Sometimes things happen at just the right time.
Like when Tracey was briefly single at the same time she tried to set me up with a friend of hers which resulted in a wave of anxiety about ‘what if they get together’ and the realisation she couldn’t live without me.
This isn’t as life changing as that, but it still is a lovely little happenstance. Our fourteen year old daughter was telling us she thought she needed new glasses right when I was contacted about an opportunity to check out the latest thing in adaptive lenses for kids with a view to doing a post.
Sweet.
So I asked Miss14 if she was interested. Over my shoulder. In our motorhome.
Big mistake.
Big, BIG mistake.
“I WANT GLASSES TOO!” screamed Miss8 before her big sister could answer.
There was an eruption of noise as kids tossed aside whatever they were doing and jumped out of seats and bunks, and soon they were all hounding me.
And not just verbally. A set of hands were sticking their grubby fingers through my hair and into my ears, eyes and nostrils.
“Is that you, Dad?” Miss11 asked as she continued to prod and peer somewhere into the middle distance over my shoulder. “I can’t tell because you’re all blurry.”
Now I have a bus with four extremely put out children because they weren’t allowed to have glasses too.
When did this change? When I was at school no-one wanted glasses. We wanted hair gel and LOTS of it. Now glasses are as much a fashion accessory as they are a necessity. One really has to say well done to the industry for turning this around.
I just wish they’d done it while I was a kid.
So Miss14 and I snuck out to the optometrists for an eye test and to find out what we could about these Transitions® For Kids lenses.
To me a lens is a lens. These go dark when outside, like sunglasses, was all I knew about them.
I confess I had no idea until I asked Laura, the lovely optometrist who looked after Miss14, to explain things to me. She popped off and returned with three pairs of glasses. Placing them so we could see the reflection of the ceiling light it was easy to see one had a purple reflection and one a green. Then she showed us the third pair.
“These are the Transitions,” she said. The refection was simply the white of the light.
And even as I’m writing this post I’m pulling out my own pairs of glasses and noticing they have the green reflection.
What does this mean in layman’s terms? No idea. But Laura seemed to think it was really important and she’s the expert.
The main things for me are how good they are at helping her to see and will they survive being dropped.
The additional stuff I didn’t think to enquire about, but which sure sound important now they’ve been brought to my attention, are things like reducing eye fatigue and eye strain, and protecting my daughter’s eyes from glare and UV damage and the ‘blue light’ from digital devices every day.
Which, given the hours my kids put into their iPads and iPhones makes me wonder if maybe the rest of our mob do need glasses. Or will soon.
Picking the right glasses might not be as life changing as picking the right life partner – like I assure Tracey she absolutely did – but it is super important to look after our kids’ eyes since they’ll need them for only the rest of their lives.
All that being said, obviously no matter how fashionable they are these days glasses aren’t something you pick up for no reason. But when the time comes for your kid to pick up a new pair it would be worth considering and asking about the very latest in versatile, durable and protective lenses for your munchkin – Transitions® for Kids.
Just don’t announce it in front of any children who don’t wear glasses or, like me, you might end up with ears ringing from screaming and fingers up your nose.
Raising a family on little more than laughs
This post is sponsored by Essilor’s Transitions® for Kids