School children are very excited on the first day of the school but soon some children begin to lose interest in school and studies. Start complaining of headache and similar excuses. We often associate this lack of interest with lack of intelligence or inattentiveness or mere childishness. The child might be going through a difficulty at times which goes unnoticed.
Besides the routine questions like don’t you have friends in school, is it too hectic etc. Observe his books. Are those neat and clean or the child has scribbled and rewritten things? The child might have scribbled because of poor vision. May be the child can’t see the board? May be for him blur vision is a normal thing. Such children with undiagnosed eye problems are more likely to have difficulties in learning at school. Pay attention to such initial symptoms. There is nothing wrong with the child. Improve your child’s focus by consulting a pediatric ophthalmologist who might suggest a remedy for his poor vision. Refractive errors can be easily corrected by glasses. A range of colourful, child friendly spectacles are available in market making them easily acceptable by children. Request the class teacher to make your child with low vision sit in front for better grasping. Treatment if required should be initiated early to avoid further visual loss. A consultation with the doctor might look like a small step but the rewards can be numerous for the child’s future.
Some children have squint eyes. It’s considered as a taboo and there is a common belief that the squint cannot be corrected and it reemerges. Leading to loss of confidence in the child and bullying by fellow children in school. All squint eyes don’t require surgical corrections and can be corrected by glasses prescribed by a Squint specialist. Similarly young girls having squint can undergo cosmetic eye surgeries to get the right look and appear even more attractive and feel confident.
Frequent eye tweaking and dryness could be because of allergies. Sleep deprivation can also lead to dry eyes. Watery eye could be because of blocked tear ducts. Simple medications and non-invasive surgeries could solve these routine problems. Toddlers need to be checked for colour blindness. They might not be able to distinguish red and green colour due to a congenital condition which is not detrimental to life. But the child is not able to enjoy the beauty of nature and might lead to accidents due this inability to distinguish red from green.
Excessive use of mobile phone, video games, ipads, televisions etc are one of the causes behind poor vision in youngsters. Reduction in total screen time could be a temporary remedy but poor vision needs to be treated. Children’ eyes are a window to the future. We say seeing is believing. It improves their focus and concentration. Also enhances imagination. Studies show that 48% of parents with children below age 12 have never taken their child to an eye professional. 1 in 4 might have a vision problem. So check how healthy are your child’s eyes. It is advisable to consult a pediatric ophthalmologist if any of the above symptoms persist. Make them eat healthy food rich in Vitamin A like carrots, papaya; almonds, eggs and green leafy vegetables. Take care.
Published in Hitavada newspaper