Parent questions, answered by an orthoptist

Earlier than most parents expect. A child cannot tell you they cannot see, because they have nothing to compare it to. We think every child should have a full eye test before they start preschool, and one every year after that to age 10.

You can stop counting minutes. That number is the same for every child in the country regardless of their age, their eyes, or the day they have had, so on a Sunday night it does not tell you much.

Three things are worth watching instead.

How close it is, and whether that gap keeps closing. Most children start propped up at arm's length and end up folded over it on the floor. A long stretch at arm's length and a short stretch pressed to the face are visibly different, and your phone logs both the same way.

Whether the eyes ever get a break. A car trip with one screen at one distance is a different day from a backyard, where they look near, then far, then near, without anyone organising it. You do not need a rule. You need to interrupt the long stretches.

How much of the day happens outside. Outside gives distance for free. It is also the only one of the three you can add without taking anything away, which is why it is the one you will actually keep.

What we are not going to tell you. Whether screens change how children's eyes develop is a live area of research. We are not going to compress that into one confident sentence for the internet. We have not told you screens cause anything, and we have not told you any of the above prevents anything. Watching costs you nothing and makes you a better observer of your own child.

Then say one sentence at the next eye test: I would like to know how my child's eyes are developing, and whether anything is changing.

Amblyopia is a difference in how clearly each eye sees, which develops in childhood. It is sometimes called lazy eye. At Speckles we use the term Curious Eye instead.

Because lazy implies fault, and the child hears that. Curious implies wonder. An eye that is still developing is still learning, not an eye that is broken, and with the right support it can become an equal team player to the other eye. Same clinical picture, a completely different thing to be told about yourself when you are five.

Stronger and weaker position one eye as the failure. Clearer and less clear keep the eye whole.

Let them choose the design, build it into the same part of the day, and follow the routine your eye care professional has set. Our free Patching Activity Pack has age-banded activities, a reward chart, and scripts for the harder conversations.

Answer shorter than you want to.

This question feels bigger to you than it does to them. If you treat it as a serious conversation, it becomes one. Most children are asking the same way they ask why they have to wear a seatbelt.

What tends to help:

• Use your eye care professional's words, not new ones. If they explained it at the appointment, borrow that sentence. A second explanation from you invites a third.
• Say curious, not lazy. Your child will repeat whatever word you give them, at school and to themselves.
• Do not promise a finish line you cannot see. "Until the doctor says" is honest. A date is not, and a date you miss costs you their trust.
• Let them ask again tomorrow. Children process by repeating. Asking twice is not resistance.
• Give them something to decide. Which patch today. What you are doing while it is on. A child taking part behaves differently from a child having something done to them.

If the question behind the question is "am I different," that one is worth answering properly. Every child sees differently, and no child is just one thing.

Yes. Children's eyes let in more UV than adults' do, and around 40 to 50 percent of a person's lifetime UV exposure happens before age 20.

Look for UV400 on the label. A tinted lens with no UV protection makes the pupil open wider behind it, which lets more UV in than no sunglasses at all.