3 Surefire Ways To Ease Kids' Fears About Getting Glasses For The First Time

Health & Medical Blog

Going to get glasses for the first time can be a bit nerve-wracking for anybody, but children may get especially anxious about this milestone. Take action early on to help alleviate your child's fears and concerns about getting glasses. By showing respect for their feelings in this way, you can ensure that they have a positive view of themselves and a good perception of their need to wear glasses.

Give Your Child a Sense of Control

Sometimes kids get anxious because there is a limited amount of things that are truly within their control. By giving them control of certain aspects of getting glasses, you are empowering them to feel good about this change. Allow them to have control in the following ways:

• Allow your child to try on as many pairs of glasses as they like at an optical store, such as AICO Optical. Seeing themselves from many perspectives can help them feel like it's a fun new fashion accessory.
• Let your child choose their own eyeglasses as long as they are within the budget you've set.
• Give your child alternatives for eyeglasses in coming years if they don't like them. For example, you may say that they can try contacts in a year (or another period of time) if they end up disliking the glasses.

Talk about Fiction with Protagonists who Sport Glasses

People have been wearing glasses in fiction for a very long time. If your child is nervous about wearing glasses, you may watch a movie or television show where the lead character has to get glasses. Alternately, you may also choose to read a book with a glasses-wearing protagonist. Here are some of the famous fictional kids who sported glasses:

• Harry Potter (of course of the famous "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" book and film series)
• Clark Kent ("Superman")
• Stephanie Tanner ("Full House")
• Velma ("Scooby Doo")
• Jan Brady ("The Brady Bunch")
• Napoleon Dynamite ("Napoleon Dynamite")

Play out the Worst Case Scenarios and Think of Solutions

If your child remains anxious about getting glasses after you have tried other methods to reassure them, be sure to address their specific fears. If their mind keeps going to extremely dire what-if scenarios, talk them out to their conclusion. Here are some examples:

• If your child thinks that they are going to be mocked mercilessly in school, talk about what they should do if they are mocked. Be sure to know what they are allowed to say in response to teasing, who they should turn to if they are bullied, and how they can cope with the pain that would come from being mocked.
• Another concern a child may have is that wearing glasses will make them "uncool". Talk about what being "cool" really means to you and point out all the ways that your child is a cool person. You may also want to point at cool celebrities who wear glasses, such as Demi Lovato, Kate Winslet, and Selena Gomez, as well as cool fiction characters as was mentioned before.

Finally, keep in mind that you are going to set the tone for how your child deals with the situation. As long as you treat it as a positive opportunity to solve a problem, your child is likely to approach it with a more positive attitude as well. Talk it out, and your child can soon be wearing their new glasses with pride.

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24 May 2016