It can be a daunting thing when your child needs correctional lenses for a vision problem. Most children start out with the typical pair of glasses and then work their way up to contact lenses when they are ready for them. But how do you know if your child is ready for contact lenses? Here are a few tips on deciding if you should spend the money on contact lenses for your child or if you should wait a little longer before jumping into that expense.
Is Your Child Asking For Contacts- If your child isn’t asking for contact lenses then it’s probably not the best time to buy contacts for them. A child, especially under the age of thirteen, really has to want to wear contacts before they are ready for them. Many younger children are frightened by the idea of sticking a contact lense onto their eyeballs. So if your child isn’t asking for contacts, don’t worry about buying them.
Does Your Child Take Care of Their Glasses- Since glasses are the normal first step in vision correction lenses it is important that your child takes good care of them before considering contact lenses. Eye glasses don’t take as much work to care for as contact lenses do. Therefore, you will want to make sure that your child is ready to take on the extra care that contact lenses require. If you are having to clean the eye glasses and make sure that your child does not sit on them then it may not be the right time for contact lenses.
Is Your Child Responsible- Responsibility is an important part when considering contact lenses for your child. Your child will need to be able to take care of their new contacts and pay close attention to details. Years ago, before disposable contacts, if you lost a contact lense it could take days and a lot of money to replace it. Now in this day of disposable EVERYTHING it is much easier and cheaper to replace a lost contact but it is still a good idea that your child understands that a lost contact is still lost money, even if they have a box of contacts sitting in the medicine cabinet. Being responsible will also help to make sure that your child will keep their contacts clean, replace them periodically as directed by their doctor and will follow all maintainence schedules for their contacts to insure that their eyes are safe and can see at their best.
Is Your Child Mature- Your child’s maturity level will also help determine whether or not they are ready to wear contact lenses. Maturity is not a matter of age in most cases. I’ve seen ten year olds that are more mature than a fifteen year old. It all depends solely on your child. The maturity of your child will help determine whether or not they will listen to doctor’s instruction and if they will take good care of their contact lenses and ultimately their very own eyesight.
Does Your Child’s Doctor Approve- Before you decide that you want your child to wear contact lenses you may want to check with your child’s doctor. Some vision problems can not be corrected with contact lenses so if your child has some major vision problems it is best to ask their doctor about contact lenses first, before getting your child excited about them. Contact lenses are improving every year, one vision problem that may not work with contacts today could possible be fine with contacts in the years to come. For example, people with an astigmatism use to be told that they could not wear contact lenses. Well, now there are special contacts made just for those people with an astigmatism. Times change, research improves and new technology is developed everyday.
These are just a few ways to be assured that your child is old enough and ready to wear contact lenses. Each child is different and will mature at a different rate so only you can decide if it’s the right time for you to jump into the cost of contact lenses. If you wear contacts then your child already has a head start just by watching you take care of your contacts. So be a good example and help them understand that contact lenses are a privilege not a right.
