A long time ago (well, long time in Internet land), I wrote a post about the good side of having a kid in glasses.  My favorite was that everyone seemed to notice Zoe’s glasses, so they probably didn’t notice the stains on her shirt.   I’d been thinking about that post again as I’ve recently come up with a few more side benefits.  And of course, I’ll note that the absolute best thing about glasses is that they improve and protect our children’s eye sight, but a few other perks don’t hurt :

1. 

   Citrus Picking, photo by Amomofelly

   Sun protection.  We all know that it’s important to protect our eyes against the sun’s UV rays.  Well, the lenses of our kids’ glasses provide UV protection.  So any time their wearing glasses outside, they’re getting protection.  Now, a lot of glasses have small lenses, so they don’t provide protection from sun that comes in around the lenses, but it’s still far more than if they were out without glasses.  And now that I also have a second daughter who doesn’t wear glasses, I can say, it’s way easier to get Zoe to wear her glasses (be they prescription sunglasses or regular glasses) outside than it is to get her sister to wear sunglasses regularly.

   • Side benefit: Siblings may be more likely to wear sunglasses because they’re jealous of their brother or sister’s glasses.
2. 

   Zoe in her butterfly mask.

   Masks.  A while ago, someone on the facebook group asked about masks for kids in glasses. Amomofelly came up with a fantastic design, using craft foam to make a mask that slides on to your child’s glasses.  You can get the instructions here.  I’m in love with this mask!  It stays on and in place so well, and it looks awesome, and it’s super easy to make!  I’m actually sad that Zoe’s little sister doesn’t have glasses, because they’d make her chicken costume for Halloween much easier.  I’m also thinking about making a mask this way for myself  this year, too.

3. Advocacy.  We get asked about Zoe’s glasses all the time – and we got asked a lot more when she was littler.  There’s still not a lot of awareness of the importance of children’s vision.  As exhausting as the questions can sometimes be, they’re a great opportunity to help other parents understand how important it is to have their children’s vision tested and to get treatment if there’s a problem.

I’m sure there are other great side benefits to a young one in glasses.  What am I forgetting?

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