Does anyone have a child that has to wear an eye patch?

My son has to wear an eye patch to help with a drifting eye, and he gives me such a hard time on weekends wearing the patch that I was wondering how others may have handled this situation.

I had one as kid...

The sticky patches are best because they are uncomfortable to pull off. If you kid wears glasses also (i did), put it under the glasses, so it isn't as noticeable to his classmates/friends/family.

Try to reward him when he wears it. Activities that strain the eye like reading, video games, etc. are good for helping his vision, and straightening his eye. Reward him with those. What kid doesn't like video games?

yeah i do sinbad

My son doesn't HAVE to, but got really into pirates & LOVES to dress up and wear the patch.

Maybe get him interested in that, and turn weekends into an all-weekend costume party?

My neighboor had to when we were younger. He just put it on over his glasses.

my friend has the same problem...jsu make it clear to him that he has to wear BIIIG specs if he doesnt behave well with the patch....kids dont lik the idea of those specs...so they will do their best to get away from it!

My son did. We would patch him at home and for the entire weekend. That's it. Just tell him he's cross eyed and if he doesn't wear it he'll get bullied. it's true and the Truth always works.

I dont have a kid that has to but i did as a kid and they have ptches that have animals and desines on them let him pick them out.

i was that child...had lazy left eye boy did i ever hate that...i couldnt se around it and i just remember i hated it..maybe you could wear one too and act like pirates

My nephew had to wear a patch when a buddy of his shot a pellet gun at a steel building and it ricocheted back and lodged in my nephews eye after surgery he had to wear a patch for awhile on and off. For awhile he was staying with me and he would always want to take it off but I told him that it was for his own good and that he wouldnt have had to wear it if nothing would have happened but since it did happen he'd have to wear it till his eye got better and then not worry about a patch again, he wore it and now he doesnt have to!!!

My son did. We tried a sticky-band aid type patch that hurt when he took it off at night. We tried a patch that goes over his glasses. We tried drops that blurred his good eye to make the drifting work harder. Nothing seemed to work. He eventually had surgery to straighten them up. Now instead of one eye drifting in one kinda drifts out. But only if you really look hard for it. It is still better than it was.

Hi - I was a kid with the patch - and I am in my 30s now - no surgery and no one would know now that I ever had lazy eye but only b/c my mother was diligent about making me wear it. There was no pirate business - she was the mom, she explained to me at THREE YEARS OLD why I needed with the help of the doctor and here I am today.

I don't mean to be terse by any means but who is in charge? Explain the disease to him. I would let him know what he might end up looking like if he doesn't wear it - I am sure you can fine pics on yahoo of people who never had theirs corrected. That's what my mom did and I am told when I was little if I saw someone looking I would explain exactly what was going on to them and after - the kids would treat me just like anyone else.

The truth is always best so your son can answer questions by classmates with an answer they can't make fun of or dispute. If he says he's a pirate the other kids may take him to task over it and wouldn't that be worse?

You're the parent so what you say goes and you're doing it for his health for the rest of his life - he won't just be crosseyed in one eye if he doesn't wear it - he could very well go blind and it is your responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen. Enlist the help of your spouse, his best friend's mom to make sure she watches him and he doesn't take it off, the eye doctor to explain it to him. Maybe get him some cool colors in patches but your word has to be the final word. My mom did and now I am fine and am thankful.

I don't know of any

My daughter has to wear one frequently. She is a total klutz. She had a patch 5 times last year for 3-5 days at a time. They call her Patchy the Pirate.. I call her "Grace".. She was even wearing one in her spring school pix!