Any tips on how to get a just-2 yr old boy to wear glasses??

[amazonianwoman]

DS (2 in March) has a squint and has just been prescribed glasses for long-sightedness. I've tried twice to get him to try on some frames but he's not having any of it, won't even put them on his face.

We're back at the opticians this afternoon - I'm wearing my glasses, DD will try some on, we've got cuddly Postman Pat (with glasses) and one of his teddies (to try glasses on; he's not that into teddies though, just very small Thomas etc engines )

Once we get through the actual trauma of choosing some frames, how the hell do we get him to wear them? Constantly?

He won't wear sunglasses, or even a pirate patch

Any tips much appreciated!

it may just take a lot of trying and not giving up on your side!

My Daughter wore them from around 14months, she took them off, we put them on!! she took them off, we put them on lol and on and on!!##after a bit she kept them on a while longer and so on

Hope it goes well!!

When DD got glasses the TV only went on when she put them on - that was a start and she soon got used to them.

What you can do with very young children is build it up gradually - so as snice says, perhaps say he has to wear them when he is watching TV (an activity like TV/computer/reading/colouring is good for this first step as new glasses can make the world look wonky and scary when you're walking around), then increase it with a new activity every few days, e.g. you have to wear them in the car but can take them off when we get there, during dinner, etc, eventually work up to all the time.

It's just a case of getting used to them - I got my glasses when I was 13 and it was very weird for the first few days when I was getting used to them. I think for little children it's best to do it gradually. HTH

Thanks all. Had to abandon the optician's visit (2nd of the day ) because he just wouldn't try on any at all.

They gave us 4 pairs to bring home, he kept one pair (chunky bright red & black, would look great on a New York art critic, not on a chubby 2yr old) on for a few seconds, that's it. Wouldn't even have been long enough to get them measured/fitted properly for lenses Until we can get through that stage, we can't even begin to think of the next stage of bribery...

Any more words of wisdom??

Get the prescription checked.
The idea is they can see better with the glasses ON than OFF. Give him a small printed book to look at or go insect hunting in the garden. Anything where he won't be able to see well enough (mean but effective!!). Reward charts????
Good luck!

No, that's the 1st barrier - we can't even get him to keep the empty frames on long enough for the optician to measure them up to fit the lenses, so we haven't even got to the stage of appreciating the benefit of improved sight

Does he have a sleep in the day?

I have in the past had to fit frames on a very young child whilst they are asleep in the buggy. Your optician will be able to see that they fit correctly over bridge of nose and behind ears etc whilst he is asleep.

The other thing is to have somebody with you that knows him well, strap him into pushchair, and one of you very gently hold his hands down to stop him pulling them off, and the other put the frames on him. The optician doensn't at this stage need to see them on him for ages.

The other measurements can be taken without the frames on anyway.

When it was DS1 he was about this age and once the glasses had been made he was much better about wearing them. Once they realise they can see more clearly they do tend to co-operate more. I used to put them on him as he was beginning to wake up and it would take him a while to twig he was wearing his glasses.

Good luck.

Lots of good ideas here.

What worked for us (dd 2 1/2 when first got glasses) was building up gradually, making glasses for all dolls/toys (out of cardboard). Dolls would have a tea party in their glasses, you could roleplay opticians too. Look through your library for books featuring characters wearing glasses.

We also had a cord (buy from optician) to hold them onto her head at first.

Excellent, great ideas. Will persevere when he wakes up

Yay actually managed to get him to sit still with a pair on so that the optometrist could measure them

Another desperate bump

We've had the glasses 2 days now and he wore them for one minute (literally) after leaving the opticians. That's it. We can't even get them on his face, he pulls them off straight off (have had to bend them back into shape a couple of times) He hasn't had them on long enough to appreciate any improvement to his vision (which isn't that bad anyway)

No amount of bribery or positive encouragement is working

It's getting so stressful

Had similar problems with DS2, who had his first glasses when he was around 3.5 I think. He flatly refused.
As others of have said, we built it up gradually, first of all just for small periods while watching TV etc. I thnk we managed to persuade him that he had to wear them for pre-school (which he loved). He still doesn't wear them all day, and he still claims to be able to see better without them sometimes (as he moves closer to the TV to squint at it!)

It was a bit of a nightmare, but me getting stressed about it didn't help one bit.

have you tried the tv bribe?

We've tried TV and maltesers! Neither worked, not even his favourite Thomas DVD, I still can't even get them on his face. DH DD and myself were all wearing glasses in return for maltesers, he just went without (unheard of)

I'm sending them into nursery with him tomorrow to see if he's any more obliging with the staff there