business 101

How Kids “View” Glasses

Heath Grace

What better place to find out what kids think about prescription eyewear and sunwear than at some of the younger set's favorite places—an amusement park in Pennsylvania, a pool in Nebraska, and a zoo in New York.

Though the sites for this survey were a bit unorthodox—waiting in line for rides, standing in a swimming pool, and riding the zoo train—it wasn't tough to reach our goal of getting responses from 75 children under age 11. We tried to interview a mix of eyeglass- and sunglass-wearing kids to see how their opinions differed. Here's what we learned.

EYEGLASS WEARERS

We spoke with 44 children who were wearing prescription eyeglasses. Though not nearly as enthusiastic as their sunglass-sporting peers, the six kids who were wearing photochromic lenses (only two of whom could pronounce or even knew the technical word for them) were the happiest Rx'ers. And if you think ‘Rx'er' isn't a word, try telling that to the 7-year-old from New Jersey, who told us RXR are the letters that describe someone who wears glasses.

Though some seemed to know about “lenses that change,” not one child knew if he or she was wearing polycarbonate lenses. What's more, with the exception of three of the moms, the adults they were with didn't either.

This reaction raises some troubling questions. How can moms not be told about how safe lenses can be? And, what happened to Duty to Warn?

When asked who picked out their glasses, nearly half (19) said mom did. Not surprisingly, the majority of dissatisfied customers came from this group. Ten kids said, “I did.” Five reported either their dad or older sibling helped. And, seven said they selected their glasses with the help of the doctor and their parents. Three had no idea.

Asked if there was anything they didn't like about their eyeglass purchasing experience, the biggest complaint (11 kids) said that the doctor (or dispenser) spoke mostly to their parents, not them.

Other complaints? Five said there weren't any cool enough frames. Three said they wanted contact lenses, but their parent or the doctor said no. One said he wanted “the glasses like NBA players” wear. And, one said she was mad that she couldn't get the “cool” lenses that change.

SUNGLASS WEARERS

Though it was a lot easier finding Rx wearers than sunglass-toting tots, we interviewed 31 kids who were wearing non-prescription sunglasses. They seemed to fall into two groups: very young children under age four who had no choice but to wear them and 8 to 10 year olds who liked the look of sporting shades.

Despite the enthusiasm from older kids, when asked why they were wearing sunglasses, responses from the 31 sunglass wearers were all over the map. Top answers:

• Mom/parent “makes me.”
• “So I don't get sunburned.”
• “They're fun” or “They're cool.”
• So “my eyes don't get hurt.”

Interestingly, not one of our 31 sunglass-wearing kids mentioned seeing better or reflections and glare, even though several were wearing polarized lenses—or, as one girl from New York put it when told about them, “polar bear” glasses. Guess she'd been at the zoo too long. But it least she “got” the polar part.

So, what is the takeaway from this survey? When it comes to sunglasses, kids seem to get the protection point, but not the fact that sunglasses can also help them see better.

As for prescription eyeglass wearers, kids who felt they played the primary role in selecting frames were definitely the happiest. The biggest complaint was both loud and clear: The doctor or dispenser “talked mostly to mom, not me.” EB

FAVORITE COLORS

Of the 75 kids we surveyed, almost 50 of them had definite ideas about the color of frames they liked best. The hands-down favorite among the younger girls—the color purple. The only color both sexes seemed to like, though, was red. And, perhaps not surprisingly, of those actually wearing prescription glasses, very few were sporting frames in the color they said they liked most. Can you spell p-a-r-e-n-t-a-l p-r-e-s-s-u-r-e?