Yes, I wore Ralphie-type glasses
When I was growing up, right around the age of three, my mother took me to this weird place where an old, crusty doctor looked into my eyes, had some funky gadgets and said to mom dukes, “Yea, he’s gonna need glasses.”
From the age of three to about when I was about 14, I wore glasses everyday, all day, with the exception of showering, sleeping and swimming.
Back in the days, it wasn’t fashionable to rock glasses. In fact, all the harsh names that are in the peer teasing book were thrown at me: four eyes, coke bottles, nerd, etc. Eventually, I learned to tune out the morons and focus on school work and sports (and no, I didn’t rock the Kurt Rambis goggles).
Eventually, my bad eye (right eye) corrected to the point where the prescription for the glasses was just about as useful as glasses with no prescription — thus, no more glasses.
Fast forward to yesterday when I picked up my oldest daughter’s first pair of glasses. She was excited beyond belief and couldn’t wait to throw those bad boys on.
Once she put them on, I instantly flashed back to my early glasses-wearing days. I thought about her being teased in school, ridiculed about being a “nerd”, wearing coke bottles, etc. Then I thought about all the people I know in my life that wear glasses and how they have become a fashion statement. I mean, it’s actually cool to wear glasses. In fact, the glasses she picked out are sort of edgy, cool and very stylish. Back in the days, I rocked the classic Ralphie from A Christmas Story glasses.
As my anxiety about her being a target at school decreased, the more comfortable I felt about her wearing glasses.
So, this morning, she gets up, grabs her glasses and puts them on like she’s been wearing them all her life. She turns to me and says, “Daddy, I’m so excited to show everyone my glasses.”
Man, how times have changed.
My son needed glasses from about age 5 – 12, starting around 2001. I don't remember any kid ever saying a word to him about it. Adults though, were a whole different story. We were frequently accosted in restaurant waiting areas and other similar places by adults telling us that he was too young for glasses and that we were ruining his self esteem. I guess they would have rather he lost all sight in one eye, which would have been the end result if we had caught the problems 2 years later. Instead, he'll probably have fighter pilot vision for life.
Yep, it's good to catch 'em early.
I started to wear contacts when I turned 24, but for 20 (LONG) years I wore glasses. I often times tried to hide them at school or at home b/c it wasnt 'cool' to wear them. My very first pair took the cake though – hot pink plastic frames with hearts on each from corner. The hearts were complete with arrows seemingly shot through them.
Awesome.
I think Ill stick to contacts for now.