little four eyes

Jack's injuries from his fall on his glasses.

Carolyn sent in a story about her son, Jack, who is 2 1/2 and wears Miraflex glasses for farsightedness.  He had been playing with his little sister, when he fell off his bed in just the right way that his lens popped out and pushed under his eyebrow.  The resulting cut from the lens required 6 stitches to close up.  As Carolyn wrote, they’re very thankful for the Miraflex glasses, as other frames could have broken and made the injury even worse.

Ann Felicia also wrote about her son getting a cut on his face from his glasses a couple of years ago.

This is definitely something to keep in mind when you’re looking for glasses for your child.  Think about how the frames and the lenses will handle falls or accidents.  The lens material is extremely important, and for this reason, polycarbonate is generally recommended for children since it is very hard and shatter proof.

Bennett in his prescription sports goggles from http://www.zleader.com/jamn.htm

Another thing to consider is sports goggles, especially if your child is participating in sports that are rough or could cause injuries to their eyes.  Accidents will happen, and we can’t always prepare for everything, but given how much we’re trying to take care of their vision, it makes sense to also be sure we’re protecting them from injuries.

Dr. Nate (of Bright Eyes News) and reader Amber both just let me know that COVD (that’s the College of Optometrists in Vision Development) is sponsoring a 30 minute web interview with neurobiologist Dr. Susan Barry entitled “School Crossings: A Neurobiologist’s View of How Our System Fails Children With Vision Problems.”    The free web interview is targeted at parents and educators and will be Thursday, August 26, at 9 pm EDT.  The interview will be recorded, but I don’t yet know whether or how it will be made available for people who are unable to attend the actual interview.  As soon as I know more, I’ll update.

From the facebook event:

Hear Dr. Susan Barry answer questions about difficult school experiences that resulted from her vision problems; how, for example, she was mislabeled as a low aptitude student and assigned to a special problems class, and what her mother did to help her child succeed. And more….. including what you can do to help your child succeed!”

Dr. Barry is the author of the book, “Fixing My Gaze” which talks about her experience growing up with strabismus, and never achieving stereoscopic vision until she started vision therapy as an adult.  The book is fascinating and her background as a neurobiologist is clear, as she explains the vision system in a very engaging and understandable matter (you can read my full review of her book).  I’m certain that the web interview will be very interesting as well.

More details: “seating is limited to the first 1,000 people to respond.  To register for this free event, go to:  www.joinawebinar.com and enter the webinar ID number, which is 547-423-251, your email address, etc.  Just follow the instructions from there.”  Again, as soon as I know more about the availability of a recorded session, I’ll let people know.

I read a review of the new book, Fancy Nancy Spectacular Spectacles by Jane O’Connor on Amblyopia Kids a few weeks ago.  Based on that review, and Zoe’s love of her Fancy Nancy shoes, I figured I should get a copy for her.  We got the book on Friday, and we’ve read it at least once every day since then.

For those that haven’t seen any other Fancy Nancy books (there’s quite a few of them now), the Fancy Nancy character is a young girl who loves all things fancy, and that includes accessories, clothing, and even words.

In the story of Spectacular Spectacles, Nancy’s friend Bree gets glasses because “in school, her eyes hurt a lot.”  Unlike a lot of kids’ books about glasses that focus on the difficulties that go along with getting glasses, this book focuses on how much Fancy Nancy loves her friend’s glasses, and how much she’d like to have some, too.  They are after all, lavender, glittery, and come with a silver case and a silk hankie to clean them.  It was quite nice to read a book where the character who wears the glasses doesn’t encounter any taunting or teasing, and the glasses are portrayed as something wonderful.  I also loved that there is a scene where the character Bree explains to her class about her trip to the eye doctor and getting glasses.  I think that our kids in glasses need to be able to talk about what those glasses mean, and Bree’s explanation is quite charming:

Bree had to read a chart with lots of letters on it.  The letters went from big to tiny.  “Glasses are like magic.  I can read tiny stuff now,” she says.  “Nothing looks blurry!”

When I first read Spectacular Spectacles (before reading it with Zoe – the book arrived while she was napping), I worried that Zoe would not relate much to the book.  The main character isn’t the one getting glasses, and I don’t think Zoe even remembers getting glasses.  But Zoe enjoyed it from the first time we read it, and has asked for it every night since then.  Even more exciting for me, is that the last few nights, she’s stopped me in the middle of the book to talk more about her glasses.  Before this, Zoe had never spoken much about her glasses or trips to the eye doctor, but now she’s starting talking about her most recent eye doctor trip, how the shapes on the chart were blurry, and that the “glasses place thought she needed new lenses for her glasses and now things aren’t blurry.”  It feels like this book helped give her the words to explain what she had experienced.

Fancy Nancy Spectacular Spectacles is an I Can Read book, listed as a beginning level reader.  Zoe is not yet reading, so I can’t comment on how easy it is for early readers to read, but it does have short, simple sentences.  The book does feature several long “fancy” words, which are listed at the back of the book.  I liked how those words, such as “spectacular” and “becoming” are used and explained in the story as well.

The illustrations are beautiful, and I found myself getting a bit jealous of Bree’s beautiful glasses.  I would absolutely recommend this book, especially for young girls who might be worried about their friends’ reactions to getting glasses.

For all you parents who lovingly patch your little ones.  Make these, give them away, but just don’t sell them!  These are inexpensive, light weight, covering, re-usable, and have a smooth texture.  They can be personalized to fit your child’s personality and the shape of their glasses. The idea came to me late one night from trying all the patches on the market and they have worked well for Elly and hopefully may work for you.  It was designed for those of you in Miraflex in mind – hopefully it will work!  It can and should be adapted to best fit your child’s needs and glasses.  I can make each patch in less than 3 minutes and could make at least 50 of them for less than $5.00.  If you can tie a knot and push a needle back and forth, you can make these!

Materials

craft foam, needle, thread, scissors, knife, tape, and the pattern

The following tutorial will demonstrate how to make a right left eye patch.

1. First cut out your foam pieces, add any extra fun pieces that you may want.  Remember, the more you add, the heavier your patch will be.  Linked here (Patch Pattern) is a pdf pattern of the main patch pieces.

2.  Assemble the pieces and hold them together with your fingers to make sure you are making your patch go the right way.  Sew your embellishments on to the rectangular section first.

3. Then, using a simple knot and a straight stitch, attach the rectangular piece to the main patch on the bottom.

4.  Fold the V in until the edges are touching and stitch through all 3 layers; top, front, and over the glasses pieces. (see, your stitches don’t have to be pretty!)

5.  Then place a square piece of tape on the triangular side.  This is to make the opening where the temples go through just a little sturdier.

6.  Using a knife or other sharp object, make a hole large enough for the temples to fit through.

And you are done =)    Well, with the patch part… here is how they go on the glasses.  I told Elliana that it was my job to put them on and off for the safety of the glasses.  These patches will fit snugly and I put them on slowly.  I made 2 patches and they each lasted me over a month when put on by a parent.

First slide the temples in between the main patch and the rectangular piece.  If you have cables, making sure the ends get in the smaller hole is a little tricky.  Those with Miraflex, I think you can take the band off.  If not, e-mail me and I will think of something.

Then pull through until the patch sits comfortably on the glasses.  I trimmed with my scissors around the nose piece so the patch sits inside of the plastic and a bit from the top so it rests comfortably on their forehead (thats why it is easier to make the pattern bigger and cut to fit).  If you have the regular nosepiece, then you could make a vertical slit for the nosepiece to fit into

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Last and not least, have your child try their glasses with the patch on.  Make sure it is not rubbing or irritating, trim with a scizzors to make it a perfect patch for your child.

Almost forgot… we learned the hard way… DON”T use red or dark pink like my pictures.  When they sweat the color comes off and turns the skin pink.  I would use light pink, blue, white, yellow and other light colors.  If you do make a patch, please send me a picture to post.  I have a couple more that we have been using daily – pictures of them to come later!

Zoe’s had glasses for over 2 1/2 years.  By now, I should know that I can’t get shirts with anything but the loosest neck over Zoe’s head without taking her glasses off first.  But I still forget on a regular basis (and yes, I forget to take my own off when I’m getting dressed – slow learner here).  Normally, Zoe reminds me, but today we had a particularly awkward encounter trying to get her swimsuit on with her glasses still on her face.  I’m pretty sure it looked pretty hilarious.  I expect I’ll remember to reliably take her glasses off right about the time she is able to get all of her shirts on and off herself.

It’s a common concern (and one that I hold) for parents of young kids in glasses:  Will my child be teased because of their glasses?  It doesn’t help that the plot of many of the books and movies about kids in glasses revolve around the child being teased and then figuring out how to deal with it.  But I wonder, how much of a reality is the teasing?  As far as I’m aware, no one has ever teased Zoe about her glasses.  Once at the playground, I overheard one older boy telling his father, “want to hear something silly?  There’s a baby in glasses!”  But while he was talking about Zoe, he wasn’t taunting her or even talking directly to her, and luckily, she was young enough that I don’t think she caught it at all.

I do know that eyewear is a lot nicer looking than it was when most of us were kids, and that more and more kids are wearing glasses, though usually at an older age than our kids.  Does this mean that the teasing for glasses will be less?  There was that study in 2008 that found that kids do not think glasses make other children less attractive or less athletic, though they do think other kids in glasses are smarter and more honest.  Does that translate into less teasing?

I’d love to hear from parents of older children about whether their kids have been teased about glasses, or whether they’ve observed kids making fun of others about their glasses.

I wanted to pass this along from Amblyopia Kids.  Belle is 5, and does a great job in this video of explaining why she wears a patch.  I love the idea of helping kids talk about why they have a patch (or glasses) in their own words, to help them feel more comfortable with it, and to answer the many questions that get asked.

We haven’t had an open thread in a while.

Some kids use glasses as teethers, some hide or break them, some fight patching tooth and nail, and some of us struggle with the changes that glasses and vision problems can mean for our children, or with rude comments from strangers.  What are the biggest struggles you’ve dealt with in having a child in glasses (or contacts, or patching, or other vision problems)?

This evening, Zoe and I were reading a book about different animals.  We got to a page with a picture of water buffalo, and she asked if they were nice.  “Yes,” I say, “remember that other story we read where they talked about them being gentle animals?”

“But the water buffalo will break my glasses,” says Zoe.

Zoe has never before mentioned any concern about anything breaking her glasses.  Intrigued, I ask her for more details.

“How would they break your glasses?” I ask.

“They are big animals, they could bonk them.  Or step on them.  Or even knock them off your face.  They would break my glasses,” she explains with every confidence.

So, there you have it, and I’m pretty certain you read it here first.  Water buffalo may pose a hazard to your child’s glasses.  You have been warned.

Water buffalo. A previously unknown threat to your child's glasses? Photo by Vince O'Sullivan, used under a Creative Commons license. Click for original.

Jennifer had a question in the comments that’s something I’ve been thinking about recently, too.  She wondered whether it was better, if your child already has 2 pair of glasses, to have one pair as the primary pair, and one set aside as a backup.  Or does it make more sense to have both pairs as primary pairs, and let your child choose each morning which pair to wear?

For the past 18 months, Zoe has had two pair of glasses, and we’ve let her choose which pair to wear.  It’s worked quite well, largely because she seems to like both pair equally, so they get pretty equal wear and tear.  The lenses are less scratched, and the frames less beat up, because they’re both essentially getting  worn half the time.

That all changed last week when we found out Zoe’s prescription had changed.  I had planned to get the lenses replaced in one pair, and then when that pair was back, get new lenses for the second pair.  The guy at the optical shop, though, told me that she was likely to outgrow her red glasses in around 6 months, and he didn’t think it would make sense to replace her lenses now, only to need to replace the frames and lenses again in a few months.  So once her blue glasses come back with the updated prescription, we’ll have those as her primary glasses, with the red ones as back-up — the prescription change is small enough that the old prescription could be worn as a back up if need be.

I’d love to pick out a second pair of glasses for Zoe so that we can stay with the two pairs for her to choose from, since it’s worked so well.  But ordering new lenses for one pair, and then a second whole new pair of glasses just isn’t in the cards for us right now.  I guess I hadn’t really thought through the logistics of what happens with two pair when the prescription changes, but the frames don’t need to.

I’d love to hear thoughts on what you all are doing.  Do you have a back up pair, or two pair that your child chooses from?  Is it working well?  What would you do if the money for additional pairs were not an issue (hey, I can dream, right?)