A question was posted on the Little Four Eyes facebook group by Danyelle, whose 3 month old will be getting glasses this week.  She’s  looking for resources to help prepare her older children for their younger sister’s glasses.  I thought I’d post here and see if anyone had any good ideas to add.

Books

Books would be my first place to start (but I’m a librarian, so of course they’re my go to resource).  Most books on our list are written from the perspective of the child who needs glasses, but some also follow friends or family members of kids who get glasses.  One person has already recommended Magenta Gets Glasses! by Deborah Reber, a Blues Clues book.

Shows

I’ve written before about some kids’ TV shows with characters who wear glasses.  Depending on the age of the siblings, the Yo Gabba Gabba episode from season 2 called Differences tells the story of Muno getting glasses, and his friends reacting to that.  I didn’t like that at the end Muno wears contacts (because I had hoped that he’d become a character who regularly wore glasses), but I think it talked a lot about other people’s reactions to seeing someone in glasses for the first time.  Sid the Science Kid also has an episode called Grandma’s Glasses in which Sid learns about vision and why some people need glasses.

Websites

There are a whole lot of websites aimed at kids that explain how the eye works (my favorites are from the Exploratorium – warning, it contains graphic images of a cow eye dissection, and the National Eye Institute), but not nearly as many that talk about glasses. Here’s a few:

• Whyzz – a site that helps kids explore questions, it provides not just answers, but also experiments to help learn more, and links to more information.  I’d start here.
• Annie’s Unite for Sight website for kids – a dog named Annie, who wears glasses, explains how the eye works, amblyopia, strabismus, as well as other vision issues.
• Kid’s Health has sections about eyes and glasses.

So what other resources are there?  Have you had to prepare an older sibling for their younger brother or sister getting glasses?  Any words of wisdom?