Ok, let me start this off by saying I have two kids, a daughter age 5 and a son age 3. My daughter has been wearing glasses since she was 4, so it has been just over a year. I wear glasses and my husband also wears glasses. Needless to say, we are a glasses kind of family. I figured I would take my son into our optometrist around the time he turns 4, and at the same time I take my daughter in for her yearly eye exam.
Well today he said something... a little odd that makes me wonder if I shouldn't just go ahead and do it now. (This might get a little long winded sorry.) We have a neighbor who has a little boy who is 4 that my son plays with. I also walk to the school to drop off and pick up my daughter, and so does the other mom with her kids, and of course her 4 year old is with her. Well my son and I were waiting at the school for the kids to let out and I see our neighbor walking toward the school from a couple of blocks away, so I tell my son, "There is your friend! He will be over here in a couple of minutes!" So my son gets all excited and starts waving and shouting his name, and I tell him that they are still far away and I don't think he would be able to hear him just yet. Well they get a little closer, they were less than 50 yards away, and I tell my son to go ahead and shout hello, but my son turns to me and says, "No, he doesn't have a face yet. I'll wait." Meaning that he couldn't see the little boy’s features. I found that odd. First, because I could see the boys facial features, and second because the little boy wears a pair of bright blue glasses himself that are very noticeable, even from far away. It was a weird thing to say, but I am not sure how much stock to put in it. My kids are a bit on the creative/strange/weird/awesome side and sometimes say really off the wall things that pop into their heads.
So my question, would you go ahead and make an appointment for a 3 year old to have his eyes checked out, or would you wait until he was at least 4?
I just called my optometrist, right before the office closed. They said they take kids as young as 2. I went ahead and made him an appointment on the day I am supposed to go in, which is here soon. My husband is usually pretty reluctant to agree to doctors appointments. I am not sure why, but it's usually a battle. That was part of the reason I posted on here, if others agree with me, he will usually agree more easily.
I have astigmatism, so does my daughter, we are both far sighted as well. Hubby is very VERY nearsighted. I am sure my little guy has some sort of eye issue, just not sure what. And now that someone mentioned it, he is VERY clumsy! Then again so am I, so that might not have a whole lot to do with his vision, but it might.
EDIT: I guess I never thought to check, or ask, but my optometrist isn't an optometrist, he is an ophthalmologist. I guess I never looked up the difference between the two, and didn't pay close enough attention to the sign in his office. ha! ha!
I had the grand kids to the eye doc before 3 so I say he should go now. Why wait?
The tests they do are all easily done by even younger kids.
Definitely make an appointment. You should also see a pediatric ophthalmologist, not an optometrist. My son passed all the daycare, school and pediatrician eye exams but the ophthalmologist found he has astigmatism - the change with glasses was phenomenal - he was 4 at the time. He was really excited to get glasses because his best friend had them and we had no difficulty at all getting him to wear them.
I would take him in. I wish we'd taken our son that wears glasses in sooner. At first we thought it was just he was clumsy or not paying attention to what he was doing or where he was going. Then we thought it was just that he was too young to understand the eye exam they did at his yearly pediatrician checkup. Finally when he was 6 1/2 I think it was we had one of those maybe something is really wrong moments and his pediatrician referred us to the pediatric ophthalmologist. Of course he ended up needing glasses. Who knows how long before that he needed them. It put him behind in all of his school work because his "I can'ts" really were that he couldn't actually read the work. Because we waited so long (not on purpose of course!) we now can't move past that ingrained "I can't" attitude and he's about to turn 10 before the end of the year.
If you have any doubt, take him in to get checked now!
I would take him now. It won't hurt anything and it'd be good for him if you catch it early.
Definitely take him in. My youngest said something like that to me when she was 3, and although her pediatrician couldn't find anything wrong on the eye test that they had there in the pedi office, he went ahead and referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist. Turns out my daughter has an astigmatism, which can be tricky to diagnose, but the earlier you catch it, the better it can be managed. So I'm glad we took her in when she was very young. Especially since you all wear glasses in your family, the odds are that he needs them too.
It wouldn't hurt to take him in. He could be perfectly fine, but if he needs to start wearing glasses, then sooner is better.
If it runs in your family, I would go ahead and make the appointment. My sister's kids (2 & 3) have been wearing glasses since they were about 1. Hers was obvious though, her daughter started crossing her eyes and she knew she needed to take her in.
Today! I don't take his comment to be strange at all. He communicated this to you perfectly.
I would take him in as soon as possible. It sounds like he needs glasses and kids do not know when they aren't seeing what they are suppose to be able to see. (I realized my daughter needed glasses when she couldn't read the digital clock numbers.)
Call the optometrist and ask if its ok to wait or otherwise. I would not chuck this down as just being creative. I am nearsighted too (well actually now I need bifocals, bless my advancing age). And faces do get blurry when we take our glasses off.
Have him checked! I got glasses when I was 7, but my life probably would have been a lot easier if I had gotten them at 5!! The eye doc is the best one, they never hurt you, just ask a lot of questions :)
So glad to hear that you have decided to take him in.
It is one of those things with kids that, they don't know that what they are seeing (or rather, NOT seeing) isn't normal. It is all they know... so they can't say "gee mom... I can't see clearly" because they have nothing to compare it to. So consider it fortuitous that he made the comment about not being able to see his face yet.
:)
No real reason to wait. If you have an iPad you can download the eye chart and have him stand the recommended distance away and try it. Does he know his ABCs? If not there are other charts.
Yes, take him in now........
Wouldn't hurt, especially given family history.
I agree with taking him in. I didn't find out until my daughter was almost 4 that she couldn't see the very large letters on her preschool that we had been going to everyday for over a year. Once she got her glasses there were letters on buildings, leaves on trees, other details that I took for granted that she could see.
Also my daughter failed the eye part at her yearly exam when she was 3, but her doctor just thought she was playing around and didnt know all her letters.
DO NOT WAIT!!!! My daughter had glasses at 2. She was almost legally blind because her muscles were so poor and weak too. You need to get them to steer the. Their muscles to grow correctly while they are super you g. The longer us wait the less of a change u can fix and change the development. So many more reasons but please do not wait it will hurt him more in the long run.
Btw my daughter is not legally blind any ore because she got the glasses and hey eyes were able to mature correctly
Sounds nearsighted to me. We all have glasses in my house too.
yep, take him in
since our family is like yours, only my eyes are really messed up with crossing and such, we take our kids in yearly for checks until they got to school age when the school did yearly checks.
One of my daughters wears glasses, but not for sight. She has had two surgeries for strabismus and wears the glasses to keep the eye muscles trained in where they need to stay. She has always been clumsy and I just assumed that is was because of the strabismus effecting here while she was in the learning stages for balance.
I asked the Dr. and he assured me that her vision is completely normal and that the strabismus would not have given her problems with balance or clumsiness. She was evaluated this past summer by an occupational therapist and was found to have a visual processing disorder (among many other sensory processing disorders) Occupational therapy is helping to the point that it is obvious daily!
Might not be a vision thing, but just a thought...
