Driving Blind

Teenagers are a lot of things… ambitious, creative, energetic, optimistic…

Unfortunately, they are also opinionated, sassy and reckless. Yes, reckless. They have the notion that they are indestructible. It’s nothing new. When I was a teenager, my parents found out that my brothers and I were driving a bit too fast on the county road to our house. You know, straight away… nobody else in sight… foot to the floorboard. Well, they decided it was a good time for us to read a clipping (Please God, I’m only 17) they had from one of the advice columnists in the newspaper. They hung it on the fridge and I still remember that day, all these years later. I also vividly remember that clipping.

My daughters aren’t teenagers yet (thank goodness) but my good friend and contributing author Trish, has a daughter who is now 20. She waited to get her driver’s license until last year. Why? That’s another story, entirely. Suffice to say, she didn’t get it when she turned 16 and now I’m glad that she didn’t.

You see, Marcy has had glasses since 8th grade. But honestly, you wouldn’t know it. She doesn’t like how she looks in them and opts to see the world all blurry than be seen in glasses. I totally get that “I hate these glasses” feeling because I was a glasses-wearing teenager once, too. And yes, they looked horrible on me and I looked like a dork. But I wore them until the day I got contacts. A blurry world, for me, was worse than glasses.

Unfortunately, Marcy doesn’t see it that way and she doesn’t own contacts. So when I see her now behind the wheel – sans glasses – I kind of freak. Of course, I’m not a shy one about it and we joke that I’m her second mom. She’s gotten an earful more than once about driving blind. Safety before appearance. Please!

Thankfully, as part of a Bausch + Lomb campaign through Mom Central Consulting, Marcy is soon to be decked out in contacts of her own. Her mom has perfect vision and has never been able to have discussions with her about it. And she certainly cannot relate to the self-esteem differences between wearing glasses vs contacts.

So DH and I (who both have worn contacts since our teens), sat down with Marcy to go through some pros and cons. We explained that when you wear contact lenses, you need to respect your eyes. Wash your hands before putting your contacts in, change them as recommended by the doctor and store them properly. There were also things that we felt it important for her to know. For example, there are a lot of different types of contacts with various time-ranges. She may have a friend that sleeps with the contacts in while another disposes of them only every few months or a year. When she gets her contacts, she needs to be aware of the limitations and expectations of her lenses. If her eyes start to bother her, she needs to take the contacts out.

Daily contacts are a little more expensive but they are also a lot less hassle. Longer-wear contacts are cheaper but if you rip one or lose one, you’re replacing it before you planned. DH has contacts that he changes every month; mine, every two months. But the campaign was to introduce her to Soflens daily disposables, which I think are perfect for a teenager. Yes, the individual price is higher, but the advantages offset the price, making it a pretty even playing field. Knowing your child and their level of activity, responsibility and comfort will help determine the best contacts for them. For Marcy, we think the daily disposables will be perfect.

We’re looking forward to watching her drive down the street – sans glasses – and having the comfort of knowing she isn’t driving blind.