To think that it's really not hard to get a kid to wear their specs?

[Despairbunny]

I work in an opticians & have lost count of the amount of times parents say to me "He/she just won't wear them." Um....tell them to?

I am both a glasses wearer & parent to a kid who wear specs. Dd might not always like wearing her specs, but if I tell her to, she would!

AIBU & judgy? I work with a lot of dc who are on the autistic spectrum or who have a variety of SEN & yet it's never Those Kids who have issues!

It isn't hard but you're about to be barraged by people saying that their child is x. y, z and they can't get them to.

Parents today love to find a reason not to parent and you're behind the curve. Whatever you can tell them will benefit their children, they;ll have many more reasons why their children can't do such and such. Give up OP.

I don't know but my dc (6) wears fashion glasses. Had done for over a year. They're never of her face. I just know if she had to wear them it would be constant battle to get her to keep them on

Laughed out loud at the idea that "telling them to" would work.

Depends on the child, and how much they hate the glasses.

Depends on the kid doesn't it. I've been "just telling DS to" do lots of things that never fricking happen except momentarily at the time of telling. Blow his nose. Keep his bedroom tidy. Stop sucking his thumb. Use full stops.

I can tell him to all I want, he stops doing it as soon as he's not watched. It's a campaign of years to change a DS habit, it's not "just tell him to".

My DS only needs his for the board at school. I am not there to enforce it and his teacher doesn't remember any more often than he does.

Some things are not negotiable. Some parents don't realise that glasses are one of those things so don't put their foot down properly about it. It might be tough the first week but they will get used to it if forced to.

It took my then 3 year old about 6 months to be happy to wear his glasses. We think he suddenly noticed the difference and over night decided he liked them.

He's now 8 and there's no way he'd be without them

Like anything, to get children to do it the parents have to explain it then prioritise it, nag about it, reward it, punish non-compliance etc. etc. All the really tedious stuff. I suppose different parents have different levels of readiness and resilience around that, sometimes for good reason (like horrendously difficult circumstances of one kind or another).

My folks were like Mr. and Mrs. Godzilla where stuff like this was concerned. I hated it at the time, I am relieved now, when I think of my relatively straight teeth (made to stop sucking my thumb), posture (constantly reminded) and quite a few other things.

Depends entirely on the child - they're not all the same you know.

Mine wont. She has autism though
And can see fine with one eye.

I'm all for kids making their own choices. Like what they wear on a Saturday, what flavour ice cream they fancy or which power ranger is the coolest etc.

However, things like wearing glasses, wearing a seatbelt, not running out into traffic etc are non-negotiable and I'd judge any parent who was so ineffectual that they didn't enforce it.

My children don't wear glasses. I imagine that if they needed them then they would wear them if I told them to, but who knows?

I had to battle with my son for over two years to stop him unbuckling his car seat. He had consequences and punishments every time he did it, but he still did it. Because he wanted to do it and was willing to accept the punishment. And we tried every punishment we could think of except actually smacking him. Some children are not easily reasoned with.

Come and make my DD wear them then.

She doesnt have understanding to be bribed and doesnt care about consequences or understand about eyes.

X posted i was talking to sootsprite who would judge any parent.

😂 I've been prescribed glasses since I was 13, mid-20s I started wearing them in the office, now at 33 I wear them all the time.

If a child keeps removing them short of stapling them on I'm not sure what you can actually do!

Why don't some children prefer to see properly, rather than not see properly?

My DD required glasses aged 10. Her prescription so low they only needed to be for reading the board. But she loves the fact that she could actually see everything properly that she started wearing them full time from Day 1 and has never considered not wearing.

There was no battle to be had. Being able to see was better than not being able to see.

Mine won't

I was told at optician appointment he should wear in school for all activities apart from playground and PE. He hates them and believes it makes it harder to see. He takes them off to peer at things

Then he lost one pair and broke another. I went back to optician (6month review) who was judge and lectured. After the eye test I was told he now only needs for board although they also said his eyes were worse

I'm not in school so doubt he will wear them. And if he does he will peer around them....

I'll never forget one mother who burst into tears when she found out her kid needed specs. She was definitely not a help when it came to the care of her kid's vision. Used to make her take them off for photos etc.

And another mother who berated me for trying to teach her dc to take her specs off with both hands.

To Viserion: Does your ds not find they help with board work?

I know what you are saying and my son has sn and has had glasses since he was a baby . I asked the ophthalmologist how I was supposed to make him wear them and he replied you just have to !! So it took literally 50 million times of him pulling them off and me putting them back on again until he gave in . I had to be cruel to be kind and I believe a lot of parents aren't able to do that .

I don't wear mine either.
I'm always loosening them, and there irritating. I'm 33

littleducks - it sounds as though the optician was trying to correct a lazy eye. How old is your ds if you don't mind me asking? If he's over 8 it's probably too late to correct it now anyway, unfortunately.

Loads of adults won't wear their glasses either. I know loads of people who can't see properly but prefer to squint and screw up their eyes rather than wear the glasses they have been prescribed. So being able to see better isn't enough of an incentive for a lot of people.

My parents told me to wear glasses, so I put them on and have worn them every day since.

They told my sister to wear glasses and I have literally never seen her wear them except in their presence. They came off immediately. Every time. There were punishments, explanations, bribes, they asked the school to enforce it, nothing worked. It's easy to say it's "non-negotiable" but some children are a lot more stubborn than others.

I had to be cruel to be kind and I believe a lot of parents aren't able to do that.
Well yes, like parents whose children are at school or nursery and don't have a 1:1 adult available to spend all day replacing glasses? It's a bit different with a baby.

My DD started wearing glasses at about 6. I never had a problem with her not putting them on, but then she had to wear them all the time which I think is probably easier rather than them having to remember to put them on for certain things.
Mind you my DD was so overjoyed at being able to see she would barely take them off for bedtime!