HELPING CHILDREN ADJUST TO GLASSES

I never wore eyeglasses as a child. It wasn´t until I was in my mid-thirties and already writing about the optical industry for several years that I discovered I needed them. Apart from having to get used to the sensation of having a foreign object on my face, seeing the world through a pair of lenses was at first a strange sensation. For several weeks, my depth perception and sense of spatial relationships felt slightly different. Driving at night was challenging because I saw reflections and star patterns (perhaps I needed better AR).

Yet the biggest change was getting used to seeing myself in glasses. I did more than a few double takes when passing a mirror. Was that really me? As it turned out, I didn´t have to be self-conscious about my appearance. Wearing glasses is a plus when writing about the optical industry because of the first-hand experience it affords you. Yet my experience made me wonder what it´s like for children who have to wear glasses. How do they cope with this strange new object on their face and how it makes them look different than other kids?

A new children´s book, "Randy Kazandy, Where Are Your Glasses?" artfully answers this question. In author Rhonda Fischer´s delightful story, a young boy, Randy, hates wearing glasses, and takes every opportunity to lose them because "he thinks they make him look like an alien from outer space." But his mother has another pair and then another and another.

The story has a happy ending, though, that gives children and parents a positive example of how glasses can be help you see the world clearly and even be fun to wear.This book would be a great addition to the waiting room literature in any family vision care practice or optical shop specializing in pediatric vision care. It reminds us that as adults, we need to use our vision and understanding to help children improve theirs.

—Andrew Karp

akarp@jobson.com

Reprinted with permission of 20/20 magazine, copyright 2009, Jobson Optical Group.

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