Dear Readers,
Many years ago a doctor at Boston Children’s Hospital told me that patching my son’s amblyopia (lazy) eye was showing to be ineffective. He highly suggested eye glasses for the rest of his life as a precaution to any unforeseen circumstances that may affect the eyesight in his good eye. What a hard time that boy gave me keeping those glasses on! It wasn’t until he reached his 20’s that HE decided it was a good idea to wear them for protection. I wish this group was around then. I could have used the support and suggestions!
Today I am talking with the creator of the Facebook group, Little Four Eyes – a group for parents of young children in glasses.
Please welcome Ann
My name is Ann Zawistoski, I’m a librarian at a small college. I live with my husband, our two daughters, and two cats in Minneapolis. I run the website Little Four Eyes and its related Facebook support group.
Please tell the readers a little about the group.
Little Four Eyes is an active and supportive group for parents of young children with vision issues. These are kids that need glasses or contacts or eye patches. The kids are usually between 0 and 6 years old, but there are members with older kids as well. The group has over 16,000 members and 8 admins.
What inspired you to create this group?
My oldest daughter needed glasses at 14 months old for crossed eyes due to farsightedness (accommodative esotropia). At the time, I didn’t know anyone with a young child in glasses and I really wanted to have other parents that I could talk to about the daily issues that go along with trying to keep glasses on a toddler’s face. I started the Little Four Eyes website as a place where parents could share stories and photos and tips and tricks, and shortly thereafter, started up the facebook group as a place where members could have more informal discussions.
What would you like this group to accomplish?
It can be really hard to learn that your child has a vision problem, and a lot of parents feel very alone (along with guilty and worried about how they’ll manage). I hope that the group can provide support for parents so that they know they’re not alone, and a place where they can turn for help and advice. I also hope that the group can help increase awareness around the importance of early detection and treatment of vision issues in young children.
Thank you Ann for this very unique and important Facebook group.
Click on the link to find this Facebook group – Little Four Eyes – a group for parents of young children in glasses
Click on the link to visit the website – Little Four Eyes
*This blog post is part of the Blogging From A-to-Z Challenge (2017).
*The Internet is a useful tool for creating online support groups. Please lend a helping hand by sharing this blog post in the hopes it reaches someone who may benefit from this group.
*If you are interested in sharing your Facebook group with my readers please email me at pluckingofmyheartstrings@gmail.com
Books About Children and Glasses
~Plucking Of My Heartstrings~ 
I’ve worn glasses most of my life –age 3 and on. When I was a kid, it seemed harder than today, because I think I was the only one in my class. Now, many children wear glasses and bullying and teasing because of it probably still exists,but Little Ray in Jerry Maguire made glasses cool. My grandson, age 7, loves wearing his 3D glasses–minus the lenses–and wants real ones. Go figure.
My son wears glasses that don’t have a prescription to protect his good eye. He gave me such problems growing up and all it took was some cute girl at the eye glass place to show him some awesome glasses that change to sun glasses when you go out in the sun and now he never goes without them.
My son loved his glasses, still does now. He also got to sport a nice eye patch for a while when he first started wearing them. I used to tell him he was going to make the best pirate ever.
You are lucky that your son loves his eyeglasses. I tried the pirate idea too but my son told me he didn’t want to be one…lol I’ve seen some pretty cute eye patches.
Surely a help and lifeline to many parents.
Perspectives at Life & Faith in Caneyhead
Parents can learn from each other. I wish there was a group like this when my son was growing up. Might have found a suggestion or two that would have helped make the situation a little easier.
Wonderful post!
When I came across this group I thought it was such a great idea! Thank you for visiting!
Your so welcome!
Now this would have been a useful group for me when my eldest was younger! She’s been wearing glasses since she was less than a year old. She also has a lazy eye. Patches for a bit and eye surgery just before she was 4. We also spent about 18 months chronically misplacing her glasses and they came home broken from school twice last year (in Grade 1). Sigh. She’s more responsible about them now that she’s seven – but it would have been nice to talk to others – particularly in the lead up to surgery.
I agree! My son didn’t want any part of his eye patch. He would wear it around me but as soon as I was no where in sight, he would take it off. I remember my next door neighbor calling me to tell me that he wasn’t wearing his eye patch. He had kept his eyeglasses on but had lifted the eye patch up. A group such as this could of helped me with some suggestions. After months of this a trip to Boston Children’s Hospital found that patching his eye would not help him.
[…] it speaks to the good the Internet can do. In reading, I wish I’d known about the group for kids with vision problems a few years earlier and will direct my husband to the Quit Smoking one when I think he’s […]