Every parent knows kids don’t come with a how-to guide. We figure it out as we go along. But when it’s about their eyesight, we want to know our kids are healthy and developing their vision skills at each age and stage of development. Our children's eye care guide can help answer questions and give you a few handy tips to make caring for your kids’ eye health for their first five years as easy as can be.

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1 TO 2 YEARS

Toddlers are curious little creatures. By now, eye-hand coordination and depth perception should be well-developed so they can happily explore everything they can get hold of. The fine motor and visual perceptual skills are now working together to help tiny fingers hold a crayon to scribble.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT EYE PROBLEMS IN TODDLERS

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• Roll a ball back and forth to help toddlers visually track objects.
• Read to them so they learn to visualize what they’ve heard.
• Play with puzzles to help them develop visual problem-solving skills.

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Signs of vision problems in children

Eye problems in children can be easily prevented if caught early on. Schedule an eye exam for your child if he or she shows signs of any of the following vision problems in children:
• Sitting too close to the TV.
• Squinting, rubbing eyes, or tilting head.
• The short attention span for the child's age.
• Sensitivity to light.
• Difficulty with eye-hand-body coordination when playing with a ball.
• Avoiding coloring, puzzles, or other visual activities.

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3 TO 5 YEARS

By age 3, your child is ready for a thorough optometric eye exam to make sure eye growth is healthy and vision is developing normally. If any issues are found, your eye doctor may prescribe vision therapy or prescription eyeglasses. This exam will be a benchmark when evaluating future check-ups. Most eye problems in children are correctable when caught early.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT EYE PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN

• Practice throwing the Frisbee to help refine eye-hand coordination.
• Work together on big jigsaw puzzles to help strengthen visual problem-solving.
• Play games with numbers or shapes to help kids visualize to work out solutions in the head.

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THE SCHOOL YEARS

Around age 5 or 6, kids need another complete eye exam to make sure they’re still on track developmentally. During your kid’s eye exam, the eye doctor will test for common problems like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism—many of which are treatable with an eye patch, vision therapy, or children’s eyeglasses, sunglasses, or contacts. When your kids get to school age, schedule an eye exam every year, right before school starts. This exam is important even if your kids receive in-school vision screenings. These screenings normally just check for distance vision and can miss up to 60% of treatable vision problems. Only an eye doctor can diagnose the more subtle conditions that if left untreated, can affect learning.

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Unlike everything else they grow out of, kids don’t outgrow seeing the eye doctor. Every two years is a good schedule, or every 12 months if they’re wearing prescription glasses. With DMV Vision Care, a kid-friendly eye exam is quick for your child, and enlightening for you. Vision problems can occur at any age without you or your child noticing. Early detection and effective treatment will help them learn, play, and thrive with the best possible view of the world.

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