, this leaves many children struggling to see well (without even realizing it.)

For this reason, I wanted to share our story about how we learned that our child needed glasses. 

Our sweet Beau had always had headaches – from the time that he was about two years old.   I also blamed it on his hypertonicity issues.    We let it go for two years before thinking it could be something else.

When he turned four, he was doing great in school – learning, having fun, flourishing.  He was in preschool and really loved it.   When I tried teaching him to read, I noticed that he was having a hard time.  He was moving the book to him and away from him.  He was saying easy words wrong.  He was missing words that I knew he knew.

That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks- headaches, missing Kindergarten Sight Words that he had previously known, moving the book closer and further- OH MY GOODNESS- HE NEEDED GLASSES!

I had waited too long to take him to get an eye exam.  I just assumed that young children didn’t really need it.   I was wrong.    Our poor baby had been having headaches at least twice a week from his eyes straining so much.

When he turned 4 1/2, his eye started to turn in, from straining so much.   We took him right away, and then we ordered his glasses.

CHILD GLASSES TIP…   

When ordering glasses for your child, always order more than one, if possible!!  We ordered three pairs (one good pair and two “backup” cheaper pairs) after learning the hard way.   (Beau walked around with broken glasses, taped up like Harry Potter, for a week on our first go-round.  LOL!)

We’ll never make that mistake again.

If your child is having trouble reading, or paying attention, or has frequent headaches, I highly suggest seeing an eye doctor. I am SO glad that we did (and I feel bad for those years when we didn’t have any idea.)

I hope that was helpful!!