4 Ways To Protect Your Children’s Eyes in a High Tech World
With our high tech world it’s no wonder more and more kids are using technological devices both at home and at school. With many schools implementing computerized testing, requirements of having Chrome books and similar in classrooms, kids are often spending over 7 hours a day with their eyes on a screen. While many parents try to curb screen time and encourage more outdoor play, chore completion and similar activities, the simple fact is kids are spending a lot of time in front of electronics. These screens are not good for growing eyes, and as time goes on we have no idea how those screens will harm your kid’s eyesight.
It’s time to start being proactive and ensuring that you are doing all that you can do to preserve your kids eyes in a high tech world. Here are some tips to make sure you are doing all you can do to keep your kids eyes in tip top shape in our high tech world.
Protect Your Kids Eyes
Get Regular Vision Checks
Your kid should be getting vision checks as early as age 3. This can be done at your regular well-child checkup. The key to making sure you preserve your kids eyes are to ensure that you keep up with vision exams so that small problems don’t become huge problems. Ask your pediatrician about vision checks for your kid to ensure that their eyes are being watched carefully for any changes.
Spend More Time Outdoors
While spending more time outdoors makes sense when trying to curb electronics, it actually helps to keep down the risk of becoming near sighted in the future. There’s a mix of studies on this fact, but hey being outdoors never harmed anyone, right?! Try to incorporate a good balance between screen time and outdoor time, take into consideration how much screen time your kid gets at school so that you have a good balance.
Increase those Veggies
A healthy diet that is rich in vegetables truly can help kids have healthy eye sight. While this won’t guarantee that your kid doesn’t have future eye problems, it never hurts to keep up with healthy food choices. Natural foods help preserve circulation to the retina, cones, rods and lens so eat up those veggies. Sweets and processed foods are no good for eye sight, so steer clear of them as often as you can for your kids’ sake.
Wear Sunglasses
Believe it or not the UV rays from our lovely sunshine can harm kid’s eyes. Go to your local store to get the kids sunglasses to wear during the warmer months when they frequent the great outdoors. While this won’t minimize the effects of screen time, it will help offset the natural damage our kid’s eyes deal with on a regular basis. There are many options for sunglasses for kids of all ages, ask your friends where they get theirs.
There you have it, 4 tips to preserve your kid’s eyes in a high tech world. Each of these tips are meant to help guide you towards being proactive in protecting your kids eye sight. Most of the tips can be easily implemented for all families. Take time to think about your kid’s eye sight, because their eyes matter just as much as their health.