OK, really, our clothes are great and they look good; better than most we think, but what is it about style and children that register in our consciousness? Old high school memories, College, siblings or cousins—who knows, but it matters a little bit.
At three months our son was diagnosed with esotropia and needed glasses.
“What?” Our hearts jumped. The questions came in like a flood. How will he keep them on? What if he takes them off? Will he have them forever? Can he take them off ever? We had never seen a little baby with glasses. Well, guess what? No one else had either.
We were afraid he would be teased at school as he got older, so we made a conscious decision to make having glasses a non-issue. We address questions, but don’t talk about it a lot. It’s a fact. Our son might have to wear glasses for the rest of his life, and that means glasses are cool. Some people even ask if he wears them for style. “Nope. They’re real.” I don’t know how many times I have explained the glasses. It doesn’t matter, because I embraced those awkwardly rimmed bright blue focals before he even got them. My wife and I were determined that he would not be self-conscious. In our world they are a part of him, and our world is what matters. Now… I think it’s him. He makes them cool. His bright and confident personality makes glasses cool for kids. Maybe our attitude about it helped a little. I like to think it did. It’s nice for my meek parental ego to think that we are so great at this one thing that we foresaw a possible socially adverse bump in the road of life for our little boy and changed it into an advantage. We can't take the credit. He’s just cool. His glasses are cool, and he’s cool for wearing them.
Sidney is 2.7 years old now, and there is a girl at his “school” with pink glasses. His are grey these days, but I think that he could make big black bifocals with a telescope on one eye look cool.
Your little star is an extension of you. Be bright and shine, and your baby, no matter what he or she wears (hopefully it’s Baby Star) will shine with you. Our son, Sidney became a super nova.
