My daughter needs glasses; what's cool for a 4 year old?

[Spockle]

I am gutted; having worn glasses myself since the age of 5 I was dreading DD1 inheriting my crap eyesight; now I find she has the beginnings of a lazy eye and needs glasses (at least not a patch! For now anyway...).
I remember being called speccy 4 eyes etc and want her to wear then confidently and look good; what is on trend in eyecare for the prepubescent girl???

I just let ds pick his own, as long as he was happy in them then thats all that mattered. He had a narrow face so choice was a little limited but he loves his glasses.

there are loads of cool ones in the shops; dd (6) tried loads on

go have a play

She is very excited and wants them ready for school next week; I am trying not to show my true feelings! But I know she will look cute; and I guess she can have contacts later...!

Having worn NHS glasses myself from the age of 5, I wasn't looking forward to ds and dd getting glasses. We actually paid extra for non-NHS frames for their first couple of pairs - but this time they both have NHS glasses - and both look good. There are wide variety of choices - we found a small independent place had abetter variety than one of the bigger places. ds and dd have never had any problems - I don't think there is the smae stigmas as when I was small.
Oh - we did pay a little extra for ds to get thinner lenses. He has quite a strong prescription and with normal glasses the lenses are very thick.

dds little friend has barbie ones and they are very cute

Just to reasure you, DS1 has worn glasses for 4 years; he's now 8, and has never had any name calling about them. I agree it's not worth paying extra for non NHS ones - we seem to need replacement glasses almost monthly!

My DD is 3.5 and got glasses a few months ago. Looked around several shops and found alovely fuschia pink pair in Boots. They also had purple.

we also looked in specsavers who had barbie, mr men, little miss and spongebob glasses. Sound awful but they were actually normal glasses with a tiny badge on the arm. Would definitely suit a 5 year old.

I opted for bright pink as DD is so young and I wanted them to look childlike rather than grown up like mummy's

Find an optician that caters for children though as the ranges instore vary quite a lot.

HTH

personally, i wouldn't bother getting designer specs for her at this age - they won't last, and i can bet you a tenner they'll need replacing in 6 months, especially if she's long sighted. get her some NHS frames - Specsavers have a good range - they get replaced for free if she breaks/loses them (which she will, i guarantee it!) and they're nowhere near as bad as they used to be. i too had to wear NHS specs as a kid - i had the choice of pink or blue and they were awful!!

ditto thinner lenses - it's very expensive to thin out a plus prescription lens anyway, and they get replaced so often there's just no need.

HTH

Meant to add Ds picked action man ones, like someone said it is a tiny badge on the arm.

Thanks, I feel better already, I may even come to view it as a shopping opportunity. Devil, I had pale blue NHS ones too, for years and years, truly awful. DD1 wouldn't put up with that even at 4; she'd be straight on the phone to Childline if I even suggested it.
DH will be a bit worried they have bright pink ones though, she'll be in heaven...a few bits of glitter and she wouldn't take them off for bed.

2 of my kids wear glasses, DS1 is 9 and wears twister glasses, which are great and they don't break (that easily) DD1 is 7 and has plastic framed ones which look so funky.

2 of DS's mates (5/6) wear them and are regarded as incredibly cool.

I think glasses have gone through an image change since our youth.

One of his mates has a pair that I would seriously wear myself.