All About Your Child

Myopia came and stayed with me since I was 8 years old. My eyesight degree then was 300 on both sides. 2 years ago, myopia’s friend, astigmatism, came along. By then myopia has increased to 8.50 (right) and 9.75 (left) over the years and astigmatism was 1.00 (right) and 0.75 (left) when she first arrived.

When I was a little child, adults told me that bad eyesight is hereditary. My dad had almost perfect eyesight but my mom’s myopia was above 10.00 for both eyes.

Today, I went for an eye check again. My six sense never failed me. Myopia and astigmatism has decided to increase further. Now I am (myopic) 8.75 (right) and 9.75 (left) and (astigmatic) 1.25 (right) and 1.00 (left).

Ever since I had my first glasses, I have been very careful with my eyes. Whatever myths on how-to-get-good eyesight, I will definitely try them out. From eating fish and carrots to looking at grasses and green leaves, I have tried them all.

None of them worked. Over the years, my degree just kept increasing. Many say that when one wear contact lenses, the degree tends to stay put. For me, it merely slows down the rate of increment.

Now I had to switch to contact lenses that are astigmatic for my right eye. Its completely hopeless when night falls when I am still wearing my astigmatic-free contact lenses.

I am worried. Very troubled. My dream was to go for a Lasik surgery to get it over and done with. But now, even Lasik is not the answer, ‘cos Lasik only get rid of myopia. Very soon…I foresee, I will not be able to wear contact lenses anymore, I wonder, what’s the limit for contact lenses…..if my degree continues to rise.

I worry for my boys too. They have such bright eyes. They have eyes that speaks to you. How horrible would it be, if their eyes were blocked by an awful spectacle resting on the nose and the ears?

This was what I found today…..

Is Bad Eyesight Hereditary?

Alderwood Vision Therapy said No

WikiAnswers said Yes

Is myopia hereditary?

isee.org said No

Healthlink said Yes

I am confused. So is it a Yes or No?

I thought by marrying someone with perfect or near perfect eyesight, I can lower down the chances of my kids being myopic, but….

MedHelp said Not True

I hate the fact that I am short-sighted. There are so many inconveniences, especially when you are a woman. Make-up, looking pretty or even simply feeling carefree is out of the question when the first thing you see when you open your eyes every morning is BLURNESS!

Will my kids have it? I am super duper particular when it comes to protecting my boys’ eyes. I try my best to make sure that they don’t watch the TV or play games on the PC for too long. There must be a break from the square box every 30 minutes.

I constantly remind them to have a good distance of about 30cm from their books and when they are doing their worksheets.

I try, I really am trying very hard, all ways and means to protect my boys sparkling eyes…..

Lord, bless my kids, may myopia and astigmatism be far far away from them…..Amen.

Yesterday was the last day of Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration. My boys collected lots more Hong Paos this year, simply because I have ended my retail business, hence we have more time to visit more relatives’ and friends’ homes.

Last year, they had $200 each. This year they had a total of $500. Hey, its quite a good reward for just visiting 9 houses. Because of the big drop change in our income, (sorry boys, hope you won’t be angry with us when you learn about this in time to come) instead of depositing the $500 into their bank account, which is my usual practice every year, this $500 need to go into the CDA account to fund for their school expenses.

Its scary how fast money disappear when children start schooling! We had $2000 in the CDA in the beginning of last year, 2007 and it was the first year Keatkeat began his long years of schooling. Now, the amount has dropped to $800+.

The rate of decrease will be double next year when Binbin starts to go nursery and Keatkeat is in Kindergarten 2. What really pissed me off is to pay for the school fees in June and December when there ISN’T any classes at all! Its school holiday! Why do I still need to pay for school fees when the school is closed?!

The most I could do is complain here in my small little corner. The ‘standard’ reply from the school is, “I’m sorry, but there is nothing we could do. This is decided by the Ministry of Education. We just had to follow whatever instructions we received.”

So Allan, may all good luck be with you, ‘cos the family expenses is going to be super heavy starting next year…..by then, I would have finished clearing all my beads for my handmade accessories, whereby I can really say ‘good bye’ to this business once and for all…..so all burden will be on Allan’s small shoulders.

Wish us luck?