Good vision is essential for most things in life. Children especially need clear eyesight to meet the demands of school and experience a high quality of life. Since vision problems can significantly affect a child’s learning ability, most parents take their children for annual vision exams as soon as they turn one year old. If you’ve been worrying about your child’s eyesight, here are the top seven signs that your child may need to wear glasses.  

Squinting

Squinting limits the amount of light that gets into the eyes so that incoming light can focus directly on the retina’s center, allowing the child to improve clarity and focus on an object. If you notice your child squinting to see the TV, or their teacher brings to your attention that they’ve been squinting to see the board during class, they may have myopia (nearsightedness) or astigmatism (farsightedness).

Difficulty Reading

Kids with uncorrected eyesight issues may often skip lines while reading, lose their place, or point to each word with their fingers as they read. Because of the level of difficulty involved in reading, they may avoid it altogether. Many children who are diagnosed with learning disabilities actually have undiagnosed vision problems like refractive errors.

Eye Pain or Headaches

Headaches can occur when the muscles in a child’s eye work extra hard to focus on the things in front of them. That’s why kids with astigmatism (farsightedness) are susceptible to headaches. If your child complains of eye pain or headaches after performing near-vision tasks like computer work, homework, or reading, it’s essential to schedule an eye exam.

Rubbing the Eyes Often

Eye rubbing is often considered a universal sign of sleepiness but can also indicate vision problems. Since children may lack the verbal skills to communicate a vision problem, they may try to rub blurry vision away if that’s what they’re experiencing. If you notice your child rubbing their eyes often while trying to read or focus on an object, they may have issues with their eyesight.

Closing One Eye or Tilting the Head

Closing one eye or tilting the head in one direction results in clearer vision by enabling the stronger eye to send a clearer message to the brain. If you notice your child closing one eye or tilting their head while looking at something, it can indicate that the eyes aren’t working together correctly. Children often do these things to improve clarity when experiencing vision problems.

Difficulty Concentrating

Since children spend each day at school adaptively shifting focus from computers to textbooks to chalkboards, difficulty concentrating can indicate a vision problem. Refractive errors and other eyesight issues can make reading and concentration very difficult for a child, often affecting their overall academic performance.

Poor Coordination or Clumsiness

When a child bumps into things or trips all the time, they may get a stigma of being clumsy or uncoordinated when really, they’re suffering from a vision problem. The best way to distinguish whether they’re suffering from eyesight issues or are simply clumsy by nature is to have a comprehensive eye exam.

And while they may be initially resistant to having to wear glasses, showing them the many styles which will allow them to express themselves could help in smoothing the situation over.