tell me about life for primary school children with glasses these days

[lighteningmcmama]

ds1, aged 5.2yo, has been prescribed glasses this week for slight short sightedness. what is life for kids with glasses like these days? do i need to be wary of bullying? and what are the practical issues i need to consider?

optician said he may end up with a high prescription eventually (poor kid has bad genes (mine ) )

[slkk]

No issues with bullying in classes I've taught. They forget/ lose/break them sometimes.

[ReallyTired]

Plenty of children wear glasses and no one thinks anything of it. My son wore hearing aids for 18 months and children just accepted it. He was prescribed glasses in juniors and no one took much notice.

Practical issues: kids are very hard on glasses, make sure you have a spare pair. Ds broke a pair of glasses as the silly billy wore them while playing rugby.

[BackforGood]

Not an issue at all - in fact, it's quite 'cool' to wear glasses these days although probably not 'cool' to use the word 'cool'

Just need to make decisions about if he wears them -
for PE?
for playtimes?

and if not where he puts them / how he keeps them safe

[MarkRuffaloCrumble]

I know a few kids who have recently got glasses and while their classmates may ask why they're wearing them for a day or two, it hasn't been in any way negative, just curiosity.

There are so many nice styles these days that quite often other DCs are a bit envious and wish they had them too!

DSD was prescribed them last year and her sister wanted to get some too so she didn't miss out! I always remember wishing that my eye test would show that I needed them as a kid too, and that was back in the 70s when glasses weren't as cool as they are now!

[CharleyDavidson]

A couple of children try to 'forget' to wear them and as the teacher I have to be aware of this.

2 other children come to me proudly to show me their glasses when they got them. Other children expressed the view that they were 'cool'. They are.

Only one incidence of a child calling another '4 eyes' and that was to one twin by their sibling.

[FabulousFudge]

Children are very accepting. Your child will learn to self manage, but may need reminders to clean them at school! Talk about where to put them when they remove them (not on carpet!) and that accidents happen and if they get broken they can be repaired.

[Oreocrumbs]

Dd has had no problems (reception) although she did announce that she swaps glasses with Sophie the other day ..... 3 girls have the same design glasses in class. So my new worry is that they might have got them mixed up and be wearing the wrong ones . Next term I'm putting her name on them!

[Levismum]

My d's is 7 he's been wearing glasses since he was 3.

Never any issues at school. There were about 6 dc wearing glasses in his class alone.

[Ibu1986]

I'm a primary school teacher and can honestly say I've never thought twice about children wearing glasses being teased. In the four years I've taught it's never happened to my knowledge anyway.

Just be aware that they may lose/break their glasses and may need constant reminding to wear them as they 'forget'. They will need to learn to take responsibility for their glasses and most kids are pretty good at this. I'd suggest talking about this with your DS's teacher with DS present.

[LadyRivers1]

My DD1 age 9 wears them and has no issues - DD2 was devastated to be told she didn't need glasses, so they must be in!

[littlebluecar]

No issues in school for DD but she can snap an arm off a pair at forty paces...

[JulesJules]

Dd1 has never had any issues.

The designs available now are great, far far better than when I was at school. She has two pairs at a time so always has a spare pair, and I always used to check when she was younger that she had a glasses case with her.

[Jenny70]

No negative backlash for my DS or my DD - they starting wearing them about 7yrs old.

Now that DS is older (12 year old), main issue is sport - he has got contacts, but because of his eyesight, he can't wear them full time, only for sport. Which is fine for games/training etc, but PE, lunchtime etc sometimes is quite challenging - boys sports get very physical, and whilst I don't want the glasses broken, I am more concerned about the frames cutting his face etc.

DD seems to be gentler with hers, I guess less tackling/rough'n'tumble in her sport and playground play.

[lolalotta]

My DD (just finished reception) wears glasses. She has never broken them or had any problems! The teacher puts them on a high up cabinet for PE and she wears them the rest of the time. The main thing I found was hung around for a good optician, it's really worth shopping around for styles that suit your little one. We found very little choice for stylish glasses for girls in specsavers and I was not impressed with the quality/ fit (kept on slipping down her nose) We found an amazing independent opticians who had a huge range of really stylish contemporary frames for kids and the fitting was amazing. They could order each of the frames in different sizes to get the perfect fit! My DD found the style with no nose pieces to be the most comfy and o think they look the most trendy too! I love my DDs glasses and she has never complained about needing to wear them or being picked on. I think some kids are envious they don't get to wear them! I think they are definitely "on trend"!

[lolalotta]

• hunting not hung!

[cathpip]

Glasses and hearing aids here and not a single problem at all.

[MrsC30]

My DD is 9 next week and has worn glasses since she was 4 only found out she needed them through the testing they do at schools otherwise I would have had no idea she needed them at that age and her eye sight was actually really poor in one eye it was only because the sight in her other eye was good that we didn't notice.

My DD was the first person in her class to start wearing glasses so I was also worried too however all the other children in her class thought they were cool and they actually all wanted some! She will be going into year 5 in September and about half of her class now wear glasses there's that many children now who wear them it certainly isn't an issue unlike when I was at school and it wasn't the "in thing to do"

So in my daughters case nothing to worry about!!

[5madthings]

Ds1 wears glasses, he is 15 now and it's never been a problem. Loads of kids at my younger ones primary wear them and I haven't heard of any issues, like others have said it's considered cool. Some of my others are jealous they don't need them!

[5madthings]

Practical issues have a spare pair incase they get broken or left at school etc. And a case to keep them in obviously.

[justaweeone]

Both mine had them at primary. No problems but Ds harder on his than his sister so need a spare pair. However both have worn contact lenses since they were 11 -Dd and 10- Ds.
However myself and Dh are contact lenses wearers so seriously bad genes!

[lighteningmcmama]

Thanks so much for everyone's replies.

I'm really reassured that things are better nowadays! Not looking forward to managing all the possible breakages

How do you manage the 2 pairs those of you who have them? A friend said she kept one pair at school and another at home..which makes me think I should have chosen 2 characters type pairs so he wants to wear them? atm he got 1 'planes'movie pair but I told him to choose 1 normal pair, now I'm wondering if both will be on the go at the same time if I should go back to the shop and change the normal pair?

[WhatWouldBlairWaldorfDo]

I work in juniors and loads of kids wear glasses. They dont tend to keep a pair at school apart from a couple of boys who are notorious for breaking them. They keep a pair in the office.

Most kids think they are cool and i literally dont know any child that has been picked on for wearing them in school

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

My DS(9) has prescription sports goggles for football and swimming goggles too. To be honest he did have a little bit of teasing for a couple of days from one horrid boy, it's all fine now though.

However he is very bright and geeky and I do think that his geeky glasses, (his own choice) stereotype him more. He was also a lot more popular with the girls before he had his glasses. However he used to hate being pursued by the girls so that's no bad thing.

[slkk]

It depends. If he will wear them all the time you probably won't leave one at school. If they are just for whiteboard work etc, he probably will.

[ShelaghTurner]

Was a flood of children getting glasses in DD1's class this year (yr2). So much so that she made me book her an eye test and was genuinely gutted when her sight was pronounced perfect!