Adjusting to wearing glasses can be a strange and frustrating experience for anyone. They can affect your self-esteem and confidence if you’re not used to seeing yourself with them, or they can feel uncomfortable. While it might take an adult some time to feel at ease with their new glasses, for children it can take even longer. If your child has just be prescribed new glasses to help with their vision, here are a few ideas that you can use to help them adjust to their new accessory.
Let Them Choose the Glasses
As a parent, you control the budget that’s available for your child’s new glasses, but you should let them choose the style they want. It’s important that they are happy with their new look, and purchasing glasses that make them feel better about their appearance in them is important. It also makes the process more fun for them—treating it more like a bit of retail therapy rather than a necessary purchase.
Compliment Their Appearance
If your child is worried about how their glasses make them look to others, make sure you’re complimenting their appearance and letting them know their glasses flatter their appearance. This positive reinforcement will help them grow more comfortable with how the glasses look on them and will encourage them to wear them.
Consider Contact Lenses
Contact lenses might not be suitable for younger children, but once they move into their teenage years you might want to consider discussing wearing contacts as an option. There are numerous benefits to wearing contacts, such as experiencing more natural vision and being able to take part in sports and other physical activities easily and safely. You should ask your teen’s eye doctor for more information on how to wear lenses for the first time, and whether or not they will be suitable for their eyes.
Remind Them How Common Glasses Are
There are millions of people who need to wear glasses all over the world, and although your child might feel like the odd one out in their class, you need to remind them how common it is to need glasses. Letting your child know they are not alone and that wearing glasses is perfectly normal will help them adjust quickly and feel more confident.
Make Sure They Wear Them
Finally, the best way to help your child to adjust to wearing glasses is by making sure they are wearing them frequently. They might be reluctant to do this at first, but the more they wear their glasses the quicker they will grow more comfortable with them. You should also teach your child how to look after their glasses properly, such as cleaning the lenses with the correct cloth and putting them in a case when they’re not in use.
Adjusting to wearing glasses can be a strange transition for anyone, but children are likely to find this more frustrating than adults. To help your child become more comfortable in their glasses, try these tips above and see how they can make a difference.