Your children’s eyesight is likely to be hugely important throughout their lives. As a parent, therefore, you want to do what you can to protect it. Here are some tips to help.
How To Care For Your Children’s Eyesight
Forget carrots but remember vitamins
There is some truth in the saying that carrots will help to improve your eyesight. Carrots do contain a lot of Vitamin A and Vitamin A does play an important role in vision. That said, there are lots of other sources of Vitamin A. There are also lots of other aspects to vision.
In short, therefore, don’t get too hung up on getting your children to eat their carrots. Just focus on giving them a healthy, balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables. If your children are really picky eaters, then you might want to look at a vitamin supplement.
Make sure they see an optometrist regularly
It’s usually pretty straightforward to monitor a child’s overall health. You can watch their behaviour, check their appetite and take their temperature. Monitoring a child’s eye health, by contrast, is a lot more challenging. That’s why professional optometrists have years of training and specialist equipment.
Your child’s eye health is so important, it really is worth checking the internet for the best optometrist you can find in your area. Then commit to taking your child for regular check-ups. Probably, you’ll just be told that everything’s fine. If, however, there is a problem, then catching it early can make treatment a lot easier.
Understand the facts about screen time
In the context of eye care, there’s actually nothing particularly dangerous about screens themselves. If, however, you look at a screen for long periods, you may start to experience tiredness in your eyes. They may become dry or even strained. The closer you sit to the screen, the more powerful this effect can be.
With that said, sitting too close to a screen could potentially be harmful for other reasons. For example, if the screen also produces sound (e.g. a TV) then the excess sound might damage your child’s hearing. Also, spending long periods in front of a screen could lead to a child becoming over- or under-stimulated mentally and lead to them not getting enough exercise.
Invest in high-quality sunglasses
Sunglasses are often sold as fashion accessories but they should actually serve a very practical and important purpose. Sunlight can actually do a lot more damage to your children’s eyes than computer screens. That’s why children (and adults) need proper sunglasses with UV protection, not just “fun” ones.
The good news is that you can get high-quality, protective sunglasses at reasonable prices so you don’t have to be too upset if your children lose or break them. You can also put them on a cord or chain to make them harder to lose.
For completeness, you should discourage your children from looking directly at the sun even with sunglasses on. This can lead to serious and even permanent eye damage. Basically, think of the effect of sunburn. Then imagine that on your child’s eye.
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