I’ve gotten a couple of questions recently about tips on getting kids to wear glasses when they first get them. Yesterday, Rachel wrote:
My daugther, who is 19-months old, was diagnosed with Farsightedness in her left eye (+4.00) with her right eye being in the normal range. I have been struggling with so many of the issues on this site, and it is comforting to know that I am not alone. We have finally gotten a pair of glasses, but now I can’t get her to wear them for even 10 seconds, let alone 10 minutes. I have a very spirited child, and by reading your posts, it has helped me realize that I shouldn’t give up and need to keep trying. We’ve been at it for about a week and I have renewed optimism after reading your experiences. Thank you for putting them out for folks like me to read. If anyone has any suggestions for things I can try, I’d welcome them! (She actually closes her eyes when I put the glasses on now…stubborn, stubborn)
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[this is Ann again] I suppose it’s a sign of aging or something, but I’m beginning to forget (or block out) those first couple of weeks when Zoe first got her glasses and I feared that we’d never get her to wear them long enough to help her vision. Once she learned that she could see well with the glasses, she was really pretty good (and now she’s great with them), but getting to that point is the big hurdle. We’ve got some tips on the Collected Wisdom page, what else has worked for you?
For Little Eyes 
Some things that I remember doing were:
-letting Zoe put our glasses on us, then she’d often be more willing to let us put glasses on her.
-trying not to make a big deal about putting the glasses on when she took them off.
-if she kept taking them off and getting upset, setting them aside and waiting until she calmed down and was distracted.
-try to keep her distracted when we put them on so she would forget about them
Good luck!
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I have a spirited, opinionated 2 year old. We even have trouble getting her dressed and I was really worried about glasses. Sticker charts and bribes are not for my child. I wanted something I could be consistent with, positive about, and live with for the rest of her child-hood. Here was our thought out plan.
1. We read the books from the recommended list before and after the Ophthalmologist visit.
2. On glasses pick up day, we stopped and got a cherry ICEE treat (something we never had before) and said we were celebrating being able to see better. We did this late afternoon and started letter her “practice” wearing them. Letting her take them off whenever she wanted. We also talked about glasses rules.
TAKE GLASSES OFF WITH 2 HANDS
ALWAYS GIVE THE GLASSES TO MOM OR PAPA
3. On Day 1, we invited her best friend over and watched Arthur gets glasses together. We then had her best friend give her a toy Arthur. He has glasses and the manufacture does a good job securing them on. Elly, has tried many times to get them off and has not succeeded.
4. We also set up a glasses-free zone. I wanted her to have the freedom to take them off at anytime, so we set up her room as a glasses-free zone. This worked well because she has to take them off for naps and bedtime. Anytime she took her glasses off, we told her it was time to play in her bedroom and moved her there. By the 2nd day, she would stand at her doorway and scream “glasses please”
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