It has been a long time since we have had a lot of questions and comments about Elly’s glasses. This weekend we took a family get-away to the beach and I feel like EVERYONE had something to say or wanted to know more about how I could tell she needed glasses, was it easy, how does she keep them on, and more…. Then when I opened the Comic Section on Sunday, I just had to laugh… Here is most of what that was featured.
What are the things that other adults say that make you feel good? Or ones that make you cringe?
For Little Eyes
A community for family and friends of babies, toddlers, and young kids in glasses, eye patches, or contacts.
For Little Eyes 
Isn’t it weird how you’ll go weeks without any comments and then all of a sudden it seems like everyone wants to know all about the glasses?
I love that comic.
I like when people tell me that Zoe looks beautiful and that she has beautiful eyes. I worried that people would only notice the glasses, not her eyes. I get a little sick sometimes of questions about how we knew, but I remind myself that I didn’t know any of this before Zoe got her glasses, and people are generally just genuinely curious.
I overheard some people talking the other day about how glasses will just weaken your eyes and make you dependent on glasses. I don’t know if they were talking about it because of Zoe, but they were standing right near by. That made me angry. Otherwise, I haven’t gotten too many bad comments. Oh! The one about Zoe wearing Sarah Palin glasses made me cringe.
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This is GREAT! I love it! Thanks for sharing it! I think I much rather like it when people ask me questions, than when they stand there and just stare at Ellie. Or when they ask Ellie what happened to her eye (when she is wearing her patch). What is she going to tell them? If you have a question about her eyes, just ask me. I am her mother standing next to her, I will answer it!!! Some days, when people act this way… I want to tell them to take a picture so that it will last longer. 🙂 I like it best when someone tells me that they also had an experience with this or when they provide some other encouragement to help me know that it is all worth it! Thanks for the laugh! 🙂 Is your Elly doing better with her new glasses now?
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Bennett’s been in glasses since he was a year old and initially it felt like we could not go anywhere without getting comments, stares, and questions. I’ve found that as he gets older (he’s now 4) there are more of his peers in glasses so we get far fewer questions.
We are still often asked how we can know what his prescription is so we give a very brief explanation about why he’s in glasses and how they know what he needs. In our case, his vision loss is related to his prematurity so we tell them he was born so early his eyes were still fused shut and we knew vision problems were likely because he was a micro-preemie.
Our current challenge is helping Bennett and his siblings answer questions from other kids, as they now notice and ask about the glasses. We’re trying to find simple & kid friendly explanations for ROP and visual impairments so Bennett can explain for himself.
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Running a B&B and having just finished patching with our son Alex for the past five years we have had more comments than you can imagine!! Our daughter Sarah was prescribed glasses when she was five months old, but didn’t start wearing them until she was crawling at 7 months (the Dr.’s recommendation.) Adults ask far more questions than kids do!! We were lucky that Alex’s preschool teacher suggested that he “show-and-tell” his new glasses & patch the first day he had them, so the kids asked their questions that day and then they were just a part of Alex and a non-issue.
We also had our standard, easy-to-understand responses for adults that would ask questions about the kids & their glasses. My favorite story though, was when my husband was at the grocery store with Sarah in her infant seat, and some lady asked him, “Are those her pink glasses?” With his dry humor and a straight face, he replied, “No, they’re mine – I’m just letting her wear them because they match her outfit…” and kept going! 🙂
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Ha, ha! That’s hilarious!!! 🙂
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Hah! I always wish I could come up with good responses like that.
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Ha that’s great!
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That comic is hilarious! Aubrie doesn’t get too many comments about her glasses. We live in a very small town so pretty much everyone knows us so I’m comfortable talking to them. It’s mainly about how did you know, how do they examine her, how does she tolerate them…all that good stuff. We don’t run into it as often now that she’s 3. I know Aubrie LOVES it when she meets another kid with glasses…she thinks that’s pretty cool. She mainly gets compliments on how cute they are & that she loves purple. Now her new color is turquoise though so they get informed it’s no longer purple. I’m going to have a tough time finding turquoise glasses this year! Wish me luck!
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It’s easier now that C is a toddler (2 y.o.). There are less stares, it seems, but we still get questions. I don’t mind answering questions about how we knew to see the PO and how the prescription gets measured, or how she handles keeping the glasses on.
My favorite conversations are the ones where folks tell me about their children or grandchildren who have / had glasses, strabismus, etc, or who wore glasses themselves when s/he were younger. I love hearing about others. I’ve had several of these types of conversations.
The comments I dislike the most (not in any order):
1. Stares. When folks just stare and whisper and it’s obvious they are talking about C’s glasses.
2. Asking me if C will need the glasses forever and I reply that I’m not sure, but probably unless her prescription gets better. Then, the people say they are sorry to hear this as if it is a bad thing.
3. Asking me if the glasses are real. This is less common as C has gotten older, but when she was younger, we got this question a lot. (C started wearing glasses at 7 months.)
4. I’m sure there are more, but I don’t remember all the various comments that have bothered me.
We haven’t had many kids comment on her glasses. One little girl at the children’s museum asked what her cable temples were and why she needed glasses. That’s about it. I do wonder how other kids will react to the glasses when C gets older.
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Yes, I get upset when people ask me if Paris will have to always wear the glasses and when I confirm that yes she probably will or contacts when she is old enough. They often say oh really! as if it is a really bad thing! That annoys me.
I also like people offering positive success stories from their personal experience or those who comment that the glasses are so cute. Those sort of comments really make my day but yes those who make silly comments without thinking really annoy me!
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