Carrots, dim light and other eye myths parents still hear
Carrots, dim light, sitting close to the screen: most of what your mother-in-law told you is harmless folklore. One myth on this list is different, and it is the one that costs children their sight.
- Carrots support healthy vision but will not sharpen a child's eyesight beyond normal or keep them out of glasses.
- Reading in dim light and sitting close to the television do not damage a child's eyes, though sitting unusually close can be a sign of short-sightedness rather than a cause.
- Correct glasses do not weaken a child's eyes or make them dependent; skipping a needed prescription is the real risk.
- Eye exercises will not cure short-sightedness, though a doctor may prescribe specific exercises for certain eye-teaming problems.
- "She'll grow out of it" is false for a true squint or lazy eye, and it is the myth that costs children their sight because it spends the treatment window while everyone waits.
Almost every myth about children's eyes arrives at my desk wrapped in love. A grandmother who insisted on extra carrots. An auntie who chased a toddler away from the television. A well-meaning teacher who said the squint would sort itself out. Nobody in these stories is careless. They are repeating something they were told by someone who loved them too, passed down for a generation or three. My job is not to make anyone feel foolish for believing it. My job is to tell you what is true.
Below is the verdict on each, including the one or two that carry a grain of real truth, and the one that costs children their sight.
Do carrots really improve my child's eyesight?
Not beyond normal, no. Vitamin A supports healthy vision, and carrots contain it, but eating more of them will not sharpen a child's eyes past what they already are or keep them out of glasses. The body needs only a small amount of vitamin A for vision, and a well-nourished child is already getting it.
The myth has a real root, and I do not like to strip that away entirely. Severe vitamin A deficiency does real damage to vision, which is why the association stuck in the first place. But that is a deficiency state, rare in a child eating a varied diet, not a reason to load a plate with carrots before an exam. Dark leafy greens, colourful vegetables, dairy and fish all carry vitamin A too. Feed your child a good diet for their whole body, not their eyesight specifically, and the eyes will do their part.
Will reading in dim light ruin my child's eyes?
No. Reading in dim light does not damage a child's eyes, and neither does close reading or detail work more generally. What dim light does is make reading harder work, so a child squints, holds the book closer, and tires faster. That is discomfort, not injury.
I still tell parents to switch on a proper lamp, for the same reason I would tell an adult to do the same: it is kinder on the eyes for the evening, and a child who reads comfortably reads for longer. But if your child has ever fallen asleep mid-page with only the hallway light on, nothing was harmed. Save your worry for something that matters more.
Is sitting close to the television bad for my child's eyes?
No, sitting close does not cause any eye damage in children or adults. Children can focus at close range without the eyestrain an adult would feel, which is exactly why they gravitate towards the screen in the first place. Most children drift further back again as they grow older.
There is a flip side, though: sitting unusually close can be a sign of something, rather than a cause. A child who has started parking themselves a foot from the television, or who holds a tablet against their nose, may be doing it because things at a distance have gone blurry. If this has become a habit and not an occasional slouch on the sofa, it is worth reading why children sit so close to screens, since short-sightedness is becoming far more common in children across the region, a trend explained in why childhood short-sightedness is rising.
Do glasses make a child's eyes weaker or dependent on them?
No. Wearing the correct glasses does not worsen a child's eyesight, and it does not lead to any eye disease. It also will not make them "dependent": your child's eyes work exactly as they did before, the glasses simply correct the focus in front of them, the way a hearing aid does not damage hearing.
The genuine risk runs the other way. A child who needs glasses and is not given them, or who is given them and then quietly stops wearing them, can lose ground in visual development that is hard to win back later. If a prescription has just been handed to you and it feels like a big step, here is what to expect once a child needs glasses, including why the first pair is rarely the last.
Do eye exercises fix short-sightedness so glasses aren't needed?
No, not the kind sold as a cure. Eye exercises will not improve or preserve vision, and they will not reduce a child's need for glasses. Short-sightedness comes from the shape and length of the growing eye, and no exercise reshapes that.
There is one narrow place where exercises genuinely help, and it deserves saying. Some children have a specific problem with the two eyes teaming up at near distance, and an eye doctor may prescribe targeted exercises for that particular issue. That is a real, supervised treatment for a specific diagnosis. It is a different thing entirely from a programme promising to erase a child's prescription, and no such programme delivers on that promise.
Will my child grow out of a squint or a lazy eye?
Start with the harmless version. Deliberately crossing the eyes for a laugh, however dramatic it looks, will not force them to stay that way: the eye muscles simply do not work like that, and the moment your child stops pulling the face, they return to normal. That is a party piece. An eye that drifts or turns on its own, at rest, when nobody asked for a trick, is something else, and it is the one myth on this list I want you to take seriously.
Usually a true squint does not resolve on its own, and if it is not treated while vision is still developing, the loss of sight in the weaker eye can be permanent. This is the myth that costs children their sight, not because anyone meant harm by repeating it, but because it buys the one thing a lazy eye cannot afford: time.
There is a kind and useful nuance to add, not to soften the warning but to be accurate. Some babies do have eyes that look crossed but are not: a wide, flat nasal bridge can create the illusion of a turn, called pseudostrabismus, and that does settle as the face grows. A child can outgrow that illusion. A child cannot outgrow a real, constant turn, and only an examination tells the two apart with any certainty. That is precisely what happens during a proper children's eye test, which needs no letters and no cooperation beyond sitting still for a light.
Amblyopia, what we call a lazy eye, is treated best before around seven or eight years old, and every month spent waiting on the theory that "she'll grow out of it" is a month the treatment window is quietly closing. If you have ever seen a white glow instead of the usual red-eye in a flash photo, that deserves the same urgency, and what a white glow in photos can mean is worth reading regardless of how this myth landed with you. The earliest checks matter too: a baby's first eye check can catch a turn long before a parent would ever spot it unaided.
Does colour blindness mean my child sees only in black and white?
No, and this myth deserves a place on the list because it changes how worried a parent needs to be. Most children who are colour blind see partial colour, not a world drained to grey. Reds and greens are the usual pair that gets confused, not colour itself disappearing.
It rarely needs urgent attention the way a squint does, but it is still worth knowing, since it can affect how a child manages certain schoolwork and hobbies long before anyone thinks to test for it. If this is on your mind, colour vision testing in children covers how we check for it and what a result changes day to day.
None of the parents who have repeated these myths to me were wrong to care. They were doing what every generation does, passing on the wisdom they were given, most of which turns out to be gentle, harmless folklore. Only one of these stories has real teeth, and it is the quiet one, the one that sounds reasonable, the one about waiting and seeing. Everything else on this list, feel free to let go of. That one, bring in for a proper look.
- One eye turns in or out constantly, or is still wandering past about three to four months of age.
- You see a white, pale or "glowing" pupil in a photo or in ordinary light.
- Your child objects strongly when one particular eye is covered.
- There is a drooping lid, a persistently watery or red eye, or an unusual head tilt.
- Anyone in the family had a squint or a lazy eye as a child.
Common questions
Do carrots really improve eyesight?
Will reading in dim light ruin my child's eyes?
Is sitting close to the TV bad for my child's eyes?
Do glasses make children's eyes weaker?
Will my child grow out of a lazy eye or squint?
Do eye exercises work for short-sightedness?
If my child crosses their eyes for fun will they get stuck that way?
Does colour blindness mean my child sees in black and white?
- American Academy of Ophthalmology · Common eye and vision myths and facts · www.aao.org
- AAPOS · Glasses for children · aapos.org
- American Academy of Ophthalmology · Strabismus in children · www.aao.org
- NHS · Squint · www.nhs.uk
- American Academy of Ophthalmology · Amblyopia (lazy eye) · www.aao.org