With over 55% of the planet needing help with their vision, your child could well be one of the majority – making sure they feel comfortable and confident wearing their glasses is really important. Often, your child may be the first in their group to start wearing glasses. Reinforcing the fact that wearing glasses is nothing to be ashamed of is your job as a parent. If you are really worried about this, don’t stress, we have you covered. We have created a list of tips to help your child adjust to their new eyewear.
Encourage them to get involved
Give your child the opportunity to choose the frames that they want for their glasses. Try and keep an open mind. You are allowed to nudge them away from those pink leopard print ones but try to let them select a style that they like. A good way to do this is to let them scroll through a website like this. Let them choose 2-3 frames that they like the look of. Order all 3, and then you can let them choose which one they prefer of the 3. The other 2, you can just return.
Make sure they know they are not alone
Over 55% of the world population have eyesight problems. A great way to help a child adjust to wearing glasses for the first time is to find somebody they like on TV who also wears glasses. Tell your child that that character is special like them too. Some easy examples are Harry Potter, Superman, and even the Minions.
The superpower trick
One method that seems to be extremely popular and successful amongst parents is the superpower trick. Tell your child that by wearing their glasses, they gain the power of amazing eyesight. We don’t normally advocate lying to our children, but this is the exception.
Compliment them often
Adults aren’t the only ones who like to be told they look great. We all like to be praised for wearing something new that looks good. To help your child’s confidence, tell them they look amazing in their new frames. Your children really value and appreciate your opinion, more so than anyone else’s, so praise them often to give them a confidence boost.
Experiment
At the end of the day, being a parent is about finding what does and doesn’t work. If your child looks at their glasses as a fashion statement, use that to increase their excitement over-wearing them. If you have a child with a nurturing nature, reinforce how important it is to look after their glasses every single day – let them pick a quirky carrying case and give them some cleaning tools.
Just remember, although the process of introducing your child to their glasses can be an uncomfortable one, it is extremely important in the long run to get it right. Making sure they wear their glasses when they need to and look after them is paramount to their eye health and overall happiness.