So, I found out today...

[Lori C- Texas]

That two of my kids need glasses. The doctor said that my ds7's eyes are so bad he is surprised that he learned to read. How in the heck did I miss this? He is also going to have to go to a specialist tomorrow to see if he will need vision therapy! This boy can read way above his age level and play any video game you put in front of him. He hates to read and will not pick up a book unless I force him and he can't write on a line to save his life but I just thought this was just him being stubborn. I love him with all of my heart and he is a wonderful kid but he is the most stubborn person I have ever met!:) Never once has he complained of headaches. I have never seen him squint.

 

I am just feeling some major mommy guilt today!

[Colleen in NS]

That two of my kids need glasses. The doctor said that my ds7's eyes are so bad he is surprised that he learned to read. How in the heck did I miss this?

 

I am just feeling some major mommy guilt today!

 

BTDT! Same age with my son, too, and he also is a good reader. I felt so guilty when the eye doctor told me he needed a pretty strong prescription.

 

The day we picked up his glasses, he put them on in the store, and started exclaiming VERY LOUDLY about everything he could see now!!!!! I was alternately laughing with joy and cringing my way through the mall with him. He was reading signs far away and I had had no idea that he couldn't see them. And of course, he didn't know what he was missing.

 

If it makes you feel any better, this same son, three years later, forgets to put his glasses on half the time and couldn't care less now about what he's missing. :lol:

[Veritaserum]

My younger brother had trouble learning to read. Turned out he had double vision. When he got his glasses he exclaimed excitedly, "Wow. Now I only see one of everything!"

 

Let go of the guilt. At least you know now. :) Also, I've purchased my last several pairs of glasses from zennioptical.com. Prices start at around $8 with prescription lenses. I found that site after my then-2-yo broke two brand new pairs of glasses within a couple of weeks.

[sassenach]

BTDT!! We found out at dd's well check that she can't see squat. I had NO idea. She is near sighted, so I chalked it up to the fact that she never has to read from across a room. Still, it sure feels uncomfortable when your kid can't read the second line on the chart and the nurse is looking at me like I have 2 heads!

[dawn of ns]

We discovered my daughter's vision was horrible when she was 5. I felt guilty at first but you know what? She was still a bright happy kid. Just one that thought eveything should look fuzzy. She wasn't missing anything. She just gained something when she got her glasses.

[Blessedfamily]

We just went through this with my daughter. She just thought the way she was seeing things was normal.

 

Her presciption was much stronger than I thought it would be. I was very sad, but then decided I should be grateful it wasn't something else.

[athena1277]

First of all :grouphug: to you. It's always hard when you discover something like that about your dc.

 

We discovered when dd was 5 that she had a lazy eye. In her bad eye she could only see the biggest pic on the chart. It really freaked her out when she couldn't see the next line. She now has glasses and has been wearing a patch for over 6 months. Thankfully she is improving and with hs'ing, she hasn't had to deal with teasing. Her friends all accept it as normal.

 

Then we took ds to the eye dr at about 1yo and found out that he is severly farsighted. That was harder to deal with than dd, because he was still a baby. I still hate to put glasses on his little face, but he must notice a difference because he wears them without problem (until he breaks them :glare:)

 

I hope you overcome your guilt soon. Be glad that you caught it when you did and can help him to overcome the difficulties he has encountered because of it.

[Rose in BC]

When I took my kids for their first check up at 8ish I leaned over and told the receptionist to warn the optometrist that my daughter may try and fake needing glasses because her best friend just got a pair. Imagine my horror when the optometrist told me she need a prescription stronger than mine (and I'm very, very near sighted so I have a strong prescription).

 

Yeah, I accuse my kid of faking it and she's so near sighted that the optometrists only explanation for her success in life to that point in time was that she was homeschooled which eliminated that need for her to see a board, etc.

 

I felt awful for a long, long time after that.

[Cindyg]

My ds got glasses at age 8. No biggie. Oh, and he was an early, natural reader and remains an avid reader.

 

How did you miss it? It's possible she didn't need them a year ago. Kids eyes change as they grow.

[Starr]

I think it's more noticeable when they are in a school room , sit in the back and have to read the board. I missed my daughters eye changes. One day when she was turning 8 she said "I can't read that sign". It was in the snack bar at an airport. I told her she was tired. :lol: Wrong again.

[LG Gone Wild]

That two of my kids need glasses. The doctor said that my ds7's eyes are so bad he is surprised that he learned to read.

 

 

I am just feeling some major mommy guilt today!

 

That is so funny. I am sure you are feeling like a heel but hey, you managed to get him to read well despite his vision problems.

 

You are doing okay, mom.

[Amber in AUS]

BTDT but when DD was smaller. We had no idea she had a problem but her 3 year old health check up revealed she couldn't see anything much. She has a VERY strong prescription for long sightedness and has to be patched daily which she hates.

 

Well done for getting him reading etc. You wait to see how he comes on with his glasses although his brain may take sometime adjusting initially.

[iamrachelle]

First of all :grouphug: to you both. My DS (age 5) started wearing glasses about 6 months ago... we walked out of the doctor's office and the first thing he said was, "Mommy, what is that on the trees?" Took me a couple of minutes to figure out he had never seen leaves before. :001_smile:

[Lori C- Texas]

I really thought dd11 wasn't going to need glasses. We took her to the eye doctor when she was 7. She was in ps at the time and had the teacher and school nurse convinced she needed glasses. So, we took her. When the exam was over the doctor told me "She wants glasses, but she doesn't need glasses". So, when she started complaining about headaches and her eyes being blurry again about a month ago I just thought "here we go again!" but she needs glasses!

 

Ds7 just hates to read. So, I figured since I was taking dd11 in I would take him along just to know for sure there was nothing wrong with his eyes before I MADE him read! Come to find out he needs vision therapy and a strong prescription for being farsighted. I truly thought he was just stubborn. This is the child that refused to try whipped cream!! But once he tasted it he loved it! That is just one example of how stubborn and picky this boy can be. He is so smart. I can not wait till he gets his glasses! He is going to just do even better at his school work.

 

Thanks you all for the encouragement!

[Garga]

The regular doc said my ds6 didn't pass the vision test they give and recommended we go to an optometrist.

 

The optometrist said that his vision was mostly good, where he was on the borderline to needing glasses, but not quite.

 

THEN, the optometrist said that in young kids, their vision can change practically overnight. He told me to keep a sharp eye out. Ds's vision was fine now, but in a couple of months, it could be awful, you just never know.

 

It could be that your kid's vision was ok for a loooong time, and then changed for the worst very quickly.

[Eleni]

I STILL remember when I got glasses! I was 8...and could never read the board at school. Dad took me in and found out i needed glasses, and WOW was that the coolest thing ever with what I was able to see with them!

[Pretty in Pink]

(((Lori)))

 

The same thing happened w/ my ds last fall. One day a co-op instructor mentioned that ds seemed to be having trouble reading the blackboard. Well, one of his buddies had just recently gotten glasses and my ds had been commenting frequently about how *cool* they were. I just figured he was goofing off because he wanted glasses, too. I waited several weeks to book an eye exam for him.

 

Imagine my surprise when the optometrist came out and said he needed glasses. That he needed to be wearing them *all the time.* I felt about two inches tall.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

:grouphug:

 

Don't kick yourself too much, though. Your son may be seeing better than the eye doctor can tell. I have some wacky eyes and the eye doctor told me this past week that he's amazed that I see as well as I do, that I don't have constant headaches, double vision, etc. The funny thing is that I function just fine without my glasses/contact and when I do wear them, it's more like *icing on the cake* than *absolutely necessary*.

[Kari C in SC]

I think it is pretty common to just now know. I know I didn't have a clue about kids. My really good friend is beating herself up over now knowing her 6 year old dd's eyes were really struggling. Kids just don't realize they see differently and so they don't tell us. Don't be too hard on yourself! You are a good mom!