s/o reading regulation - do your kids read too much?

[SKL]

My kid wants to read all the time.  Lately she insists on reading in situations where there is practically no light, etc.  She made herself nearsighted with too much nonstop reading.  Things seem to be getting worse rather than better.  What do you do with a nut like this?

I guess someone will be getting a booklight for Christmas, for starters....

[Arcadia]

My 9 year old reads to the extent of forgetting to sleep and having dark eye shadows. I order him to go play with his toys when he had been reading non-stop just to give his eyes a break from eye strain. I don't have a problem with him alternating an hour of reading with an hour of playing but he is a bookworm, so I have to remind him to rest his eyes.

[mathnerd]

I regulate actively how much time my child reads. What helps is that I get ebooks on the kindle app on the ipad and taught my son to zoom in on the letters to make the fonts larger - that reduces the eye strain drastically as well as lets him read chapter books with smaller print. But, there are times when he reads books for too long and I interrupt him after about 30 minutes - I tell him to play with his Legos and that is a good diversion for him.

[kiwik]

I'm not sure you can cause deformation of the lens by reading though you can get sore eyes and headaches. I suppose you can do everything too much but reading would be one of the better things to do too much.

[Jennifer N.]

I know this is an old post but I was scrolling through some older topics...

 

I am super nearsighted (8.5 contact power) and have worn glasses/contacts since 4th grade. About two years ago, my optometrist and I were talking about my high powered lenses for some reason and somehow it came up that when I was younger, I would stay up past my bedtime to read books under the covers with a flashlight. He told me that reading in dim light like that forced my eyes to maladapt and change shape. He said in his experience people with vision like mine usually turn out to have read a lot in childhood (and sometimes stayed up with flashlights).

 

I know it sounds like an old wives' tale but this man has been a great eye doctor for me. Anyhow since then I have made sure my kids have good light to read in and I give them extra time in the late evenings to read before bed, hoping to cut down on any flashlight reading. It helps that they like to go to bed listening to books on cd. So they still get story but no eye strain.

[Jennifer N.]

Interesting video!  I don't know if my kids stand a chance of not being nearsighted at all but I would love if they weren't quite so nearsighted as me.  I really need 8.75 power contacts but there are not enough people at my degree of nearsightedness to make it worth the manufacturers making such lenses.  It's either 8.5 or 9.0 (usually contact lenses are in .25 increments).  My eyesight stabilized around late 20's, early 30's as mentioned in the video and what a relief, I wondered how far could I really go.  Sometimes I wish it'd go a tick worse so I could wear those 9.0 lenses. 

 

I am going to look and see what else that Mayo report says (mentioned in the video).  Any little extra help I can give my kids... 

[Jennifer N.]

It was Mainz, not Mayo.  As in Germany.  I found several online articles.  But I can't seem to paste any links here.  I just googled "mainz myopia and level of education."  This info was just put out this summer.

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Well, as a child that read by flashlight or even nightlight and a couple of times by moonlight, I can say I definitely have vision problems now and felt a lot of strain as a kid, but no clue if that was part of the cause.   But I LOVED reading.  I hated to stop.  I totally get being obsessed with reading.  :)

[IsabelC]

Hmmm, I am moderately nearsighted and spent quite a bit of time on illicit reading by dim flashlight as a child. 

 

Still, I'm not sure I can quite bring myself to actually limit reading. I'd probably handle it the other way around, by pushing other activities. Certainly my biggest bookworm is also the only one of my kids who needs to be encouraged to go outside and be active.

[Jennifer N.]

I agree, Isabel. I don't limit reading but they do have to go outside and get fresh air everyday. I do limit tv watching/screen time. Something I read last night mentioned both reading and tv watching as "near work" that might affect eyesight. Also computers. Now that I think about it, my children might read as much as I did but they do not watch as much tv. I was pretty much left to my own devices when younger and for all the hours I spent reading, I'm afraid I watched nearly equal amounts of TV. Especially in the summer.

[mathnerd]

He told me that reading in dim light like that forced my eyes to maladapt and change shape. He said in his experience people with vision like mine usually turn out to have read a lot in childhood (and sometimes stayed up with flashlights).

 

 

This is completely true in my case and I agree with this. I am the only person who wore glasses in my entire extended family. I read a lot (night and day) as a child. I still do. I still wear glasses.

 

I restrict my son's reading - I set the timer for 45 minutes and he has to play with his toys or go outside after that. I may let him read again for 45 minutes later on in the day - but that is all he gets in a day. I do not want him to start wearing glasses like I did. I buy him a lot of audiobooks and read aloud to him to make up for the time restrictions. Left to himself, he might read all day and night.

[Arcadia]

He told me that reading in dim light like that forced my eyes to maladapt and change shape. He said in his experience people with vision like mine usually turn out to have read a lot in childhood (and sometimes stayed up with flashlights).

I read way past midnight and sometimes all night long as a child. My parents let me read in the living room which has the bright daylight fluorescent light until I am too tired to keep awake. I slept in the living room sofa sometimes.

 

Taking breaks from reading and midnight snacks does help, as well as good lighting. My shortsightedness is very mild. My kid who can read all night did not have any increase in nearsightedness year on year.