By Deirdre Carroll: SENIOR EDITOR
WHO: Any Timmy, Joey or Susie of school age
designation. Playground lasses and recess roughhousers. Pee Wee League
All-Stars and benchwarmers or Pop Warner QBs and water boys. Any squirt,
smallfry, anklebiter or whippersnapper whose favorite subject at school
is Recess.
WHAT: Thanks to the American Optometric Association
(AOA) and Prevent Blindness America most of us know that kids need to
begin getting their eyesight checked at a young age. But just outfitting
a kid in glasses is not the end of the process. Just like adults, kids
need eyewear that is appropriate for every aspect of their lives.
Reading the blackboard and reading the catcher’s signals require two
different types of specs and there are more brands designing children’s
frames with the same kinds of performance features available in their
fully grown counterparts.
WEAR: (Clockwise from top) If you’re dealing with a
kid that is more “hang ten” than “first-down” then the Quiksilver QO3320
from A&A Optical is just the thing, brah; the blue metal front is
paired with some righteous bright blue and white temples accented with
the brand’s signature curl logo. Little girls are more active than ever
and now they have some fashionable performance eyewear to prove it. The
Liberty Sport Icarus Heart Morpheus frame from their F8 Street Series
fuses performance and street art with hot graphics, flexible rubberized
temples and a no-slip rubber bridge/nose pad combo in an Rx-able frame
fun for organized or extreme sports. If getting a kid to change their
glasses for recess sounds good in theory and fails in practical
application then that kid needs a frame that does double duty. Enter the
X-Games Blading from Marchon; the studious rectangular front masks a
super durable Flexon bridge, while the spring hinges guarantee a
comfortable fit and the racing stripes ensure a nice degree of sportif.
Even kids who don’t need vision correction need protection; parent’s
best chance at making this happen is cool sunglasses. The Bolle Breezy
not only comes in a super cool acid green color but features a wrap
style that shields the sun from all directions.
WHY: Eighty percent of everything a child learns in
their first 12 years comes through the eyes and according to an AOA
survey of K-12 teachers, 81 percent believe that vision and learning are
interdependent. Additionally, thanks to thinner, more transparent
ocular lenses most kids are more susceptible to retinal exposure and
damage than adults. Given all this, it’s pretty clear that ALL kids need
some sort of eyewear; in fact most probably need several different
types. Discuss this information with the parents’ of your young patients
and ask about their extracurricular activities when discussing frame
options. Have a few of these styles on hand and discuss UV protection
and the benefit of performance features.
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dcarroll@jobson.com