Top Ways Parents Can Teach Their Children About the Importance of Good Eyesight

Top Ways Parents Can Teach Their Children About the Importance of Good Eyesight

Good eyesight is a fundamental part of a happy lifestyle. If you don’t have good eyesight then you may not be able to participate in certain sports, read books, and even work. Unless your child has a degenerative condition or your family has a history of sight loss, then they will be able to protect their eyes for many years by developing good habits from a young age. Drilling the importance of good eyesight into your child’s mind is more relevant today than ever before, with the rise of smartphones and electronic devices becoming more common. Long periods using these devices can result in eye issues.

This post will tell you how you can teach your child about the importance of good eyesight:

• Protective Eyewear

One of the best things that you can do as a parent regarding your children’s eyes is to teach them the importance of wearing protective eyewear. This is especially important if they have pale-colored eyes because scientific studies show that those with blue, grey, or green eyes are worse at dealing with bright lights than people with darker eyes are. When your children are using computers, make sure that they wear blue light glasses, because prolonged periods of blue light exposure can result in eye fatigue and migraines. Also, when your children are outdoors on sunny days, make sure that they wear sunglasses.

• Eating Healthily

A healthy diet doesn’t just reduce the chances of your children developing diseases like diabetes or heart disease, it also protects their eyes. There are certain foods like carrots and grapes, for example, that bolster eye health. Diseases like diabetes can cause blindness if they are allowed to go unchecked. Diabetes can be hereditary, but it’s unlikely your children will develop the symptoms of it even if it is, as long as they eat healthily. Diabetes is more often caused by a diet that’s rich in sugary and starchy foods. Healthy eating can protect your children’s eyes well into adulthood.

• Regular Exercise

A healthy diet alone isn’t enough to protect your children’s eyes. Exercise is also very important. The type and style of exercise that you should encourage your children to participate in depends largely upon what they enjoy doing. Do not force your child into any activities or forms of exercise that you enjoy, because this can result in them resenting you (and the exercise that you are encouraging). Tell them about the importance of exercise and help them to find something that they enjoy, but do not force them to do anything that they do not want to do.

• No Smoking

Smoking is a habit that’s usually picked up young. Unfortunately, it causes a lot of damage to your eyes (and your body). People who smoke are significantly more likely to die young than people that do not. If you want to protect your children’s health, then you need to stress the importance of never smoking. Additionally, you shouldn’t smoke yourself. When children see their parents smoking, they are far more likely to take up smoking themselves. As a parent, you need to lead by example. Smoking will ruin your children’s health and life, so do your best to prevent them from doing it.

• Vision Awareness

You need to make sure that you teach your children about the importance of visual awareness. If they notice any abnormalities with their vision, then they need to go and see an optician. Some people ignore eye problems for too long, which later results in them completely losing their eyesight. Teaching your children to be aware of their vision will prevent this from happening to them. Make sure that your children go and see an optician if they ever notice any disturbances with their vision or changes that they haven’t noticed before. Sudden changes could be a symptom of retinal detachment, which could result in blindness.

• Annual Check-ups

One last thing to make sure that you teach your children is the importance of attending regular check-ups with their opticians. Most people only need to go once a year, though if your child has any underlying problems with their eyes, then they may need to go in and see the optician twice a year. Check-ups will identify any problems with your children’s eyes (or conversely, give them a clean bill of health). In most countries, people are entitled to one free annual check-up, so as your children get older, they don’t need to avoid the opticians out of fear of losing money.

If you want your children to have good eyesight well into old age, then you need to start teaching them the importance of good eyesight and eye care from when they are little. If you do not teach them about the importance of eye care, then who else will?

Author: Allen Brown.