If you are old enough, think back to 1996 when the movie Jerry Maguire came out. Do you remember how cute the little boy with the glasses was? It made me want to have a kid someday that needed glasses. Fast forward twenty years later (ouch, moments like that really make me feel old) when I was told that my kindergartner needed glasses.
In addition to the Jerry Maguire kid popping into my head, at the front of my mind was good ol’ mom guilt. I shamed myself for not realizing my son was struggling with his vision. I honestly had never noticed. Each year at his well child exam, they did a quick eye exam and he was always able to recognize the shapes or letters or whatever they use in those office visits.
When my son came home from school early on in his kindergarten year with a slip of paper referring him to see an eye specialist, I was confused. I actually assumed he had the wrong kid’s paper in his backpack. But sure enough, his name was on it. In true overbearing mom fashion, I also called the school – you know, just to triple check.
It turned out the school had done an eye exam and noticed he was struggling a bit, even though a couple of months prior he’d had his well child check-up and it wasn’t detected. Turns out his vision is perfect in one eye and not so much in the other so he was likely over-using his “good eye”.
August is National Eye Exam Month. I encourage all moms to get your kids a thorough eye exam. One thing that routine vision checks don’t check is the health of the eye. I never thought about this until my son went to see an actual eye doctor.
I know all insurance varies but mine covered the exam 100% along with most of the cost of the glasses. Including a free replacement pair, which you know is going to be needed given that he is a six year-old crazy boy.
I had to get over my mom guilt for not catching it myself. It turns out that 1 out of 4 children has a vision problem! I am honestly just glad that we caught it early since it can lead to learning and reading difficulties. And, it turns out that having glasses in Kindergarten makes you super cool. Who knew?!
I think he is officially even cuter than the Jerry Maguire kid.
Happy National Eye Exam Month!
