The Importance of Eyes

Glasses have been a part of my life since the second grade. But I remember like it was yesterday how it was to squint at the backboard or even the television {if I wasn’t sitting right on top of it}. My world was fuzzy.

So when The Bee turned 3, I scheduled her first exam and every year since. Luckily, she has perfect vision. But I like knowing that nothing has changed from year to year.

When Falafel turned 3 I did the same for her. At the time, her vision was fine. The next year, however, she was starting to read. I knew that she knew how, but for some reason she didn’t always want to. She rubbed her eyes and often complained that they “hurt“. My husband and I thought maybe she had inherited my allergies.

I chalked up her disinterest in reading to our girls just being different people. The Bee never was seen without a book in her hand at that age, but Falafel might just not be a “reader“.

At her 4 year old exam, I told the doctor that she was complaining of eye pain. After the checkup, he gave us some drops and asked me to keep him informed of the pain.

The next exam, at age 5, I told him how the drops were not really effective, and how she is still complaining about the pain.

He decided to correct her far-sided~ness with reading glasses.

Oh my goodness! The world this has opened up for her! She is now a great reader, and more importantly she wants to read. On her own. All the time.

All the pain has gone away (most likely caused by strain), and she looks stinkin’ cute too.

I am so very happy we took her every year and could find a solution to this problem before she started school full-time.It has made a huge difference.

When kids complain about their eyes, it sometimes is in very general terms like “Pain” or “Itchy”. Sometimes they don’t complain at all. They rarely come out and tell you that they can’t see very clearly.

I just read that parents should take their children as young as 6 months old for a comprehensive eye exam, and then starting again at 3 years old. In-school screenings do not provide the same level of detection as comprehensive eye exams.

And that 1 in 4 children have an undetected vision condition that can negatively impact learning.

Yup.

It’s true.

I am so thankful we did.

Do you take your children for eye exams??

Visit SeeMuchMore for more information about VSP and vision care benefits. I was selected for this post by the Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.