Would you let your six year old have an eye test with a smear person whilst you were in different room also having an eye test?

[Bartenderandthethief]

As the title says, would you?

No I would not. Why would I let my small child have ANY medical procedure done without me being present?

No - but only because I'd think I might need to answer some questions or make sure she was doing what the optician told her to do. I wouldn't have any concerns about abuse, or anything like that.

No

Why on earth is the sex of the optician in anyway relevant?

My 8 year old has regular eye tests and has done since she was tiny. She knows the drill, can answer all the questions, knows the optician, would have no difficulty being in there alone.

I still would always go in there with her.

No. One of my DC had a surprise issue come up during a routine eye test when they were small. The optician was able to explain it straight away and investigate further immediately. All done in a calm way with information gathered in a few minutes. I'm glad that I was there.

It’s not a case of ‘letting’ though is it? It’s something you book, it wouldn’t have occured to me to book two appointments at the same time thus making the optician responsible for the child. Not their job.

However, given your DD’s Dad booked it & the optician did it, then I don’t see the problem if DD wasn’t upset. If she was upset I’d expect him to take note of that & think more in future.

No, I wouldn't let my children alone in a room with a stranger. Not that young.
This is how abuse often happens.

No. Please don't leave a little child alone ever with any kind of medical professional.

When I was about 8, I was left alone and had an unnecessary medical procedure carried out without parental authorisation. It took seconds/minutes and was simple but left me with life long damage that was totally avoidable because it was unnecessary.

If my parent had been in the room it would have not happened.

I'm not familiar with opticians and don't know if they have similar "powers" or whether anything comparable is possible - but would have thought so - eye dilating drops and so forth.

As a point of principle, I would say no way would I leave a child alone because I suffered and I can see it's an easy thing to happen for a professional to think they have been given a blanket consent and to carry out procedures that the child would not object to.

At six ds was under the hospital clinic after our optician twice failed to pick up that he was very long sighted. I don't think we were given a choice about accompanying him. dd didn't get glasses until she was quite a bit older but has only recently been OK having medical type appointments on her own (she gets very anxious) although she's gone into the dentist on her own for quite a while.

I would. It wouldn't bother me at all.

Yeah probably. Although my opinion is probably skewed because I've been sitting in the opticians chair since primary 1. It's not a particularly risky activity.

Why on earth is the sex of the optician in anyway relevant?
I guess because statistically a woman is less likely to abuse a little girl.

IF my 6 ur old was comfortable with it, yes,

No. I'm surprised they do that anyway. Even in schools (or the ones I know of) teachers are encouraged not to be completely alone and out of sight of everyone with one child if they can help it. It protects everyone.

My eldest wouldn’t have been phased by this, the middle one I would have needed to be there to keep him on track, the youngest sees a specialist at the eye hospital so it’s a moot point.

Optometrist here and in Ireland not the UK so the legalities may be different. Our association here advise us that we should never be alone in a consulting room with a child because we need to protect ourselves.
Also, a six year old is unlikely to know the answers to questions about family history and even their own medical history. I would usually ask if the child was born fullterm and had a normal delivery for example and if there is a family history of squints or '"lazy eye".

Also,.some parents need to see the child having the exam to realise the extent of a problem; often people are certain the child has perfect vision only to be horrified that they can only see the big letters.
And yes, we need to be able to explain everything to the parent and this is far easier if the parent is there for the exam rather than taking up half of the next patient's appointment if the conversation happens afterwards.

Of course? Why not>

I’d want to be there to help ‘translate’ the requests from the optician for the 6yo kid, and translate her answers back. Also to keep things focussed and on track. There are just so many new and exciting bits of kit to distract her!

No, I wouldn't purely because I would want to sit in on the test and make sure that the child was doing what they were supposed to (lifelong eyetests myself), and listen to what the optician was saying to them.

Both my sons have had eyetests but I have needed to explain things to them, and also talk to the optician about the concerns I had that drove me to taking them for eyetests in the first place, so there really isn't a chance that I'd have left them to it without me.

No, I would be present. Both my kids would not want to have any medical check or procedure without me at that age, and I would not expect them to go in alone.

I would like to be with them to ensure good behaviour, to answer any questions and to understand if any questions arose. However as someone who works in child protection I understand that the key risks come from adults who my child knows, most likely extended family, church, scouts, sports and other club leaders. There is some risk from medical personnel but is very low so I would not worry too much about this. Is this what you mean from your OP?

I have let my children go in with a female optician on their own but would always in with a male one. As the stats clearly show that males are responsible for most violent (90%) and sexual (97%) crimes.

Even though I don't think any of the local opticians fall into this category but being alone in the dark with a small child everyone should be careful.

QueenUnicorn- I think you may have the facts about stranger abuse totally wrong. Although I trust you never leave your children alone with their grandfather either...what with him.being statistically the one far far more likely to be an abuser.

Dd, oddly, would have been fine at 6 on her own with the optician, but now at 14 has turned into a.monosyllabic grunter, so I still.go with her.

Here come the paeeeeeeedonoics. Babies, you.missed the bit out about 75% of those male abusers being members of the family.