Center for Vision Loss

"Tis the Season-Toys and Eye Safety

With the holidays fast approaching, parents and grandparents are filling their shopping carts with toys. The Center for Vision Loss asks you to keep an eye on the safety of these toys for the well being of the recipients. While toys are very important to a child's development, it's up to adults to make sure that serious eye injuries do not mar the festivities.

Because 80% of what a child learns come through the visual system, toys are important to stimulate visual develpment, hand-eye coordination and learn about spatial relationships. An infant will do well with toys with basic shapes or colors and activity gyms with detachable objects, balls, books and puppets. Be sure, however, that these items won't fall apart in use or contain paint that is lead-based or flakes off. Stuffed toys should not have buttons or ribbons that can be pulled off. As a child gets older you want to make sure that toys do not have sharp or rough edges or pieces. Avoid toys that shoot objects into the air such as slingshots, dart guns or arrows. Laser pointers can cause retinal damage and should be used with extreme caution. If your older child plays with a chemistry set or woodworking tools, make sure they use safety goggles. You can check out www.allaboutvision.com for a good list of toy suggestions by age.

Before you purchase toys you should read all labels and look for the "ASTM" symbol-the safety standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials. You can check out a list of toy recalls by visiting www.cpsc.gov (Consumer Product Safety Commission) and learn about the year's worst toys by going to www.toysafety.org. A little knowledge up front will pay big dividends in the future.

The Center for Vision Loss also wants you to know that giving the gift of healthy vision is the best present a child can receive. Free vision screenings for children 6 months to 5 years of age and older are an important part of our outreach in the community. Last year we screened more than 5,000 children in day care centers, preschools, kindergarten registrations and other community venues. Call 610-433-6018 in the Lehigh Valley and 570-992-7787 to find out if your child's facility has been scheduled for one of our vision screenings.

The Center for Vision Loss is the region's only community benefit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with vision loss and promoting healthy vision. We serve Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe Counties with offices in Allentown and Stroudsburg. For the past 86 years we have made looking beyond vision our goal. You can also reach us at www.centerforvisionloss.org.