Keeping it Real

WRITTEN BY BLAIR FJESETH

“She needs glasses,” the optometrist said as my 5-year-old, Nell, squirmed in the exam chair, my hand on her leg trying to keep her from breaking one of the million-dollar pieces of equipment with her wiggles.

My first thought, “What did I do wrong?” Surely, it must be the screens or lack of carrots, but whatever it was, I could have done better. Dang, that ever-present mom guilt.

Nanoseconds later, I thought about how cute she would look in them; this girl loves accessories, so she was likely my child who would make the most of this situation.

Then, immediately back to “How could I incorporate more carrots into our diet because this had to be fixable?” Carrots could fix this, right?

Now, this column could explore one of two topics: Why moms feel so much guilt about everything or the journey into glasses. I’ll save the former for another day and dive deep into the spectacle of spectacles.

Nell’s eyes were super dilated when she picked out her glasses, so I wasn’t sure she could even see was she was picking. I think I asked, “Are you sure?” no less than a dozen times. She picked the pink ones, of course. I did mention to her that if she chose black frames, they would match all of our clothes; to this, she shrugged and said, “All of my clothes are pink, mom,” with the tone of a 16-year-old. The girl has an attitude, in case I haven’t mentioned it previously.

It was then that the salesperson of the year started down the list of “extras.” Because this was our first foray into glasses, we said “yes” to the whole kit and kaboodle. Parenting pro tip: Don’t say “yes” to the kit and kaboodle because it will cost you a down payment on a car. Too late, lesson learned.

It took a while for her to get used to them. She has two drastically different prescriptions for each eye, so she would do anything to get out of wearing them; we found praise and bribery worked best to incentivize keeping them on.

One of the biggest challenges came when the optometrist suggested an eye patch to help strengthen Nell’s weaker eye at our followup appointment just a few weeks later. The thought of my sweet little one wearing an eye patch seemed daunting and unfamiliar. I kept thinking to myself that she would look like a pirate. Idea sparked: She should look like a pirate! So together, Nell and I picked out and ordered cool eye patches for her to accessorize further, and they (meaning the internet) even have books on kids with eye patches. People are so clever! She loves every moment of the patch because she gets all the attention at preschool. So much for being worried about her adjusting. I may be the only one who needed to adjust my mind.

Through this journey, I’ve learned that children are far more resilient than we give them credit for. They adapt, grow and embrace the changes thrown their way with a sense of wonder and curiosity.

We are still navigating the newness of it all, but if we follow Nell’s lead, I am confident we will be fine.

Blair Fjeseth is a working professional and proud Montana mom. You can reach her at blairparker.inc@gmail.com. Follow her Instagram @blair_mt for more adventures.