Being a parent is all about keeping your child safe and healthy. While it’s easy to know if your child is in immediate physical danger, there are some threats to your little one’s health and safety that might not be very apparent to you at all times. One area where this is usually the case is with your child’s eyes and vision. Because you can’t see through your child’s eyes, it can be very challenging to know if their vision is working properly or if their eyes are being harmed somehow.
To address these hidden concerns, regular eye check-ups become essential as your child grows. These examinations are crucial in identifying potential issues early on, especially those that might not be immediately noticeable to parents. Conditions like astigmatism, nearsightedness, or farsightedness can significantly impact your child’s daily life and development, yet they often go undetected without professional assessment. While glasses are a common and effective solution for many of these vision problems, some parents may find themselves considering future options, such as corrective surgeries, as their child gets older.
As your child matures and their vision stabilizes, these alternative treatments become more viable options to explore. For instance, you can get LASIK with astigmatism, a procedure that many adults consider for themselves after years of relying on corrective lenses. This option might be suitable for your child once they reach adulthood and their prescription has remained stable for a certain period. Additionally, treatments like pediatric vision therapy or specialized contact lenses can help manage and correct vision problems as your child ages, bridging the gap between early detection and potential future surgical interventions. Staying informed about these options ensures that you’re prepared to make the best decisions for your child’s eye health throughout their developmental stages and beyond.
In any case, your child will be better placed to manage the health of their eyes once they are older and they are taught the importance of staying healthy and having their eyes checked at regular intervals. For now, whilst they are young, you as the parent are best suited to keep track of the health of their eyes. As such, here are three things you can do to protect your child’s eyes.
Give Them The Proper Safety Gear When Playing Sports
For school-aged children, sports might be a big part of their life. Playing sports is a great way for your child to learn things like team work, sportsmanship, and the joy of being active. But for many sports, there’s the chance to get injured, including injury to the eye. To keep something like this from happening to your child, PreventBlindness.org advises that you always supply your child with the proper safety gear for their sport, including eye protection. Additionally, if their sport requires the use of a helmet, make sure they also have a facemask or other type of shield for their eyes as well.
Teach Them How To Rest Their Eyes
With so much visual stimulation in the world around your child, it’s important that you teach him or her how to rest their eyes and give their muscles a break from working so hard. This is especially going to be important the more time your child spends looking at screens during their day. To ensure that the eyes are getting the rest they need, both for protecting adults and their vision as well as children, the National Eye Institute recommends that you use the 20/20/20 rule. What this means is that every 20 minutes you spend looking at a screen, you should avert your eyes to focus on something that’s about 20 feet away from at least 20 seconds. By doing this, you’ll help keep the eyes from getting tired and overworked.
Protect Your Child’s Eyes When Outside
Most kids love to spend time outside. Being able to run and play is a great way for your kids to get some of their energy out and stay healthy. However, you need to be careful about protecting your child’s eyes when they’re outside. According to Dr. Amita Shroff, a contributor to WebMD.com, you should protect your child’s eyes from the sun when they spend time outside. This means shielding their eyes with the brim of a hat and having them wear sunglasses that will block 100 percent of the sun’s UV rays.
If you want to ensure that your child will grow up to have healthy eyes, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you better protect their eyes starting from a young age.