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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Stuart Heritage

My son is getting glasses for the first time. He’s fine about it but I’m an emotional wreck

The young Stuart in glasses
Looking back … Stuart Heritage, aged eight, with his ‘jam jars’. Photograph: Courtesy of Stuart Heritage

This afternoon, I will take my son to the optician to pick up his first pair of glasses. He is entirely unfazed by this new chapter. I, on the other hand, am a mess.

Between the ages of five and 36 (at which point, fed up with sticky toddler fingerprints smeared across my glasses, I had laser treatment), I was wildly shortsighted. So shortsighted that, even with the thinnest available lenses, I still looked like a boy with a pair of jam jars strapped to his face. And while there is obviously nothing wrong with wearing glasses, I am acutely aware of the effect they can have on a young person.

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