Did you know that 80% of a child’s learning is vision based?
Before my oldest started Junior Kindergarten, I brought him into the family doctor for a check up to make sure we were all up to date on needles and that he was healthy as could be. During that visit, our family doctor decided to test his eyes. I was surprised, he had never tested the boys’ vision before and both my husband and I had great eye sight. I guess, an eye test just wasn’t on my radar. Turns out, during that little test, my son struggled to identify the objects our physician showed him. The images were a little out dated showing 80’s style telephones and teepee style tents, and I still believed that he just wasn’t sure what the images were. We decided to make an appointment with an optometrist to be sure.
Most vision problems have no easy-to-detect symptoms and my son certainly gave us no indication that his vision was off, but in fact, a comprehensive eye exam from an optometrist, we were informed our son would indeed need glasses. Many children accept their vision as normal because they don’t know any different and this was the case with our boy.
Having our four year old in glasses was a pretty big deal! He seemed so young for such a big responsibility. But we were so glad we had him tested, just in time to start school especially! Vision problems affect learning and development, preventing children from reaching their full potential and that is not how we wanted his start to school to go. We brought each of our younger boys to the optometrist the summer before they went into school as well, and so far our oldest is the only one in glasses, but we continue to get them all tested each year to be sure.
Did you know that parents with kids heading into junior kindergarten benefit from the Eye See…Eye Learn® program? Be sure to take advantage of this free OHIP covered eye exams and free glasses for kids headed to junior kindergarten children through an Ontario Association Optometrist member.
So how well can your child see? Only an optometrist can know for sure, we thought for sure our child could see perfectly. To be on the safe side, book an appointment with your local doctor of optometry today. Don’t have one? Click here.
This post is sponsored by The Ontario Association of Optometrists. The opinions and language are all my own.
My oldest goes yearly for her eye checkups. My youngest goes every 2, 4, or 6 months because her eyes are so bad.
sounds like she’s going often, it’s good that you are on top of it!
Yup. We have to be. Her eyes are complete opposite of one another. Her optometrist said most adults wouldn’t be able to cope, but she’s doing surprisingly well!
You have encouraged me to get my kids’ eyes checked. Thanks for the post.
I’m so glad, I have to tell you we were shocked! We had no idea that he couldn’t see clearly, but there was no doubt when he put those glasses on and looked around, the world had changed for him, you could see it all over his face!
Very important to get their eyes checked. Thanks for the post & reminder!
so important!
Eyesight is so important and it is often forgotten that young children who can’t see well, don’t know that they see things differently to people with normal eyesight so it’s always good to have it checked out (especially before starting school, it can make a world of difference). This happened with 2 of my grandchildren who both have to wear glasses now.
so true, kids don’t know any different, and parents can’t tell so it’s best to have things checked out
So far our kids have great site. They all started to see an optometrist when they were 2 and fingers crossed their good site continues 🙂
Its so important to kidlets and their lives to get their eyes checked early! Thanks for the reminder!
Such a great suggestion and recommendation! It’s the one thing that parent forget or accidentally neglect to do… My own parents never had my vision checked until the teacher suggested it when I was 14 years old (never had an eye exam prior – scary)! I am religious about the boys’ eyes and get them checked regularly.
I remember asking my mom for an eye exam in highschool as well, it’s not something my parents ever though to do either.
I always did these pretty regularly when I was growing up because my mom had insurance through her work — it can be a challenge to prioritize this when you don’t have coverage through work.