Glasses

[Pickle's Mom]

Pickle needs glasses (no big surprise to us, but of course it feels like the end of the world to her). Any advice on types of frame or fit that work best for gymnastics? I wouldn’t be completely opposed to buying her a pretty pair for every day wear and then second pair for the gym if that would help her come to terms with this.

 

[All Chalked Up]

Pickle needs glasses (no big surprise to us, but of course it feels like the end of the world to her). Any advice on types of frame or fit that work best for gymnastics? I wouldn’t be completely opposed to buying her a pretty pair for every day wear and then second pair for the gym if that would help her come to terms with this.

That's what the girls I coach do. They also have some sort of special strap to go around the back of her head connecting to the glasses for doing sports. Don't let her wear contacts at the gym, she'll lose them in 15 minutes.

 

[bogwoppit]

My youngest has always worn glasses for gym, and now for cheer. Lightweight, plastic frames with the featherweight lenses are great, the heavy ones just fly off. A sport strap for when she does serious tumbling, I get the fine stretchy, cord ones and I can easily hide them in her ponytail or bun for meets.

Mine wears the same ones all the time, too pricey here to do anything else really. Tell her to check out Kamerin Moore from Gedderts, she wore glasses when she was younger, wonderful gymnast. Lots of videos on youtube.

 

[txgymfan]

Bog, that was the example I was thinking of. I think Kamerin wore them to Nationals at JO and possibly Elite. She did not have them on in recent gymnastike videos.

Tell Pickle that when she get's glasses she will actually be able to SEE! My parents thought I would never wear my new glasses ( in 7th grade) but I Loved to see that trees had real leaves ( not just green blobs) clouds had edges and that I could see words on the board at school.

 

[gymnastbeth]

Don't let her wear contacts at the gym, she'll lose them in 15 minutes.

I wear contacts to gym and they stay in fine, I don't even notice that they're in! That being said, I wore glasses from 5th to 8th grade, the light weight, thin plastic frames. I also had a thin strap on them that hid in my hair. I had separate ones for school.

Tell Pickle that when she get's glasses she will actually be able to SEE! My parents thought I would never wear my new glasses ( in 7th grade) but I Loved to see that trees had real leaves ( not just green blobs) clouds had edges and that I could see words on the board at school.

LOL the trees were the first things I noticed when I got glasses! It really is amazing seeing through them for the first time. I remember my first meet with glasses... I could actually see the judge saluting me all the way at the end of the runway on vault! I'm sure she'll love being able to see, even if she doesn't want glasses.

 

[coachmolly]

I've worn glasses since I was 6, so for the entirety of my gym "career," and the cheap plastic frames with an elastic sports strap were what worked best for me. I'm sure you can get the straps at the eye doctors, but I think they are also available at places like Wal-Mart. This was the brand I wore- Kids Croakies, though you can get more discrete ones if she's older or wants to be able to hide it better.
I got contacts for gymnastics when I was 10, but I didn't have a whole lot of luck putting them in/taking them out that young and held onto the glasses until I was 12. I didn't have a problem with contacts in the gym particularly and did fine with them once I got used to them, but glasses in the gym work just fine.

 

[Maitland]

My daughter had glasses just for seeing the board at school, but she realized on her own that she was having trouble seeing the corrections if the coach was at the end of the runway or floor. She asked to try contacts when she was 10 years old and she never looked back (ha, pun intended!) She has never had any problem with them coming out at gym--or any other problem with them either at gym or anywhere else.

 

[fliptwisttwirl]

I wore lightweight small glasses for gym until I got contacts in 5th grade and now that's all I use!
My little cousin is in gymnastics too and she got some special prescription goggles just for during practice (she used them for soccer as well) and they work great and stay on the whole time!

 

[CoachGoofy]

I wore glasses my whole competitive career. My last pair was titanium with the arms fittted very closely to my head. The ones before those were titanium with cable temples. I never did like the croakies but I do have one now for when I play at work.

Being able to see is AWESOME.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Our lone level 10 wore them until last summer. They used to fly off her face every once in awhile(she never used the straps). She finally got contacts, and that is working out well for her. We have a 7 yr old boy on L4 team who wears the goggles. he is so stinkin cute in them!!! They don't seem to bother him, and they don't come off. I think she will LOVE being able to see!!! I got glasses when I was 12 and I still remember how amazed I was at what I had been missing!!! I wore them in dance, and they worked out okay, but I got contacts after a year of the glasses.

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

I don't know how old the OP's daughter is, but you could seriously consider getting contacts when she is old enough to be responsible with them. I got my contacts in 5th or 6th grade, before I started gymnastics. I was an ice skater, though, and I couldn't skate without my glasses or I wouldn't be able to find my coach amongst the crowd. If I skated with my glasses, they flew off when I did spins, and the strap became painful and often fell off anyway. I can't imagine doing gym with glasses on, but I know some kids can do that fine...but I think contacts are less of a fuss in the long run. Put them in when you wake up and take them out before bed...there's no adjusting or removing or wiping or straps or anything.

 

[bogwoppit]

We did try the contacts with Baby Bog, she was 12. But she really hated them. I really had hoped they would work out. SHe had no issues getting them in and out though, so they could be perfect if the budget and patience are there.

 

[mustlovejumping]

I didn't get glasses until my sophomore year of high school, but I know I needed them way before that. I never wore them for dance though because I was already so used to not being able to see well that it didn't really bother me. Now I have contacts and those work out great in gym and dance :]

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Thanks to all who replied. The stories about the trees made me laugh, because I vividly remember driving home with my older sister after she first got glasses and she said to my mom “you can see every leaf on the trees…â€￾

Pickle is only 10 and we’re not sure she will need to wear her glasses all the time (she has an astigmatism) so we are going to hold off on trying contacts for now.

I think hearing about so many other gymnasts wearing glasses really helped. Also, I think she was just freaked out over the glasses in general, but was focusing in on the gymnastics aspect of it. I am hoping that once she gets them, she will realize that 1. It’s not such a big deal and 2. Seeing is really cool.

 

[momocay]

If she does really not like it, after she tries it, keep an open mind for contacts later. They make them for astigmatism. They also give better peripheral vision than glasses do. If you do decide to try them in the future the most important thing I can tell you is to make sure the eye dr. gives her the option to try different brands. Contacts, like jeans, need to be comfortable. What works for someone may not work for another.

 

[mustlovejumping]

^^Just wanted to add that she may not need contacts actually for astigmatism. I have an astigmatism in my right eye but my eye doctor says I'm basically on the border of not really needing the contacts for that. I have regular contacts for both eyes and the only thing is that you can't get your vision as clear in the side with the astigmatism, so my brain had to get used to not using my right eye as much. But I'm totally used to it now and apparently it's better to just use regular contacts if you can.

 

[CoachGoofy]

I'd second/third/fifth keeping an open mind for contacts...but also keep an open mind towards really hating them! I've worn glasses since I was 6, tried contacts at 12, grew to loathe them, & am just now trying again. They're not as horrible as they were when I was 12, but if I didn't get massive headaches if my glasses get even a tiny bit crooked, they'd not be worth the hassle.

Everyone is different. Isn't it awesome that we live in a time when we have options?

 

[txgymfan]

One more thought on the glasses/ contacts. At that age her eyes may be chaning very quickly and you may choose less expensive glasses/contacts/ sports glasses until her eyes stabilize.

For me, and many others, when my eyes started changing they changed quickly requiring a change in perscription about once a year through puberty. Fortunately by the end of high school they stablizied and I could start wearing the same perscription. For a while, I was worried they would never stop getting worse.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I'm loving Chalk Bucket today. Thanks so much for all your words of wisdom.

We aren't ruling out contacts for the future, but given her youth and the fact that her vision problem is sometimes more complicated to correct with contacts, we are starting with glasses. If she decides after the first 6 months or so that she wants to give contacts a try, I will support it and probably be back her for more advice.

At the optomitrists recommendation, we are going with two pairs: one for gymnastics and one for every day. Basically, there was an extremely lightweight and inexpensive pair that would be great for gymnastics but isn't particularly "cute". Then she picked out a much pricier set of designer frames (sheesh) for school. I figure it's always good to have a second pair as a backup anyway and the sports frames were ridiculously cheap.

Pickle seems to have gotten over her initial freakout about needing them in the first place. I'm not sure why it was so traumatic. My husband and I both wear our glasses all the time and she has friends with glasses. She kept saying it was because of gymnastics, but I think it was broader.

Thanks again.

 

[coachmolly]

Good call on the 2 pairs of glasses. I know I broke my fair share in my younger years. As a teen I had to wear glasses for a while because of serious eye problems caused by contacts and was attempting to adjust them at work one time when they snapped right in half. I had to wrap a piece of tape around the middle until I could get a new pair, talk about embarrassing!