....for a little while.
I had glasses as a child (still do) as do my own children. We were obsessed with those glasses, I made sure they wore them every day and I had a spare pair for each child. Wearing glasses meant they could see the board and that meant good grades. It was simple. They would have no more not worn their glasses to school than they would have attended school barefoot.
I used to think all parents thought the same way. Wrong. Not all parents do.
We struggle daily to ensure our kids have glasses and once they get them, wear them. Sometimes we get parental cooperation and oftentimes we don’t.
So we resort to nagging, asking, clinic referrals and bribery. Yes, I admit it, we bribe kids to wear their glasses- brownies are the current bribe of choice.
We sprung a surprise 20/20 Day on the kids. I dreamed up 20/20 day last year – children who wore their glasses to school were invited to bring their lunch to the library. We papered the school with signs and talked it up big time. God Bless Barbara Parks for giving Junie B. Jones glasses too. It was such a success we did it again last fall.
Last week we did it for a 3rd time – with a sneaky twist. No advance notice. I got on the intercom and announced that today was 20/20 Day. Glasses were whipped from the backpacks and flew onto noses. Of course, once lunch was over they went right back into the backpacks.
So next year we are going to take sneaky to another level. No prior notice, no morning announcement. We’re going to stand in the cafeteria and catch the kids coming out of the lunch lines.
Are we masters at covert operations or what?
I had glasses as a child (still do) as do my own children. We were obsessed with those glasses, I made sure they wore them every day and I had a spare pair for each child. Wearing glasses meant they could see the board and that meant good grades. It was simple. They would have no more not worn their glasses to school than they would have attended school barefoot.
I used to think all parents thought the same way. Wrong. Not all parents do.
We struggle daily to ensure our kids have glasses and once they get them, wear them. Sometimes we get parental cooperation and oftentimes we don’t.
So we resort to nagging, asking, clinic referrals and bribery. Yes, I admit it, we bribe kids to wear their glasses- brownies are the current bribe of choice.
We sprung a surprise 20/20 Day on the kids. I dreamed up 20/20 day last year – children who wore their glasses to school were invited to bring their lunch to the library. We papered the school with signs and talked it up big time. God Bless Barbara Parks for giving Junie B. Jones glasses too. It was such a success we did it again last fall.
Last week we did it for a 3rd time – with a sneaky twist. No advance notice. I got on the intercom and announced that today was 20/20 Day. Glasses were whipped from the backpacks and flew onto noses. Of course, once lunch was over they went right back into the backpacks.
So next year we are going to take sneaky to another level. No prior notice, no morning announcement. We’re going to stand in the cafeteria and catch the kids coming out of the lunch lines.
Are we masters at covert operations or what?
2 comments:
I think that 20/20 day is awesome!!! I want to tell my school's leadership team about it and see if we can do something similar. What a wonderful way to encourage (bribe) the kids to do something that they really need to be doing.
One thing though...if you catch the kids in the lunch line you may not get all of the students. I have a boy who wears his glasses all of the time in class, but never wears them to lunch or to recess because he is afraid that he will break them.
Yea for glasses!
I just wish I could see what I need to see or want to see WITH my glasses!
Post a Comment