Conference moira::parenting_v3

    If you find out something that works, let me know.  I'm tired of
    washing mine ten times a day . . .
    
    --bonnie

    	Our 9 month old loves our glasses too.  
    
    	Usually when I am having one of those days when I would just 
    	rather crawl under a rock, I will put on my glasses and not 
    	be able to see because of all the little finger prints, and 
    	it ALWAYS seems to bring a smile to my face, remembering how 
    	they got there. 

Kati did that with my sunglasses, and I could never wear them unless I wanted
to listen to her scream all the way....   I solved it by buying her a pair of
sunglasses for herself (Target special).  I don't know how she sees through
all of the fingerprints, but she sure does feel important in them!

Kristen

    Contacts if you can wear them ?

    The worst of it passes quickly, although James is fascinated with
    my glasses AND contact lenses (Since he'll likely end up wearing
    them anyway, he may as well get used to it:-)).
    
    All I can say is, just grasp his hand and say NO.  Or draw back
    from him (if you can) and say, "No glasses!"  
    
    I heard that babies like glasses because they can see their
    reflection in them.  Is that really true?

    Mine does it too, Deb.  In fact, she's got the process of grabbing
    them down so well, that in a split second, she can pull them off my
    face and before I can even grab them from her, they're on the floor
    and the lenses have popped out.
    
    - K

   I would agree with a combination of .3 and .5. Andrew started grabbing at
   my glasses. We bought him a pair of Mickey Mouse glasses (His Cool Dudes's
   as he calls them (after what we called him, when he had them on.)) A few
   sessions of No, These are Daddy's glasses, those are Andrews'... and no
   more problems. (I think the Toy glasses are about $1.99 at Child World.)
   
   Now, to stop him walking up to little old ladies in Shopping Malls,
   pointing to their glasses, and saying "Cool Dude!. :-)
   
   q
   

    .5 > I heard that babies like glasses because they can see their
    .5 > reflection in them.  Is that really true?
    
    I think not.  Babies are programmed for visual fascination with faces
    almost from birth.  When they learn about hands, they tend to grab at
    facial features: ears, nose, mouth, etc; glasses, too, for those of us
    with them.  But the functionality of parental ears is less effected by
    finger smudges or drops on the floor than that of glasses.  When babies
    learn that glasses are real attention getters, especially when tossed
    across the room, they are likely to be preferentially selected over
    ears.
    
    My boys outgrew glasses-grabbing after awhile, but that wasn't
    necessarily for the better, given our sometimes rough-and-tumble
    interactive style.  An intentional swipe generally did less harm than a
    general-purpose bellyflop on dad's head, or a surprise bear-hug around
    the face from behind.  I was spending so much time at the optometrists
    getting straightened out that I got new super-springy titanium alloy
    (or something) frames, the kind you can tie literally in knots, yet
    they will spring back to their original shape.  It was well worth it.
    
    		- Bruce

    I love this!  My husband wears glasses, and we were so proud when David
    reached up (at 2 months of age) and grabbed his glasses!  Weren't we
    the proud parents!  Now, at 7 months of age, we can't keep David from
    grabbing everybody's glasses.  Those of you expecting your first
    child...take note!  We learned our lesson...but what fun to watch him
    snatch them off some unsuspecting person and shove them into his mouth
    in less time than it takes to blink!  I guess if we have another child
    we'll learn NOT to encourage his grasping ability in quite the same
    manner...live and learn.
    Sarah
    

Mike and Matt (3.5 and 1.5) are both totally fascinated with Mom's glasses.  I 
usually wear contacts, and on occassional have my glasses on instead, or have 
my sunglasses on.  My husband, on the other hand, ALWAYS has his glasses on.  It
is very interesting to recall that we have very little trouble with them going 
for dad's glasses, but mom's are constantly reached for.  Sunglass problem is
getting solved slowly because I keep reminding them that $100 glasses are not
for babies to play with - and I have a 'bungee' cord, so they can't get them 
very far.  My regular glasses I've given up on!  On sunday mornings (Family 
Pile on Parents in Bed morning), I don't bother putting my glasses on until 
I get up!  Otherwise, they get lost in the bed covers or worn.  

As my eyes are pretty pathetic, I always have strongly discouraged the children
from putting my glasses on - as I heard that it can hurt their eyes.  Any truth
to that?

BTW - As they get older, it's less likely that they will be able to get as 
close to the glasses, as you tend to hold them less, and you can hold them 
'away'

Minda

    re: .10
    
    I don't think there's much danger from occasionally putting on a
    pair of strong glasses you don't need, just to see what the world
    looks like, but wearing them for any length of time can cause
    serious strain of the eye muscles and stress to the eye tissue.
    
    --bonnie

    A word of caution: watch out when the little kids start grabbing
    glasses.  One week ago, my son (1 year old) grabbed my glasses (like
    many times before), but this time I wasn't watching and his fingernail
    caught my eye.  I ended up going to the hospital and having to wear an
    eye patch for 2 days, but my eye is okay.  The doctor at the hospital
    says that this is very common, but I had never heard of it happening.
    
    ;-)
    
    John