Ahhhh! My Daughter Has To Wear Glasses!
I thank God I don’t need to wear glasses. (I would probably need reading glasses, but that’s another story!) I grew up with somewhat perfect eye sight, and I truly appreciated it! The husband doesn’t wear glasses too, so we were convinced that our kids would follow through with the same great genes!
Early this year, Nicole told us that she can’t really see the board in class. The very stubborn me immediately thought there must be a tall child sitting in front of Nicole. I even wrote an email to the teacher, requesting for Nicole to sit nearer the front row! (sigh.. she is after all, rather short)
The teacher obliged, but she suggested that Nicole should go for an eye check. Well, the absolute smarty pants replied “as long as Nicole sits in the front row, there’ll be no one blocking her view!” (gosh… On hindsight, I think the teacher must be thinking I must be quite mad!)
As the weeks went by, there were no more complaints. And as they say, reality doesn’t hit. It crashes on you.
We were at the foodcourt for lunch after church. I was queuing with Nicole for good ol Chicken Rice. I decided to ask her to do some mental sums.
Me: Look at the price list. Can you tell me how much it costs if we ordered two plates? And how much if we ordered two lunch sets?
Nicole: Huh? Where’s the price?
Me: Up there, on the board. Can you tell me how much for two plates of chicken rice?
Nicole: Mummy, I can’t see. I can only see the pictures and some blocks of black and white!
oh man… I nearly fainted! The price list was in nice comfortable font for ALL to see. We were standing at the counter, not far away. That was when I realised my Nicole needs to wear glasses.
The next day, I made an appointment to see the Paediatric Ophthalmologist. We figured for this first time, she better get a good diagnosis, and a thorough eye check. The day before the doctor’s appointment, I was quite nervous. In fact, it felt like a day before taking my piano exams! Strange unexplainable tummy ache and cold hands. hahaha!
Here’s how she did!
To cut the long story short, I was really quite quick to accept that she needed glasses. Doctor said, for her first timer, that’s quite bad. (Most people start off at 50-70 degrees!) I felt so bad. It explained why she couldn’t understand some math concepts, why she had difficulties with copying notes. I really felt so upset with my stupid denial.
Anyhow, we got her glasses. She had a lovely lovely lovely time choosing the frame. She was particular about the width, and then she wanted the right colour shade, and then she wanted to try everything in that same colour!
So here’s my little princess with glasses. There is a sense of loss. No one will see my baby without those dreaded frames again! Her beautiful eyes will be hidden. Her nose will have those permanent marks. It certainly takes getting used to…
Ohh and why does she need glasses? I really have no idea. They don’t watch that much TV (only on weekends), they don’t play much on the ipad (only half an hour every week)… Maybe it’s just all that reading in lousy light. One thing for sure, the other two kids are now reading only when there’s good lighting. And time on the TV or ipad has been reduced again to half an hour every fortnight! I really hope Nicole is the only one wearing glasses in the family!
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She looks kinda cute 🙂
I had to wear glasses from the same age too..
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She looks adorable. Those frames are hardly noticeable. Plus, when she gets older she can try contact lenses.
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She looks lovely in her glasses. My son had to start wearing them at 3 (actually, he needed them sooner, but we didn't take him to the right specialist prior to that). I think the hardest part for us has been getting a system down for where to put the glasses at night so that we remember them in the morning! HA!
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Aww don't be so sad mama. I've been wearing glasses since I was 13. Except no one knew I did till I was in my late 20's because I wore contacts till then. Now at 34 I wear my glasses every single day except for working out and during the summer. Then it's contacts. I have a friend who's 7 yr old wears contacts to school because it's cheaper to replace the contacts then the frames he kept breaking. It's okay people who matter will see past the frames. I promise!
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She looks so cute with glasses!
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Everyone in our family of 5 wears glasses, I guess it is genetic for us. Your daughter will adjust fine!
Awwww, so pretty! My 7 y/o (turns 8 this month) started wearing glasses the early part of fall. 🙂
Aw, my now 8 year old has wore glasses for 3 years now. They are so cute on him and have just become a part of his look. I think she looks lovely in hers. But then again, I have a soft spot for little ones with glasses.
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She looks adorable with her new glasses and she looks like she loves them!
She's adorable! I have a lot of friends whose little ones had to wear them starting shortly after birth.
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We JUST went through this experience with our little guy. So glad you followed your instincts and got her eyes checked!
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My youngest may need glasses too. He failed his vision test at his pediatrician visit. She may be able to wear contact lenses when she gets older.
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She looks cute with her new glasses, and I'm sure she'll be excited to see better. My kids have glasses too (or contacts- now that they are older).
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She looks adorable in her glasses!
This happened to one of my friend's daughters. She had no idea that the child couldn't see until she received a note from the school. In our area, the pediatrician does standard eye exams, during annual physicals, starting at age 5. If a child does not "pass" this initial exam, the parents are advised to see an optometrist. Also, our local schools do hearing and vision testing.
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I started wearing glasses at 8 years old and my frames were not nearly as adorable as hers are! They were big and ugly and I felt like an old grandma.
Even though you and hubby don't need glasses that doesn't mean she didn't get her eyesight from someone else in the family so I honestly don't think it has anything to do with the lighting or iPad time the kids have so don't worry too much. Her eyesight may get better as she gets older and if not she can always do contacts.
I feel you… Speaking of which, I need to call the optic shop for reassessment for a proper glasses for my girl.
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I wore glasses at the age of 4 and all six of my kids had glasses at early ages. She looks very pretty with her glasses and her smile says how happy she is with them too.
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She looks absolutely cute wearing her glasses.
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She is gorgeous with or without her glasses! Everyone in my family has terrible eyesight, so we all wear glasses. I have chosen contacts but I do have spare glasses for allergy season. My daughter is 13 and desperately wants glasses, but she is 'cursed' with perfect eyesight!
I know this is a couple of years old so by now your daughter must be 15 or 16 years old. If she still wants to wear glasses and she still has her perfect eyesight you can always go on line to order her a nice pair of real glasses which is what I am sure she really wants. Where it asks for prescription numbers just put in -.50 for each eye and nothing else. That’s a very, very weak prescription which won’t do her eyes any harm and she will actually see 20/15 when she has the glasses on. Check out “zennioptical.com” for her glasses and she can find well over 800 pairs to choose from for under $20.00. Chances are after she gets the glasses she will only wear them a while and then tire of them and they will be a past memory.
Good thing you took her in when you did! I'm sure being able to see clearly will improve a lot of areas in her life.
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They go really nice on her! No one realized I needed glasses until High School! I thought it was normal to see blurry..
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It must be such a relief for her to see the world clearly now! She looks so cute!
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Awww man! As someone who has been wearing glasses for what seems like eons, I feel so bad for her! But she is adorable with or without the glasses, and I'm sure she feels better now that she can see again!
Awww, I think she looks very cute and I imagine she can take them off when she’s not doing work or reading, watching tv. I bet her schoolwork will improve. And, don’t forget, as she grows up, there’s always contacts!
It’s okay Mama, some of us just need corrective lenses to see better. I had a similar story to your daughter when I was younger, and my mom felt horrible. I was 12 when I got my first pair of glasses but I needed them MUCH MUCH earlier than that. I’m the only child in the family that needed them out of the 4 of use though, so perhaps you’ll luck out and your other children won’t need glasses.
That being said, our daughter started wearing glasses at 8 and she loves her glasses (I mean I guess she would be happy enough to not have to wear them at all but since she has to…), she likes that each year she can go out and choose new ones to match her personality. These days they are far more like fashion accessories than the large ugly ones I had to wear 30 years ago!
You should not feel badly about not realizing sooner that your daughter was having vision problems because some times it can be hard to tell. Also since neither you or your husband wore glasses there was no reason to suspect that your daughter might need glasses because most often glasses is a result of genes. It has now been over 2 years since she got her first glasses, how is she doing with wearing her glasses? Because her first glasses were a bit stronger than when most kids get their first glasses she probably needed an increase in her prescription after she had her glasses at about 6 months later. I wish I had seen this sooner and I would have suggested that to you.