Toddler prescribed glasses: reassurance please

[MoreThanHappyBeingLittleOldMe]

My gorgeous little 2 yo needs glasses (fairly severe long-sightedness picked up when investigating occasional squint) and I'm so utterly sad about it. I thought we could choose some nice glasses but apparently it's so awkward and niche getting ones that fit toddler facial features, that despite best efforts of very nice opticians, there was literally only one pair he could have - no choice at all... and they are so hideously ugly!!! Of course I act upbeat and super excited about it all in front of my toddler, but inside I'm just dreading everything. He doesn't want any glasses. He really didn't like the ones in the shop. Once they arrive, how will I even get him to put them on?! No one else in the family wears glasses so I don't know anything about how it works in practice. Things I'm dreading include, among many other things: softplay, trampolines, jumping on bed, jumping off sofa, rough-and-tumble with friends, swordfights with brothers, swimming, playground, park... basically life: he is a very active little boy who spends most of every day doing things that it would be sensible to remove glasses for, but the doctor says he has to wear them all the time. Does anyone have advice or encouragement relating to this please?

He can still be very active with glasses 🙄

I’m a girl but I was very rough and tumble. I’m also extremely short sighted.

The only time I ever found it was a problem was swimming.( You can get prescription goggles but my eyesight is so bad that they aren’t nearly strong enough. )

I was forever climbing trees, rolling down hills, jumping about. So long as they fit properly it wasn’t a problem. When I was sailing I had a sports band which kept them on tight.

You can get elastic straps for toddler glasses so they'll stay on - that will help. He'll look adorable and being able to see properly will make a huge difference to him.

I totally get why it is so daunting and upsetting. But you may well find that once he realises how much better he can see with them on that he willingly wears them and likes them. My friend's little girl absolutely hated glasses in the shop and when they first picked them up, but once she'd had them on long enough to realise all the things she could now see she quickly became a big fan. Hopefully it will be the same for your little boy.

You'll soon get used to the look of them, impossible as that may seem now.

My toddler just got glasses for the same reason. I was a bit worried about her keeping them on but she has really taken to them and they look adorable and I think she now looks odd when we take them off. Nursery have commented how much more confident she is too.
No issues with her being active with them on either!

the glasses will help him see properly so hopefully that will make him want to wear them. The ones in the shop wouldn’t have had that major advantage.

I’m sure you are but try to put on a brave face for him however you feel

My 3 year old boy has been given glasses he's very very active yes he has broken them a few times but we were given two pairs so we always have a back up and specsavers are fantastic at fixing them. If we are at soft play/trampoline etc he will take them off I think it's a bit extreme to say he has to wear them ALL the time I wouldn't take it as literal if you think it's dangerous for him to wear them with the activity they are doing then take them off obviously if it's not going to hinder them (as in can't see what they are doing)

He has adjusted really well and my little one now has to wear an eye patch for 6 hours a day which is really tough!

I am suprised that you say about there being limited choice?? I would recommend specsavers if you can get to one they had all sorts of glasses Spider-Man Star Wars Al sorts of characters!

Also yes it's shit as no one wants there to be anything wrong with their child but the earlier you get them to wear them the more chance you have of making improvements to their eye sight x big hugs! I cried a lot when I got told my little one has poor sight but I just tell him his glasses give him super powers xx

My son was prescribed glasses at his pre school check age 4. I felt so guilty for not realising that he could not see properly. He was a very active and boisterous little boy and I was incredibly worried about how he would cope as his sister did not need glasses and doubted that he would actually keep them on. The lenses he was prescribed were also very thick due to astigmatism, but we were able to pay to have thinner ones and at that time they were NHS glasses only, no options for designer frames or anything else. We put them on for the first time, he sighed and then smiled and never took them off as he could actually see properly for the first time. We did spend a lot of time backwards and forward to the opticians for repairs so make sure that you have a spare pair. He is now 31 and the optician still remembers the constant repairs but cannot see without his glasses. He will be just fine, the most important thing is that he can see. As he gets older there will be more frame choices.

I would go to another optician or have a look online if you think the ones you have ordered are "ugly." There are loads of great frames for little ones. There is no need to have a pair that you do not like.

My DD had glasses at about the same age and we had very little problem with them as she quickly realised she could see better with them. And also we went out of our way to make her feel special in them.

The only problem we had was her losing them sometimes - and breaking them! You definitely need two pairs! I was forever going back to the opticians with a bag of bits!

We moved house once and she toddled off to explore the garden which had half an acre of knee high grass - she came back in minus glasses. "Where are your glasses sweetie?" She waved a hand out of the door and said "Out there!" We lived there for about 10 years and we never did find them!!

Oh - and one day she was copying her big sister and trying to butter a roll and managed to butter her glasses. She could not work out why she could not see where she was going!!

He will still be "gorgeous" I promise you!

I was gutted when my son got glasses too!

Not for the typical reasons of the way they look etc, but for the fact my son would have the added issues of needing to consider the practicality of glasses at every occasion (especially sports).

I was surprised how quick he just accepted them, which is hardly surprising if they helped him see!

You’ll grow used to them too, and they’ll just become another thing you just get on with.

It’s totally normal to be upset when it first happens and I’m not trying to downplay it, but it really isn’t the end of the world.

Go to specsavers. Our eldest has had glasses since 2 and our twins since 8 months. Obviously is depends on size of your toddler but dd1 had a whole range to choose from at the age at specsavers. The independent opticians were no where near as good.

I'd get yourself and partner some glasses (even if very light sunglasses or non prescription glass frames from a charity shop) to start wearing to show toddler that its a common thing to wear them. You can then gradually not wear them at home bit by it over time. By then it will be summer when you'd be wearing sunglasses anyways.

Thank you everyone! This probably seems like a very silly question, but what happens if you fall wearing glasses: can you get shards of glass stabbed in your eye? Or just bruising all round where the frames are? Or is there most likely no injury to you, so you wear a strap to protect the glasses from flying off and getting broken? Btw if anyone can recommend a strap please let me know as it's a bit bamboozling when you google it and get millions of results!

My dd had glasses from 18 months. She had an elastic strap to keep them on

The lenses are plastic. In all my years of wearing glasses and working for every major high street opticians I never once saw a broken lens (except one pair that got run over).
In the 40 years I’ve been wearing glasses I’ve never had a pair fall off. But I didn’t wear them as a toddler.

OP, by getting glasses now, you're giving your DS a huge gift. Like him, I had a squint as a 2yo and was severely long sighted. My mum raised it with the doctor but he said I'd probably grow out of the worst of it. I didn't get glasses until I was 4 and about to start school.

That was 40 years ago. What they didn't know then, and do know now, is that a lot of the brain development that supports vision is done by 4 years old. During my toddler years, my brain wired itself up to ignore the input from my most long-sighted eye. If I'd had my vision corrected with glasses when I was littler, this wouldn't have happened. No amount of optometrist input since has improved matters. As an adult, my field of vision on that side is so restricted that I'm not allowed to drive. Not being able to drive has had a massive impact on my life - it affects everything from the careers you can do to where you go on holiday.

This doesn't need to be your DS's story. By supporting him to wear glasses now, you're giving him the chance to have the best vision he possibly can as an adult.

Glasses haven't been made from glass for decades. The lenses are a very sturdy synthetic material - some sort of plastic. They will not break and cut his eye. If anything, they will protect his eyes. I am fairly tall, and I cannot count the number of times I have been hit in the face by an umbrella carried by a shorter person. My glasses took the blow every single time. I'm sure I would have had injuries to my eyes from the umbrella spikes, had they not shielded me.

I have climbed, trampolined, played ball sports, sailed, done everything anybody else did, with my glasses on. I use a strap to keep them safe when doing active things.

The one activity where glasses are an inconvenience is anything where you get wet. But small glasses frames fit under large goggles, and you can get prescription goggles.

Nobody's yet invented windscreen wipers for glasses, that actually work, sadly.

Ah now I come to think of it, the image in my mind of broken glass is possibly from Harry Potter, sorry 😳 Which leads me to wonder: why does it have to be Pedro Pony who always loses his ticket, comes in the wrong fancy dress, and thinks cheese is a vegetable??!! And why is it Norman Price who always endangers everyone's lives or wastes Fireman Sam's time?

Which nice/normal pre-school/early years characters wear glasses? Picture book recommendations also welcome!

I know lots of people are recommending Specsavers, although I found my a local, independent opticians better. They are pretty large and had some 'indestructible' frames (the brand is NanoVista). I did have to pay as they only use the NHS voucher for the lenses and not the frames, but I'm happy with the choice and reassurance that they are a great fit and shouldn't get broken.

Don’t worry OP, your toddler will be fine I’m sure, once they see how much they help them to see I think they’ll accept them. My son was 5 when he got his glasses and I was dreading it tbh because he has SEN and was more like a 2yo and extremely rough and tumble! His older brother got his at 5 too and I didn’t worry about him a one bit (big glasses wearing family and I’ve worn them myself since 5 so wasn’t a big deal to me) turns out my youngests eyes are pretty bad so he took to them really well ( though broke them accidentally quite a lot of times in the beginning 🙄) he’s now 9 and looks after them slightly better but no issues at all. I can understand you being nervous if you’ve no experience of them but honestly your child will adapt so quickly. X

Plus I’m absolutely sure your toddler will look adorable in his cute little glasses. I’ve never seen a baby or toddler in glasses and thought oh no, they always looks so sweet!

Rex wears Specs!! (The book) Worked for us :-) there are some glasses-wearing dinosaur toddler books as well. I know the feeling of dismay and sadness- a lot of ppl dismiss it as it's such a minor thing comparatively but your little one's look changes, that's big! I can reassure you that within months I thought he looked strange without them and felt that he is even cuter with them on. So many ppl just very nicely commented on the look- I always do now too when i see glasses on toddlers (to the Mum/Dad almost more so than the kid). I'll repeat what others have said- glasses will not stop a toddler from anything and so far no faceplant has done harm to them yet. Good luck!

DS got specs aged around 2 1/2. His eyesight was very poor though, so he benefited by wearing them and we never had a problem with him wearing them or even losing them.

The only thing he didn't like was wearing sports goggles when he was younger. But he got over that eventually.
We had a few arguments with bouncy castle operators who insisted he took his glasses of "in case his specs burst the castle" 😳, but he just took them off in the end.
We did become friends with the local opticians due to frequent repairs being needed! But then DS liked to play games such as "cars/planes/tractors etc crashing into walls". Where he would just run into a wall. Weird I know.
I never remember his glasses just falling off though. They always got broken by DS doing something.
Google famous people with specs and show him. Or get some clear lenses specs yourself if you think it will help him.