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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask about glasses? yes off the back of another thread but im curious now!

67 replies

BritFish · 02/03/2010 19:07

i wear glasses, and the other thread [about OP feeling smug about her friend's child having to wear glasses]
made me wonder, do people see needing glasses as some sort of impediment?
okay um...sort of...on par with a lisp or hearing problems?

not explaining myself very well.
but i never saw wearing glasses as a 'problem'
and i dont get why people get so het up about the fact they need glasses either. fair enough if you dont suit them/prefer contacts etc, but some people get so worked up!

disclaimer: this of course not about people who can barely see at all or blind.

OP posts:
KeithTalent · 02/03/2010 20:10

If you have a dc who needs glasses it automatically makes your child vunerable, breakable, and too darned expensive

fluffles · 02/03/2010 20:11

I am not vain but i am very thankful and very lucky that i have great vision and have never needed any glasses or contacts (my mum has bad sight).

Why wouldn't you be really thankful for perfect sight? I don't have to pay for glasses or contacts, keep track of them, change them, avoid breaking them....

DP also has good vision.

I really hope that our LOs are the same, if they do need glasses then so be it but i'd rather they didn't.

EggyAllenPoe · 02/03/2010 20:14

well, for a small kid to wear glasses, and do all the banging around and marauding that children do is probbaly more of a hassle...

Original poster
BritFish · 02/03/2010 20:17

gherkinwithapurplemerkin-
you do understand that i dont see glasses as an impediment?
although, we say 'hearing impediment' and 'speech impediment' i guess you could call it a sight impediment?
ive confused myself, i think i meant i dont see wearing glasses as an impediment, but the need to is...
dictionary.reference.com/browse/impediment
having bad vision is an impedient, but wearing glasses is not.
thats clear enough?

OP posts:
hogshead · 02/03/2010 20:18

i've needed glasses since i was 19 when i realised i couldnt read signposts when driving (was probably a good idea to get my eyes tested)

i dont mind my glasses but i do prefer contacts - i find i fiddle with my glasses and have a habit of breaking them on a regular basis!

i do find though i have a terrible problem that i cant seem to hear properly without my glasses or contacts in - cue hilarious laughter' from my family that goes along the lines of are you listening to me or do you need your specs?' Mind you they all wear specs too

Original poster
BritFish · 02/03/2010 20:19

its more that people actually get upset or annoyed that their child needs glasses.
id be thankful for perfect sight, one of my DC's has glasses the other does not, it wouldnt cross my mind to feel lke this about it!

OP posts:
hogshead · 02/03/2010 20:20

i should add that there is nothing wrong with my hearing(i think) its just i cant concentrate when i cannot see

serenity · 02/03/2010 20:25

I hate wearing glasses, and I'll admit that part of it's vanity but a large part it the fact that they give me awful migraines. I got contact lenses in my 20's and have worn them pretty much non-stop since. Well, it'll be non-stop until Friday, which will hopefully be the last day I ever wear them. I'll be wearing my glasses for a week (which is going to be hideous) and then I'm having laser surgery.

Despite the fact me and DH wear glasses/lenses (DH can cope without them, I can't) none of our DCs have to, and I'm very happy about that, fairly surprised too I must say. It's nothing to do with them being perfect, because they're not, it's because wearing glasses and have crap vision is a pain, an annoyance and irritating. If they can go through life without it, then fantastic.

From the OP; is wearing glasses an impediment like a lisp or a hearing problem? I don't particularly like the word impediment, but having a vision problem is on par as a hearing problem or a speech problem. How debilitating it is will depend on the severity.

Lucyellensmumma · 02/03/2010 20:30

its funny you should say that hogshead, i get really vague when i don't have my glasses in, they are like plugging my brain in!

Lucyellensmumma · 02/03/2010 20:31

or even my glasses ON, worryingly i have them on now, so just imagine if i didn't! I'd not be able to hear a word you say

TheFallenMadonna · 02/03/2010 20:33

Day to day I rather likme wearing glasses. I have a pair that I'm comfortable in, and I think glasses go with me IYSWIM. But when I dress up for a fancy do, then I don't like them. They just don't go with evening dress...

Undercovamutha · 02/03/2010 20:34

I have no problem with wearing glasses - I have done so since age 5. I did have some fairly hideous nhs ones when I was little, and did get a bit of teasing but nothing that bad. I have tried contacts once but hated the sensation, and am not very good at messing with my eyes. The only time I mind wearing them is when I take the DCs swimming. Then I have the choice of wearing my glasses and them getting steamed up and splashed, or taking them off and then not being able to see if the DCs are drowning!

DH has an even stronger prescription than me, and he HATES wearing glasses. He wears contact lenses all the time.

DD had her first eyetest recently (at 3.5yo), and was told that she has a borderline need for glasses. But the optician has decided to delay her having them for another 6months to see if it improves. I don't really want her to have them - only because she will undoubtably either lose them at nursery or snap them by faffing with them. The older she is when she has them, the more likely they will remain in one piece for more than 5 minutes!

hogshead · 02/03/2010 20:37

Lucyellensmumma - my brain definately needs plugging in somedays!!

NeedLawadvice · 02/03/2010 20:42

YANBU I find it odd that people get so worked up about their child needing glasses. I've worn glasses for over 20 years and I've NEVER had one bad comment about them.

Granny23 · 02/03/2010 20:48

My eye sight was perfect until I was about 40 and then deteriorated rapidly. I HATE glasses. People say I suit the ones I have but I do not feel I am ME with them on. I have a strange prescription (can't have contacts) which means bi-focals, which in turn means I cannot have really small glasses. I lose them, break them, have to carry a spare pair, they are so expensive, they steam up, they pull out eyebrows and lashes, going downstairs is a bit scary, but without them I cannot see the bedroom clock, put make up on or distinguish the shampoo from the conditioner.

On the other hand I have had full dentures since mid 30s - nae bother at a' - easy to clean, never hurt, no more dental phobia/nightmares, no one ever seems to notice them, tho I have had a few compliments re my perfect teeth at my age.

chocices · 02/03/2010 20:49

Re damage with children and their glasses.
My ds is always very careful with his glasses and will keep them on his face all day. This is due to them being his eyes, and as he says he wouldn't play with his eyes so why with his glasses.

He has a pair of sports goggles for all sports, so that if he gets kicked with a football the glasses don't damage his face, he can do gymnastics wearing them to as they strap to his head.

He has prescription goggles so that he can see in the swimming pool.

And he has prescription sunglasses, for the odd days of sunshine we have in this country.

There is nothing he can't do because he wears glasses, there would be plenty he couldn't do if he did not wear them.

BarryKent · 02/03/2010 20:52

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BarryKent · 02/03/2010 20:54

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Heated · 02/03/2010 20:56

Have worn glasses from the age of after being made to stay behind after school to copy of the board - teacher wouldn't let me sit straight on to face the board and made my life a misery. Have been very meticulous with the dcs re getting eyes tested as a result.

Did look into laser eye surgery a couple of years back - have a complicated prescription - but advice from optician was to approach Moorfields first.

Heated · 02/03/2010 20:56

5 yrs

notquitenormal · 02/03/2010 20:58

I've worn glasses since I was 12 and while I don't consider them an impediment as such, I do consider them to be a right pain the the arse.

They are an added expense. Something extra I need to clean. Awkward when I go swimming (and for any highly physical exercise actually.) The steam up, get covered in rain and I've always got the remember where I put them.

On the plus side, I do think I look better with them.

DH wears them too so I imagine DS will also have to at some point. I shan't be upset or disapointed, but if he's lucky and finds a perfect eyesight gene from somewhere I wouldn't mind at all.

wrinklycherub · 02/03/2010 21:25

DS2 (4 yrs) has worn glasses since he was 2 and I admit that I was a little upset - but only at the thought of him possibly being bullied at school. Up to now, he has not been bullied at all and last year, one little boy in his nursery class wore his shades all day just to be like DS2

BarryKent · 02/03/2010 21:34

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wrinklycherub · 02/03/2010 21:39

yeah I thought so too! Boys mum told me that she'd told him to take the shades off, he said he wanted them on to be like ds2, she said but [ds2] had poor eyesight, he said yes but look, my eye's poorly! pmsl when she told me!

Metatron · 02/03/2010 21:44

My issue with glasses is that if you have a high prescription regardless of how nice the frames are you still look like crap due to the distortion of your face behind the lenses.

I wear contacts 24/7 and i love them. my prescription is too high to get lasered or i would be in there like a shot.