My 3 year old has been wearing a patch since February as she has a lazy eye. The eyelid covers her pupil and the majority of her iris, and so to look out of that eye she has to tilt her head back through 90 degrees to be able to do so when she is patched, as she can't use the dominant eye.
Now we are out and about again, each outing involves both children and adults asking quite abruptly "what is wrong with her?" (usually involving pointing at dd). At first she answered herself, despite not being addressed by the person asking, but now she just hides behind me and asks to take her patch off. Even with the patch off, as there is such a disparity between her eyelids, people still ask.
What is the best way to reply to questions like this? If the question is asked with kindness, then it isn't a problem, it is when it is entitled and rude it is so upsetting for dd and for me. I want to empower her, I don't want her to feel that there is something "wrong" with her. There is nothing wrong with her; she is a gentle, clever, loving little girl.
Her eyesight is so poor in the non-patched eye that we really need to see if patching helps, as she needs the best chance she can have to improve the sight, as after the age of 7 there is nothing we can do. She will have the eyelid lifted when she is older, no matter what happens to the sight.