When I was in grade one, my Mom got a call from my teacher who was very concerned for my well being because my eyes were doing some funny things. She was actually concerned that I might have epilepsy. As it turns out, I had a lazy eye and I needed glasses. My eyes weren’t focussing to allow me to see the chalkboard properly. I remember feeling so frustrated, but not knowing that I should communicate my struggles with anyone.
I have worn glasses ever since grade one and I cannot live without them. My eye sight in my one eye is terrible, which makes my right eye work twice as hard as it needs to when I don’t wear glasses.
My husband wears glasses too, so we knew that our children were at a higher risk of poor eye sight and as it turns out my daughter has had glasses since she was younger than two years of age. We bring her to the optometrist for regular eye exams. When my son was six months of age, we started regular eye exams for him too. So far, he has been fortunate to not need glasses, much to his disappointment because he desperately wants to be like the rest of the family and wear glasses.
Eye sight is SO important and with school-aged children, it is crucial that they can see well so that they can learn to the best of their ability.
Once a child is school-aged, there is so much visual learning that needs to occur in order to succeed academically.
Did you know that 1 in 4 school-aged children has a vision problem?
Detecting vision problems at an early age is crucial so that children perform their best in school and beyond!
If you have a child heading into junior kindergarten, they might be able to benefit from program called Eye See…Eye Learn® that provides OHIP covered eye exams and free glasses for junior kindergarten children through the Ontario Association Optometrists.
Do you know how well your child can see? Only a qualified optometrist can know for sure.
I encourage you to book an appointment with your local doctor of optometry today. If you don’t have one, click here.
This post is sponsored by The Ontario Association of Optometrists. The opinions and language are all my own.
I imagine that many teachers are the first ones to notice some eye problems with children who cannot see the board from a distance.
I believe we have an assessment of children at four years of age, so that any physical problems may be spotted and treated before the children go to Kindergarten. I think this is a wonderful idea as a busy mother may not realize a problem unless it is very blatant.
Our kids started seeing the eye doctor at the age of 2 and so far so good 🙂
Both my girls were checked early and yearly, and only one needed glasses
I need to get my four checked again as there is some craning at the tv screen…
This is a wonderful initiative! So far we’ve had no issues with our grandkids, but you never know what can come up in the future!
I had my younger daughter’s eyes checked under the Eye See Eye Learn program. Fortunately she didn’t need glasses (unlike her mom)! It’s an amazing program that I only learned about 2 years ago when I was on mommytalk on Rogers.
Have your eyes checked is so important,it’s hard to learn in School when you don’t see well
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