How to help 9 yo dd adjust to specs!

[Weegiemum]

My 9yo dd1 is going to the optician tomorrow to pick up the glasses that were prescribed last week. At the moment they are for television, the board at school and computer/reading.

We picked some seriously trendy frames and she was happy last week but we have had crying since Saturday about it.

How do I help her? I got my glasses at age 13, 3 months after I got a brace (!!!) and so I kind of think she is fortunate getting the glasses over with now ... much easier than at high school (she is in primary 4 in Scotland - year 3)

The specs are VERY cool and really suit her. I have already been in touch with her teacher to let her know it is happening ... what else can I do to make it easier for a sensitive 9yo to deal with? (whilst 5yo dd2 is shreiking "I want glasses!!!!!!!)

difficult really - I got mine when I was 7 and the thing that really helped me was that my best mate also got them at the same time, and she was way cooler/more popular than I was, so it meant that I didn't get teased as much because she didn't.

If she only needs them for board and computer work, then getting her a very trendy specs case as well would be helpful - even designer if necessary (I hate pandering to this sort of acquisitiveness in children but tbh, engendering low-level envy in her classmates is one of the best ways to stop them laughing at her, imo). She doesn't need to wear them in the playground, so that will help too.

Hope she is ok with it!

thumb's said it all.

I was in my later teens when I got mine and I just had to 'lump' it - and fairly soon after I got contact lenses because of the amount of sport I did/do.
get a positive few people who she can 'show them off' to - and are you in touch with any of her friends' mums for a word in the ear - to the effect of ensuring that her friends are positive? Agree with the low-level envy bit that Thumb came up with.

I hadn't thought about a cool case - but that sitting on her desk would be good.

She looks so nice in them - we pick them up this evening, so she has them for tomorrow.

There are 2 boys and one girl in her class who have them. She's looking forward to picking them up today, But I still feel for her - maybe I am projecting my own issues on to her - though I now have contacts.

Thanks fo rthe advice. Might well come back to you tomorrow after she has had them at school!

My dd1 got them for similar reasons last year at 8, she was initially not keen, but she chose a "magic case" - which changes colour when you twizzle it. The kids at school think this is cool, and that made all the difference.

Also we tell her she looks good in them (which she does).

My dd got hers last May she was 7, and she couldn't wait, we got her trendy pink & purple ones, but then when she went to school a few boys said they were baby glasses

I had a word with a few of the mummies of her good friends, they think her glasses are so cool, turned out the boy who said they were baby glasses was caught trying them on, his mum later told me hhe wants a pair to look like gok wan

Also, dd1 soon realised that it was NICE being able to see the board and the TV properly. So she soon started liking her glasses. and now 5yo dd3 longs for them too.

She is LOVING them!

In school, everyone thinks they are cool, or so she says!

The case they came with is electric pink - which she loves!

And she can now sit on the sofa and watch TV rather than on the beanbag right in front of it - as well as seeing better in school. She's sensible enough to know seeing better is a good thing!!!

Hope it keeps up - and thanks for the advice, which may well come in handy next week or in 3 months etc ....

I just can't get over how grown up they make her look - waaaay older than 9!!

My 9 year old dd will pick up her glasses next week. She is inconsolable.

It doesn't help that dh has worn glasses since he was a child and hates them with a vengeance and has been very negative about the wearing of specs.

She chose the frames she "disliked least"

Can you point me to the sort of frames your daughter has? And the magic case?

I only started wearing glasses for reading in the last few years and was very glad of them, so I am really outside looking in and have no idea how to reconcile her to them.

This is dd's magic case, though hers came free with her glasses from the local optician.

www.boxesandbusts.co.uk/buy-online.php?cat=116&item=1313

Thank you Fennel - she's got something like that which is a manicure set. I'm sure she'd love it for glasses too. I can't see our local optician - wonderful though they are - having something like that.

Good idea ProfiteroleThief; she's been at this school for nearly 3 weeks and I do know a few mums now. I can also ask her teacher to say something nice about them.

I have told her it's really cool to wear glasses and loads of people want to, but it hasn't made her any happier. She just keeps asking for contacts, but I'm really not sure they're a good idea.

Blimey Fennel! I went to the website, ordered the case (and a few other things as min. order is £15). They've just phoned me, taken my card details and are posting the lot on Monday - and addressing it to dd! Great.

Are contacts bad when young? I admit I'm unsure that she will look after them properly and will almost certainly drop them or lose them during the cleaning process.

WRT shades, ProfiteroleThief, I guess they'd have to be prescription? Doubt that we can afford another set of lenses.

I think contacts is overkill if you just need them for the blackboard and tv.

I've worn them since I was 16 but 9 is very young. my 9yo is pretty slack on hygiene though, there's no way she could manage contact lenses. You do have to be old enough to realise the importance of looking after the lenses and your eyes meticulously.

That's my main objection. I'm also almost 100% sure that she will lose them. I really can't see her doing the cleaning routine properly every day.

DH has said he will get them if she tidies her room properly by Monday, but I think we are going to have to sabotage that. Is that really bad?

Tell her she can have contacts when she's older. maybe 13? If she's really sensible about it.
You can ruin your eyes by mistreatment of contacts, I've had friends who have got quite bad infections and scratches. It'
s really not worth it for a 9yo who just needs to wear them for board and tv occasions.

But Weegiemum's and my dd have both been initially upset but soon very comfortable with glasses. They do get used to it and it is quite normal in most schools.

Thanks.

I wore contacts religiously from age 16 to 34 - and then had to stop wearing them so much because one eye started to have problems with them and I didn't want to reach a stage where I couldn't wear them at all (as a couple of people I know have done) - so I went back to glasses on a daily basis (and I have rotten eyesight, -8) and save the contacts for going out.

I can't see it being a good idea to start that young; and your DH wouldn't have had anything like the cool range of frames that they have now when he was a child - I know I had to start off with ghastly NHS blue frames [ugh!} so he should try not to inflict his past experiences on your DD.

No, I know he shouldn't but he just does; dries me MAD. Whenever he needs new glasses he searches and searches for those little round metal frames that he had as a kid (NHS ones) so he can't really hate them that much, can he? He won't hear of contacts himself either. All very puzzling.

jux, that must be really annoying. either he loves to martyr himself or he really needs something to whinge about in his life - nuts!

Weegiemum glad to hear your DD is loving her glasses my DD 9 was the same. She loves her glasses and although she only had to wear them at first for TV and the board at school she willingly wears them all the time, to school, brownies, and gymnastics, even got her prescription swimming goggles (£9.99 from tesco if both eyes the same; off the shelf) as she can't stand to have things fuzzy.

She truly belives she is gorgeous in them , which she is , and has even encouraged some of the other kids at school to wear theirs more as she always asks where are your glasses.

We went back for an eye test 1 yr later and she wanted the smae frames as she loved them so much, I got her a funky new case to reward her for being so good with them and will get her more cases as the sunglasses season is here, even though she doesnt need cases much as she wears them all the time.

I can't find them online, but dd has "Head" specs, with a top rim and fabby gold legs.. We went to Optical Express (as that is where I go - practically blind, me!) and they were brilliant, they cost £12 as all frames are free there!

They also provided the electric pink speccy case, and for the last 2 days she has been a minor celeb in school as she looks SO COOL!

Such a different experience from when I got mine at age 13 in 1984!