Eyes and ears open! Healthy senses are crucial on the streets
Well-working sense organs are important for children in order to stay out of danger in road traffic. Parents should check that their children's eyes, ears and motor functions are developing correctly. The German associations of opticians as well as pediatricians advocate early preventive medical check-ups.
Their nose buried in a book, this is how parents like to see their children. But if the young reader is holding the book just inches from his eyes, this might have another cause than mere enthusiasm for what he is reading: poor eyesight. Cross-eyed, short-sightedness and long-sightedness in one or both eyes – poor vision acts as a hindrance in everyday life for children, and can place them at particular risk in road traffic.
Poor vision often remains undetected
If a child is constantly squinting or complains about irritated eyes, just misses catching the ball or has to stand conspicuously close to the bus timetable to read it, a check-up with the optician could be well advised. The earlier, the better (so say the doctors), because the eyes and brain are still in the process of connecting and nerve tracts are expanding. A child's sight will not have fully developed until the child is around seven years old. If detected too late, malformations often have far-reaching consequences: "Around 6% of all children will never achieve their full eyesight because visual defects which can be treated are not detected," warns the German association of opticians, and advocates a routine preventive check-up with the optician while the child is still young. This is because situations arise again and again where even children with pronounced defects remain undetected and can apparently see well because they were able to make up for their weaknesses. Many school children even succeed in compensating for farsightedness of up to 10 diopters, says the association.
"Constant headaches may be the result if the brain is trying to make the pictures which it sees 'sharp‘, e.g. by changing their head posture," says Michael Mühlschlegel, spokesperson for the Baden-Württemberg association of pediatricians. He knows that parents should take their children seriously, for example if they complain about their teacher who apparently always writes so small and illegibly on the blackboard.
Prevention is important
Mühlschlegel and his colleagues attempt to detect malfunctions in children on time using the regular preventive check-ups offered in Germany. This involves checking the child's eyesight and hearing. "Hearing difficulty or even deafness should be identified at an early stage while the child is still a baby," says Mühlschlegel. "However, discrete hearing disorders, e.g. when specific frequency ranges cannot be heard, normally remain undetected," he continues. In addition, a wide range of illnesses such as frequent middle ear inflammations, infectious diseases such as the measles, mumps and German measles and even meningitis can have a long-term detrimental effect on the ears or on the brain regions responsible for hearing. And constantly listening to loud music through headphones and using ear plugs can, over the years, harm the ears to such an extent that permanent hearing difficulty is the result.
A further danger which traffic poses to children lurks in the decline in children's motor skills, a point which experts raise time and time again. After all, Velcro fasteners have replaced shoelaces, zips have replaced buttons, and the television has taken the place of the climbing frame. This will not do a child's fine or rough motor skills any favors when it comes to riding a bicycle safely.
