When we signed up Joey for soccer, Dr. T suggested we get protective eye-wear to protect his good eye. I went to Lenscrafters and all they had in the way of sports glasses were something called "Rec Specs". They were big bulky frames attached to a strap. If the strap was not tight enough, the glasses would move around his face. But when it was put tight enough, the frames left an imprint on his face. Because the frames were so large, it seemed as if they blocked his side vision. Of course, we wanted to protect his eyes, and we figured the sooner he got in the habit of wearing them, the better. We called them "Sports Goggles", so he'd feel like he was wearing athletic gear. At soccer practice, we would let him warm up without the glasses, but when the teams played together, he'd have to put them on. It soon it became a routine.
When I saw my little boy running around the field with these bulky tight glasses on, I had to wonder why they dont make more comfy sports glasses for kids. Like wrap-around types that adults wear, except smaller. Surely someone could offer kids something better than thick rubbery frames!?
Before I had gone to Lenscrafters, I had called around to all the sporting good stores asking if they had protective eye-wear for kids and they all said no. But one day, I was browsing around Sports Chalet, and just for kicks went to see if there was any eyewear in the baseball section. Well, I happened to find a whole rack of glasses in the raquetball section. They were made for adults, but when I tried them on Joey, some of them actually fit pretty good. They were lighter and more comfortable. And they were priced at $10-$25! (I paid $129 for the RecSpecs from Lenscrafters). I was so excited! We didnt buy any that day because he wasn't doing sports at the time, but now I know where to go when we need some!
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My doc tried from the very first time we saw him, when I was maybe two years old, to get me to wear protective polycarbonate lenses all the time and to wear heavy-duty goggles for sports. My parents never forced the glasses or goggles on me when I was little, and by the time I was six or seven and playing lots of sports, I was unbelievably stubborn about not wanting any glasses. I would take goggles to soccer practices and to basketball, hide them in my bag while I played, and then lie to my dad about having worn them when he'd question me later. It's amazing how strong the desire to fit in socially can be in kids, particularly from about the fourth grade through college age. I'm thirty now, and I'm just now clueing in to the necessity of really protecting my good eye. I hope you have better luck getting your son to take care of his good eye than my folks did. This is an area where parents clearly know best--all kids think they're invincible and have no real concept that they could lose their vision permanently at any moment from a flying object or any other of an infinite number of freak accidents. Kids have no real idea of what trying to live with no vision would be like, and they'll never think it will happen to them. I still don't at some level, even though rationally I know that it's absurd.
I came across your site when googling "Recs Specs" after my son's eye doctor recommended them. After reading your post, I went to the Sports Chalet site and bought some inexpensive ones. Thanks for the tip!
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