Clinical Reference Systems: Pediatric Advisor 10.0

There are several basic steps that are essential to getting young children to wear their glasses.

1. Refrain from nagging.

   Nagging, reasoning, explaining, and the like will not improve glasses wearing. Try to refrain from any such reminders.

2. Provide lots of love pats ("time-in").

   Children, like adults, thrive on affection. We cannot say that children will not wear their glasses because they are not loved enough. However, we can say that providing lots of love pats (50 to 100 per day per parent) can provide much of the foundation for getting children to wear their glasses.

3. Discipline must be calm and matter-of-fact.

   You can use time-out as a form of discipline for glasses wearing. You should practice using time-out with many other behaviors before you try to use it for glasses wearing. And do at least 9 love pats for each time out. Only after you are successful at using time-out for other behaviors (for at least 1 to 2 weeks) should you try to use it for glasses wearing.

4. Ask questions.

   The first week or two, when you and your child are just learning how to do time-in and time-out correctly, is the most important. Please call your physician if you encounter any difficulties or if you have questions.

5. Keep your follow-up appointments.

   Plan on keeping follow-up appointments. While it may be tempting to go ahead on your own, your health care provider can help you resolve the glasses wearing problem permanently but cannot do so without your cooperation.