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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

How modern lifestyle can ruin your child's vision


Children of all ages are constantly learning new things. The first 2 years of life are especially important in the growth and development of your child's brain. During this time, children need good, positive interaction with other children and adults. Too much television can negatively affect early brain development. This is especially true at younger ages, when learning to talk and play with others is so important."

For one of the most concise and informative articles on the issue of TV and child health, click on the linked title above. This article concentrates on how television, can affect child development including eyesight.

"In Singapore, 80% of 18-year-old men recruited to the army are short-sighted. This compares with 25% just 30 years ago. There has also been an increase in the number of people with extreme myopia, which can lead to blindness. In Sweden, 50% of 12-year-old children are short-sighted. That is expected to be 70% by the time they are 18".
...As kids spend more time indoors, on computers or watching telly, we are going to become just as myopic," said Ian Morgan. ". BBC News.

It has been long known that if, for example, we were to take a group of kids and place them in a submarine for a month, all would emerge with degrees of short-sightedness.
It is not the submarine or the TV that is doing the damage, what causes the damage is not allowing the child's eye and brain to focus on distant objects.

When was the last time your child looked at the moon and the stars? Has your child ever played "spot the airplane?" Has your child ever been bird-watching? Does your child play in open spaces daily? How often do you take your child to the beach or for a hike in the hills? Has your child a kite?

Or does your child start the day with television before being driven to school enclosed in a tinted glass case? Is the school play area an enclosed courtyard? If your child plays sport, is it indoors? Does your child watch several hours of television or play computer games?

The brain and the eye adapt to the conditions they find and, if that does not include constant daily use of long vision, then long vision simply does not develop. Once into adulthood that's it - no long vision - Ever! Your child has no choice. As parents you have taken it away and instead you have given your child a lifetime of expensive optometrists and the inconvenience of wearing glasses

I am so thankful to my Mum and Dad that I was raised in the country, spending more hours running about the fields than being indoors.
For your child, or grandchildren, the actions for ensuring healthy eyesight are obvious. It is time to act now.

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