A friend recently told me about her son getting glasses.  He’s 10, and very excited about wearing glasses, in fact, he was sad when he learned that he’d have to leave the glasses shop without glasses in hand (or on face) after picking his out.  Why was he so excited for his glasses?  Because he was thrilled to “look like dad.”

It got me thinking about what difference it makes for kids getting glasses when their parents also wear glasses.  Both Chris and I wear glasses, both our parents wear glasses, even our siblings all wear glasses, so when Zoe got her glasses, she was certainly following in a fine family tradition.  I’d love to say that being surrounded by others in glasses meant that it was easier for her to adjust to her glasses.  And maybe it was.  I have no idea how hard it would have been for her to accept her glasses had she not been in a family of glasses-wearers.  But my sense is that it didn’t make all that much difference, at least not at first.

Chris and Zoe, seeing bubbles better with glasses

Well, that may not be true.  She got her glasses at an age when she did a lot of mimicking us, so at one point, I had the brilliant idea of using that to our advantage.  The next time she resisted against having her glasses put on, instead of fighting her, I handed her my glasses, and asked her to put them on my face.  I held very still, but had my hands ready to help her get them on my face (and not poking the earpiece into my eye).  And after she’d put my glasses on my face?  She let me put her glasses on her face!  That was a pretty exciting development.

Once she’d gotten over the initial adjustment period, though, I think our wearing glasses did help her with hers.  I think she questions her need for glasses a lot less, since so many people she knows wear glasses, and she’s never talked about glasses looking funny.  In fact, she’s told baby Hazel that she looks plain without glasses.  In our family, glasses are the norm, and I wonder sometimes about Hazel feeling left out if she manages to escape the need for glasses.

I’d love to know what other people’s experiences with this are.  Amberhj posted this great photo on her blog on Stella’s New Glasses Day, when Amber wore a pair of vanity frames to help celebrate Stella’s glasses.

Amberhj and Stella, on Stella's New Glasses Day

It’s a pretty common piece of advice for parents who wear contacts to wear glasses the first few weeks that their child wears glasses.  Has that worked for others?