No doubt you enjoy sunglasses and see the value in wearing them. So how do you get kids to put them on—and keep them on? Keep reading for nine great tips to help your family get into sunglasses.

Get kids involved at a young age—create the routine early:

As with most things, you are building great habits for life. This means starting early and being consistent. There are some excellent brands of children’s sunglasses on the market. By connecting a child’s interests with the style, function, and purpose of sunglasses, you’ll be able to introduce them to the world of comfortable vision and glare-free comfort.

Ensure comfortable fit:

As adults, we can be very discerning regarding the comfort of eyewear for ourselves and rightly so! However, petite facial features and head shapes require correctly-fitting eyewear too. Often, it takes even more legwork to find an ideal range of children’s sunglasses—make sure you enlist the help of eyewear professionals who are passionate about the perfect fit from the outset.

Frame designs with adjustable straps:

For the very young—toddlers and preschool-aged children—you may have to consider a range of frame designs for children’s sunglasses that include adjustable straps. These styles of frames ensure the right fit every day, all day.

Employ positive reinforcement every time they wear them—looking cool!

Let’s face it, we all like to know when we’re looking good. It’s no different with the younger members of our family. Unfortunately, many young ones may view sunglasses and their wearing as an obligatory item or task, like brushing their teeth, hair or cleaning their room. Reinforcing positive feedback and commendation, ensuring that your child can pursue their look and style with sunglasses helps lower the barrier. Remember: Wearing sunglasses works for young ones when it doesn’t feel like yet another chore.

Allow them to see and express themselves:

In harmony with selecting children’s sunglasses, get your young ones in front of the mirror—guide them certainly—but allow them to experiment with different frame styles. This is a great way to get to know your kids, too, watching their personalities emerge as they explore how they want to present themselves to the world around them.

No pressure—wear them for a few minutes—work up to it:

Exploring the world of children’s sunglasses (amongst other clothing and fashion items) can be exciting for some young ones and a challenge for others. The immediate effect of sun glare reduction is instantaneous with a great pair of sunglasses. However, what we call a refreshing and comfortable way of seeing the world around us may be overs timulating for young eyes.

It’s natural to expect many children to work up to wearing sunnies every time they head outside. So you may need to interpret when your child wants to take them off—at the very least. Then, of course, they’ll probably make it known! But that’s okay.

Allow them to work up to wearing them. Then, demonstrate what different environments feel like with and without them—reflective glare off the water and metallic surfaces. Invite children to compare the comfort factors with and without them as you head off on a long drive, for example. Attentive optical staff worth their salt should also assist with this kind of exploratory comparison in-store.

Take the mystery away—make sunglasses an everyday item:

Once a purchase has been made, and there are things to see and places to go, you may find that your role isn’t quite over as a parent. Sure, your child felt part of the process in-store, and it may have even surprised you how assertive and discerning they became once they got into the swing of trying on different sunglasses frames, comparing different lens colours, and so forth. But, you’ll likely find that to overcome the novelty aspect of sunglasses, they’ll have to become an everyday component—you may even be the one that needs to ensure they’ve been packed and brought along for the day at the beach or a play in the park. And that’s okay; once the mystery of new children’s sunglasses wears off, your child will likely remember more often than not to bring them along for that next big day out.

If you wear them, so will they!

This tip is big—young children love to imitate others, particularly parents or older siblings. Unfortunately, it’s not until kids get into the teen years that you start seeing them explore independence more fully—this is good, though! If you wear your sunglasses confidently, express how enjoyable and beneficial they are, and make it fun and simple for young ones to imitate, you’ll have the whole tribe enjoying glare-free UV protection with their own pair of slick shades!

A comfortable hat may help, too:

Not all kids take to sunglasses with gusto. Pairing the look with a cap for playing in the park can help children feel like they aren’t so apparent to everyone around them. With an added layer of glare protection and preventing sunburn, kids may feel much more confident once they have a ‘complete outfit’ for a day at play.

To sum it all up…

We can see that a few factors are involved in getting kids excited about sunglasses. But rest assured, building up confidence in eyewear choices can be done!

Getting young ones into a comfortable pair of sunglasses that offer clear, glare-free vision is nothing like trying to get your little loved ones excited about spinach or brussel sprouts! But, by implementing some of, if not all, of these nine tips, children’s sunglasses may be the hot new item in the household!

Pairing sunglasses with comfortable hats or caps and promoting a little flair and individuality whilst wearing your sunglasses also help make valuable sunglasses feel like the everyday element they should be in Aussie households!

The Optical Superstore gets super excited about kids’ vision needs—we want your young ones to live their best life too! So get in touch with a location nearest you today. We would be happy to show you and your family the range of children’s sunglasses we offer.

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