Our DD, who is about 3 months shy of five, bombed the eye test at the pedi. I think her eyesight was 20/50. The doctor strongly suggested glasses and referred us to an optometrist (they even made the appointment for us).

However, the test was the one with the house/apple/circle shapes, and I just don’t feel that a kid that age can be reliable in reporting what they actually see. I asked if the optometrist would have a different kind of test (I think sometimes they use lasers or some sort of sci-fi tech to determine a young child’s vision), and he said no, they basically use the same test.

I’m leaning against going to he appointment or getting her glasses.

1. Who knows if she’s just giving up easily and not accurately reporting what she’s seeing.

2. If that’s the case, giving her glasses could be harmful (her eyes may learn to rely on the prescription, from what I’ve read—the jury is still out on this point because not enough studies have been done).

3. Even if her eyesight is poor, she is no where close to reading yet, so she doesn’t really need glasses to make out fine print. We follow a Charlotte Mason philosophy of education, so we don’t plan to teach reading until age seven. From the studies I’ve read, wearing glasses doesn’t seem to actually correct vision long term (kids who wore glasses vs those who didn’t but should have were indistinguishable as adults).

Also, I’ve been reading some promising studies that show that more time outdoors can help correct myopia in young children. Even just one additional hour outside per week showed a 15% increase in vision. We’d like to try that for a couple of months to see if there’s any improvement.

Has anyone else wrestled with this decision?