Eye Health for Your Kids is Worth Remembering in August!
While circumstances are rapidly changing for parents as to when and how their kids will be going back to school due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one area of children’s health that should not be ignored is their eyes.
As America Recognizes Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month, now is the time to get your children’s eyes checked before school starts up again – or at least before they get too far into the new school year, depending on where you live. To help parents keep their children’s eyes healthy, The American Optometric Association (AOA) has established several helpful guidelines and signs to look for to determine vision problems:
- An infant’s first comprehensive eye exam should be when they are about 6 months old.
- The second exam should be at age 3.
- The next eye exam should be at age 5 or 6, before the child enters either kindergarten or first grade.
- Eye exams should then take place every two years after the pre-kindergarten/first grade exam.
In between these scheduled eye exams, parents should monitor children for potential vision problems, including:
- Frequently rubbing eyes
- Squinting to focus on objects
- Holding reading materials close to the face
- Frequent blinking
- Tilting or turning their head to look at objects
- Wandering eyes, especially when talking directly to someone else
- Covering one eye
- Disinterest in reading or even looking at objects from a distance
If you notice one or more of these signs, schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist or optometrist soon.
