Having children fitted for glasses or contacts is one thing. Getting them to wear them is another. If you are a parent who has ever tried to get your child to adjust to new glasses, you’re not alone. Many kids are uncomfortable wearing glasses for the first time, as well as adjusting to the lenses that are replacing the old ones.
The key is to create an experience for a child that is both fun and engaging so that children will not feel uncomfortable about the change. How can you achieve this?
In this post, we’ll take a look at some helpful tips parents can use to help the experience be more positive for your child.
10 Tips to Help Your Child Adjust to Their Lenses
Below are some of the best tips for helping kids adjust to wearing lenses. From figuring out ways to make it a positive experience to stressing the importance of wearing their custom lenses, these tips should help you to figure out how to inspire and motivate your kids to take care of their eyes.
Make it fun
Making the issue about wearing or getting new lenses fun is important so that kids won’t rebel against wearing them. It takes some getting used to so be patient with kids who refuse to wear them at first. Find a way to make it attractive to them, including pointing out some of their friends who wear glasses.
Stress individuality
Tell kids it’s okay to be different and that individuality is what makes us special. Get them involved in the process of picking out their frames so that they feel involved in the selection process. Explain to kids that wearing them makes them look “cool” or “smart,” whatever works for your child.
Teach them to resist bullies and help them think of witty “comebacks” to deal with the situation. If the bullying is severe and cannot be overlooked, arrange to speak with a counselor or principal at your child’s school about the situation.
Teach the benefits of wearing lenses or contacts
Wearing prescription lenses can have several benefits including possibly getting better grades in school, being able to see things from afar, and opening up a “clearer” world to those who wear them. Show them how it will help them perform better in school and life and increase their ability to participate in things they enjoy doing (such as sports), with a higher level of proficiency.
Have the child wear them consistently
Wearing prescription lenses helps kids see better and improves their visual acuity. But they need to understand that, to correct their vision over the long term, they should wear them regularly. Getting in the habit of wearing them consistently will help them improve their eyesight. This is especially true if children are fitted with the lenses early in their childhood.
Get them custom-fitted to avoid the wrong fit
It is important that your child’s lenses and frames fit their nose correctly. Once you get their prescription for new lenses and the frames come in, make sure the optometrist fits them to ensure they have a good fit. This will alleviate the need to change frames too soon and will encourage them to wear them more often.
Make a Celebrity Scrapbook
One new idea is to make a celebrity scrapbook of several celebrities and well-known personalities who wear them. By pointing out the famous people who wear lenses or contacts, your child will see it is a “trendy” thing and not something only for “nerds.”
Remind them, though that being a nerd is not bad. You could also create a scrapbook of famous or rich people who wear them such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and many others. Talk about how cool these people were to invent unique technologies and systems that millions of people now use and benefit from. Call your scrapbook, “Famous Nerds Who Wore Frames” or something similar. Kids will find this funny, and they will be more likely to want to wear them if someone they admire wears them, as well.
Quote from famous publications
It might not mean anything to a 4-year-old, but older kids might be impressed with the idea that Business Insider, one of the most famous online business publications, stated in a recent article that “41 out of 100 billionaires wear lenses.” This is almost 50% so this should make an impression on your child that smart, successful people often wear them.
Successful people often do wear them, and they do make people look more intelligent. Getting the right fit is important and when this is done professionally as it is at Florida Eye, you won’t have to worry whether they will fit correctly.
Breaking the stereotypes
One reason that kids are reluctant to wear frames is that they have a stereotype about the people who wear them. Ask your child to tell you what they think of other people who wear lenses. Some common answers might be:
-Old people
-Nerdy people
-Square people
-Bookworms
Then stress that, while there may be some of these people whom others might call these names do wear them, people should never be boxed into a category like “squares” or “nerds” because this is a negative term that implies they don’t have a life outside of their scholarly pursuits. In reality, these people have a normal life, they have friends, goals, and families, and many of them are rich.
Bookworms are often intelligent, capable people who work in fields like Business or Technology, fields that many kids also plan to go into as a career someday. Having new role models that consist of people who wear frames or lenses is a good way to get kids to comply with your wishes to wear their lenses more often.
Presenting a visual idea of how these people look and function in their every day lives may help break some stereotypes about people who wear them. Florida Eye Specialists and Cataract Institute can help you with more ideas.
Be patient
Regardless of how hard you work to get your child used to their frames, some of them will want to take them off, and you will have to remind them to put them back on repeatedly. Allow them some time to adjust to their new accessory and allow them times they can take them off, such as when they are playing sports or taking a nap.
Reward plans sometimes work also if they are carefully planned out. For example, you could give kids a raise in their allowance if you catch them wearing their frames consistently for a week. This tactic may get them used to wearing them at home. But what about at school?
Consult with teachers to find out if they are wearing them at school and have the teacher report any times they notice they do not wear them. If your child has acute nearsightedness or astigmatism, it is likely that their performance will be affected by failing to wear them if they need them.
Rewarding kids for good grades is also an indirect way to reward them for wearing their lenses, especially if their vision is affected by not wearing them regularly.
Clean lenses regularly
One thing that bothers kids is when they discover their lenses are dirty. Dirty lenses can also set off their vision, and they could fall due to having a poor line of vision. If they have graduated lenses, it could be even more dangerous. So clean the lenses regularly and encourage your kids to learn to do this, too. If their lenses are clean, they will also be more likely to wear them.
Lifelong Vision Care
Getting children to wear their prescription lenses may seem like an impossible feat at times. But it is important to teach kids to take care of their eyes as a regular habit and that includes wearing their prescription lenses.
With some time and patience, kids will realize the importance of good eye care and it will be something they will pass on to their children and grandchildren, as well.
Visit Florida Eye Specialists and Cataract Institute
If you are ready to get your kids fitted with lenses to improve their ability to keep up with their studies and other pursuits, contact us today on our contact page or visit us at one of our convenient locations (located on our locations page).
Florida Eye Specialists and Cataract Institute is Tampa Bay, Florida’s leader in complete eye care. Serving the Tampa Bay and surrounding areas since 1981, we offer many convenient locations to serve you.
Our staff of excellent physicians and eye specialists at Florida Eye Specialists and Cataract Institute are ready to meet you or your child and help you find the glasses or contact lenses they need to see the world with more clarity and precision.
Contact us today to schedule an eye appointment and teach your children eye care at an early age.
