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Signs Your Child Needs to See an Eye Doctor

Your child needs to see an eye doctor. It’s not always an obvious observation. Small children can't tell you if they're not seeing well, and older kids may not recognize their blurry eyesight isn't normal.

So how do you know when it's time to take your kiddo in to have a thorough eye exam? Fortunately, observing your child's day-to-day activities can clue you in. Here are some signs that indicate it’s time to make a vision appointment.

Sits too Close to the TV

One of the biggest hints that a child may need an eye exam is taking note of where they sit when watching TV. Dashing up to stand in front of the television is usually a sign that their eyes need to be checked out.

Holds Items Close to Face

By the same token, the same goes for kids that hold books, tablets or phones up close to their face. There are apps designed to keep tablets and phones at a safe viewing distance.

Hunches over Schoolwork

Kids who need an eye exam will often sit hunched over their drawings or homework, which keeps the paper and their writing closer to their faces. Furthermore, they may just avoid schoolwork entirely to prevent eye strain.

Squints

Squinting actually changes the shape of the eye a bit so light focuses correctly on a person's retina. Squinting (at something close or something at a distance) is a dead giveaway that your child's vision may not be what it can be.

Has Eyes That Appear Crossed

Crossed eyes are also known as strabismus. This misalignment of the eyes is due to weakened eye muscles. It can be medically treated with eye glasses, eye exercises, prism or eye muscle surgery.

Complains about Frequent Headaches

While frequent headaches don't necessarily mean your child has an eye problem, it can be an indicator that a child is having trouble seeing.

Complains about Eye Pain

Eye pain may be a symptom of something as minor as eye strain (something that is easily corrected with prescription eyeglasses), but it can also indicate another health problem. An eye doctor will provide a proper diagnosis.

Has Certain Medical Conditions

Some kids are more at risk of developing eyesight problems and should be examined more frequently. This includes prematurity, infection of the mother during pregnancy, or family history of retinoblastoma or congenital cataracts.

Also, other medical conditions can warrant more frequent checks, such as juvenile arthritis or diabetes, which can negatively affect the eyes. Work with your child's health care providers and keep to their recommendations.

Celebrates Certain Birthdays

Even if your child doesn't have any obvious symptoms of an eye issue, you should still have them looked at on a regular basis. The American Optometric Association has developed a recommended schedule for routine eye exams. Their recommendations include:

Juggling work, home, kids, school activities, plus the myriad of other commitments we unintentionally overbook ourselves with has become an art. Not exactly the fun kind, either.

Technology is keeping up with the pace, and pushing out handy tools designed to make that hectic lifestyle, well… just slightly less hectic. Yet it seems there is too much technology available, making it hard to separate the useful from the unnecessary.

Here are four ways technology can organize your life and the lives of your family.

Courtesy: cozi.com

Cozi for Big Picture Planning

An effective family calendar needs to be simple enough for everyone to understand but sophisticated enough to handle multiple schedules. Cozi is an example of this, as you can  color-code the calendar to easily see who’s scheduled for what, where, and when. Share grocery lists and to-do items with other members of your family, and even exchange messages in the family messaging center. The free app is available for iPhone, Android or your web browser (Chrome, Firefox or Safari) and syncs across multiple devices.

Trello for Visual Planning

Think of Trello like a virtual cork board full of sticky notes. You can arrange sticky notes however you’d like, and create ‘cards’ for checklists, tasks, and goals. Label each card as a day of the week and use it for daily and weekly planning. Map out things like student activities, family activities, chores, meals, doctor appointments, and more.

Create cards for individual family members and tasks, or use Trello to plan your next big family project. Cards are both sharable and searchable, and if you need to set reminders, you can do that too!

Pinterest for Meal Planning

This entire article could discuss pinterest ideas and tips. There are five million pins per day, plenty of those are good for meal planning inspiration.

Here you can see how weekly or daily menus can be prepared just by searching whatever is in your fridge. No more scrambling for healthy meal options throughout the week. Pair Pinterest recipe ideas with Grocery IQ to organize your virtual shopping list and coupons.

ChoreMonster for Tracking

ChoreMonster has gamified household chores and aims to keep kids engaged in the process. It teaches them responsibility and allows them to earn points and rewards. There are separate login experiences for parents and kids. Parents login to create chores with corresponding rewards. Kids login to choose which chores to complete for digital and physical rewards. This can make chore-time fun for kids as they race against each other to accomplish the most.

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