At school check have been told DS (age 5) will have to wear glasses

[josben]

and I feel a bit worried about this and upset... My DH & I both wear spec's but we didn't need them till we were both in our late teens.... I suppose I'm just worried that having specs at such a young age will be restricting for him in play and sports, I'm also worried about teasing in the playground... He's going to be going to the eye clinic for more tests in the school hols - does anyone know what this will involve...? I'm sure I'm making much more of this than I should be, but I'm also due to have 3rd baby today so I'm prob in a bit of an emotional/hormonal moment!

[Jasnem]

DD1 had her poor eyesight picked up at the same time.
Unless the optician says otherwise, he can probably take his glasses off for pe/playtime.
The school checks are very basic, and the eye clinic will do a more thorough test (using pictures if his reading isn't good yet) and look into his eyes. You will be able to stay in with him.

Teasing is really not likely to be a problem. If you start looking you will notice there is probablyy at least one child in his class already with glasses.

Good luck with the birth, hope it happens soon for you.

[mummydear]

get to the optican first before you start thinking about all this.

A friend of mine her DS eysight was picked up at school , went to opticna etc , found the the NHS range of glasses for kids is quite trendy , not the blue and pink ones I remember as a child.

Everything will be OK

[poisson]

sure they cant patch>

[misdee]

my dd3 is just 17months and i am picking up her glasses today. the range atthe opticians for slightly older children was very good and very trendy. my middle daughter who is almost 4 wants to wear glasses and is upset that she doesnt need them lol.

myself and dh didnt nee dglasses till in our 20's, so will ensure our children have regular eye checks, dd3 eyesight probs was only picked up so young as i agreed to our dd's being gineau pigs for some new equipment. i am glad we did as dd3 is a high risk for a squint. with her degree of long sightedness she will always need glasses.

[beansmum]

I had glasses before I went to school and did get teased about them a bit, but other kids got teased about other things. Everybody gets teased about something at some point. Didn't have a problem with sports though

[edam]

Good luck with the delivery!

I had to wear glasses from age 7 - never had any problems or hassle. People occasionally called me specky four eyes when I was older and we'd fallen out. But water off a duck's back, was confident enough not to care, partly because my mother wore glasses and I wanted to be like her, and partly because everyone got called stupid names occasionally, like ginger or whatever, so I knew it wasn't anything personal as such.

[heavenis]

My ds1 used to wear glasses but since two operations to correct squints doesn't need them.
He never go teased,and it's suprising when you look around how many children do wear them.

This is what they do at hospital, they'll get him to focus on things in the distance (they use pictures of tv characters).If he knows his letters they hold up cards and give him a card to point to.They have one eye covered up using some sun glasses with one lense missing for each eye. At hospital they put eye drops in so that they could see the pupil dilated and the consultant could tell what prescription he needed for his glasses.
I hope this helps.
I hope baby number 3 comes along shortly good luck.

[frogs]

Kids with glasses are cool. Buy him a poster of Harry Potter, and tell him that by the end of primary school lots of children will be wearing glasses and he's special because he's the first (this is true, btw).

My dd1 got hers just before she turned 5 and was so delighted with the novelty of actually being able to see things that there was never a problem over making her wear them. She had the odd incident of silly kids calling her 'speccy four-eyes' in the playground, but nothing she couldn't handle.

Dd1 can't take her glasses off for playtime or sport because, frankly, she's a liability without them. You can get very tough bendy glasses that will take a lot of punishment, and special bands to make them stay on. Also prescription goggles for swimming. And at that age their eyes change so quickly you'll probably be getting a new pair every 6 months anyway. Specsavers do free kids frames with an NHS voucher.

The tests are harmless: all the orthoptists (squint specialists) we've encountered in my children's many eye hospital sessions are so lovely you want to take them home with you. The optometry ones are less fun, but not painful. The only bit that can cause probs is having the drops put in, which stings a bit. You can ask for a spray instead, but NHS usually only have drops. If he has blue eyes usually one set of drops is enough; brown eyes sometimes need an extra dose. Have some smarties handy. He won't be able to focus properly afterwards, so an afternoon hanging out doing gentle fun stuff is the order of the day.

hth

[josben]

Hi, thanks for all your posts, they have heped lots - and I will def invest in a Harry Potter poster for his room!