Why is it so important to make sure your child has good eyesight?
In almost everything we do, we need our eyes, if we want to ride a bicycle, color, do homework, play with friends, learn, read a book and see the colorful pictures.
80% of what we learn is from what we see. We as parents tell our children: this is a toy, or that is a tree. They might see the tree, but can they see the leaves? If your child cannot see clearly, they learn what the object is even when it is blurry, because that is what they were taught, they do not know it is supposed to be clear, crisp and colorful.
Our quality of vision determines our quality of life. If our children cannot see clearly it will affect their schoolwork, confidence, and performance whether in the classroom or on the sports field. We often say, you cannot miss something you never had… but is this true about our eyesight? We only realize how important it is if we lose it.
With an uncorrected prescription and eye strain, your child might:
• struggle to concentrate,
• end up with headaches,
• become irritable and fatigued,
• skip lines when reading and
• fall behind with their schoolwork.
They might have distorted vision, vision that blur at near, or at far or at all distances.
If one eye does not see as clear as the other, especially during the developing years, that eye might end up with poor uncorrected vision, affecting depth perception and binocularity.
Visual problems in children need to be addressed early on to ensure they have clear comfortable vision in both eyes. Therefore, it is so important to make sure your child can see clearly and comfortably.
It is of such importance to create good habits from an early age, looking after our eyes mean we need to follow a good balanced diet, take omega 3, drink enough water, remember to blink, play outside, limit the time on digital devices and take regular breaks from all near tasks.
Taking care of your family’s eyes
Marléne Pretorius
P.S Keep an eye out for our next blog about DRY EYES
