15. Visual Education for Children

Up to this point, we have been discussing defective vision from a standpoint of correction. Now we come to what is perhaps the most valuable factor in the whole theory of visual education—the prevention of eye de­fects, a chapter which we trust will be of special interest to parents.

At what age should you begin to watch out for eye troubles in your children and to prevent them? As faulty vision grows out of faulty habits, you must be alert to see that these habits have no opportunity to take root. The moment to begin, therefore, is the moment at which the baby first begins to see objects around him.

It is the bright-colored objects hung in a baby's crib above the level of his eyes as a pacifier which lay the foundation for much of the muscular imbalance which later on causes refractive errors and eyestrain.

The baby stares at the motionless object and acquires the habit of staring while the little muscles on the eye­ball become fixed instead of flexible. And the parents congratulate themselves that the baby is so "good," and that it will lie quietly in its crib without creating a disturbance.

In babyhood, too, the imitative child is surrounded by well-meaning adults who, in order to amuse him. make exaggerated faces with their eyes wide and star­ing, an attitude which he unconsciously adopts.

Cross-eyes frequently make their first appearance in babyhood—the condition often exists soon after birth —and the distracted parents either (a) neglect the condition, hoping that it will clear up as time goes on; (b) have the eyes operated upon, which results in a constant pull and nerve tension; (c) or put glasses on the young child.

Glasses are a trial to anyone. How often you hear someone complain, "I haven't got used to my glasses yet." For a child glasses are infinitely more regrettable, for psychological reasons as well as for visual reasons. To see a small child, with round spectacles on its tiny nose, is nothing short of a tragedy. It is grotesque.

Cross-eyes in a baby can be cured by the simple process of fastening a patch over the good eye so that the weak one is forced to carry its share of the work. Otherwise the vision in the weak eye becomes fainter while it gets stronger in the good eye, until the condi­tion is fixed.

It must be stressed that the earlier you become aware of the signs of defective vision, the easier it will be to correct it.

Another point that must be made is that countless children every year are being fitted with glasses when there is nothing whatever the matter with their eyes. In some cases the complaint of visual difficulties— even of blindness—is a deliberate form of malingering, or an attempt at self-dramatization or the psychic symptom of some underlying emotional disturbance.

In other cases, children who complain of headaches or faulty vision—and every eye shows temporary signs of abnormal vision—are rushed by their anxious par­ents to an ophthalmologist and so the helpless child is shackled with glasses. And yet the hadache may be the result of any one of innumerable causes and the faulty vision may be due to faulty habits into which the child has slipped without his parents observing the fact.

The Chinese have a proverb, "If the big toe is per­fect, the man is perfect." What they mean by that is that any body ailment reacts on other parts of the body. And the eyes are the first to show results of bad health and rundown condition. If you wish to main­tain normal vision in your child, therefore, make sure that his physical condition is up to par. Bad teeth, tonsils, adenoids, glands that are malfunctioning—any poison in the system—all of these immediately affect the eyes.

A recent survey indicated that over seventy per cent of the children in a single classroom in a public school had some deformity of the spine. In a few cases, the condition was serious; in many it was slight and easily curable. For all of them, the fact of early detection meant that treatment was possible. But, because there was no outward indication of crippling or deformity, the parents of all these children were completely un­aware that anything was wrong.

Proper diet is important for eye health. We are, to a far greater extent than we realize, a product of what we eat. A lack of any essential food has its effect in the long run upon weight, energy, our capacity to throw off or guard against disease.

So much has been written and is available on the subject of balanced diets, particularly for growing chil­dren, that it is unnecessary to go into the subject here. Every parent who wants to guard and protect his child's health is alert to see that the proper vitamins and calories, the right amount of milk, greens, vege­tables and fruits appear in the child's daily food.

It is worth pointing out, however, that while all these tilings are essential for the growth and building of a healthy body, Vitamin A is particularly impor­tant to the health of the eyes.

POSTURE

Be alert to notice the first signs of poor posture. The vigorous, healthy child has a naturally erect pos­ture and a correct use of body function. Faulty habits of posture sometimes develop as young as in the tod­dler, where they can be corrected as fast as they make their appearance. In visual education as well as in general health the posture has a very serious effect on vision, posture must be drilled into the child.

Poor posture results in malfunctioning of many parts of the body, in nerve strain, and frequently it is an indication that the general health is below par and energy at a low ebb. If the child slumps, if his spine is out of line and his head down and his chest caved in, he needs a check-up to discover the cause of this lack of vitality.

This requires more of the parent than an often repeated and querulous, "Stand up, Johnny." Observe what muscles the child is using wrong and correct his use of them. We are coming to be increasingly aware that posture not only affects the opinion that other people have of us but the opinion that we have of our­selves. An employer hesitates to hire the person who sags dejectedly against the wall while he waits to be interviewed. No stamina, he decides to himself. No initiative. No confidence.

On the other hand, the person who sags, who walks with his head sunk down, cutting off blood and air cir­culation, his eyes on the ground, has a feeling of, "I can't. I'm not up to it," which militates against his achieving the things he sets out to do. Posture is a more potent factor than we yet realize in influencing the course of our life and the amount of zest and self-confidence and tangible success we get out of it.

Try this for yourself. Walk across the room, head down, shoulders slumping, and then walk back, head erect, shoulders back, taking long, deep breaths. You feel like a different person.

EMOTIONAL   DISTURBANCE

According to the visual education researchers, the emotional disturbance is another way in which the parent is the unconscious cause of bad eyesight in his child is in neglecting to help the child maintain his emotional balance. Psychiatric studies reveal that most emotional dis­turbances originate in childhood and because we know that bad vision has a mental or emotional basis in a great number of cases, it is essential to protect the child from emotional shocks.

There is no better reason for self-control and maintaining an atmosphere of peace in the home than its overwhelming importance to the child's well-being. Aft hysterical mother, an abusive father, parental scenes which are not directed at the child but affect his sense of security in his home—any one of these can lead to an emotional strain that will bring about defective vision by the time he reaches puberty.

We tend to underestimate the extent of a child's awareness of conditions which we think he is too young to understand. Yet if we look back to our own... [Chapter Incomplete]

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