[troika]

I have a 4 year old boy and for the last several months, when I get him up in the morning he gets upset about his eyes being blurry and light sensitive. He legitimately thought something was wrong with his eyes and he didn't understand what was happening.

So, I got this bright idea at dinner time to explain to him how the iris works. I showed him how the aperture worked on one of my manual primes. Then I explained that our eyes did the same thing to let more or less light in and got a small flashight and had him look at my eyes in dim light, then watch as he shined a flashlight toward them. So you see, when you wake up, after having been in the dark, your eyes are wide open and when we go into a light room, they just need time to stop down a little before you are comfortable. Isn't it great how that works? Aren't I a great dad? Well, about that...

A few days later when I got him up he said "my eyes are blurry and they hurt, Pop, do that camera thing to fix them". So, i told him he misunderstood that the camera lens didn't fix his eyes. I was was just trying to help him understand what was happening and they would adjust on their own.

Well, fast forward a few weeks, I caved in and "fix" his eyes several times a week by having him look into the lens while I open and close the aperture. Somehow it makes them all better. So much for science and clear explanations, I suppose. But I do have super powers of healing, evidently. So I do have that going for me.

[Jacquot]

Hope it leads to a Spottie or K1000 in his hands! Nice story.

[Jean Poitiers]

Yes, nice story - TFS - J

[Kerrowdown]

Secret powers of manual primes

That's why I like them so much.

Good luck with explaining anything to four year old, remember to keep to the same story, because they will remember and catch you out in heart beat.

[troika]

You know, he's pretty sharp. I generally just talk straight to him and it works. I made a rule for myself that I was going to tell him the truth about things and not assume that he couldn't understand. The burden is really on me to figure out how to communicate and as long as he's listening, I'll try to figure out how to explain things. He's asked about a few things that I've had to say either "Hmmm, that's complicated, give me some time to think about how to explain that one" or something like that, but I haven't watered down or made up stories to explain things in kid terms to him. With things like Halloween, I've just said "It's a game that we play. Everyone agrees to play the same game on the same night every year, it's just for fun." With Santa, I've tip-toed, I owe him the same answer, but I've just carefully let him opt-in rather than ruining it for him or telling him an elaborate lie, because you're right, he'll remember, he remembers everything and he's kind of a thinker/processor. But, he should also enjoy the wonder and splendor of being a child.

So, the lens thing, I'm kind of breaking my rule, but I did tell him the truth first. The thing is, that I think it actually does help. Not because it's a lens or the aperture actually does anything, but because instead of covering his eyes, which keeps them in the dark and keeps them from adjusting, he opens them and focuses on something, which speeds along the process. I'll explain that to him some day and remind him that I tried to tell him that the lens didn't actually fix his eyes. In the mean time, it's helping mornings along.

I also had a vision this morning that this could be his first science project, whenever that sort of thing starts happening.

[thechumpen]

Can I borrow your lens?? Maybe it will fix my blurry eyes, although mine stay like this all day.

Nice story...

[fuent104]

I love this story.