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Eye exams and glasses are usually top of mind for parents and caregivers when it comes to children’s ocular health, but it’s still important to remember sunglasses for kids too! Here at Merivale Vision Care, we offer a great array of sunwear for children, from new babies up to big kids, in about 39475 fun colours and shapes!

Polaroid Collection

For the bigger littles in your life, we offer the Polaroid collection. They come in tons of different cool-kid styles that mimic the silhouettes of trendy designer eyewear. They come in every colour of the rainbow. Most importantly, they offer the signature Polaroid technology which includes polarization filters, UV400 protection, and shock absorbent properties so they can last through active days. Polaroid offers everything from fun colours in mirror-coats like red, to simple, classic and functional grey lenses. Fun and functional!

Babiators

We love the Babiators for littler littles. These are awesome for ages 0-5. The Black Ops model with blue mirrored lenses is great for a super cool Little-Dude look without scrimping on the protection.

The Sweetheart is a recent addition to our collection with adorable heart-shaped lenses. Babiators fit closely to the face for added protection. An optional strap will help keep the frame on at the park, splash pad, or beach.

The shatter-resistant 100% UV blocking lenses keep eyes completely protected from damaging rays from the sun, the mirror coat reflects excess light away from the front surface of the lens, and the polarization filters out extra glare for a comfortable tint in super bright light. Once you pick these up for your kids, be sure to register the frames with Babiators—they offer an unbeatable replacement guarantee!

Helpful Tips and Pointers

The Optician in me cannot sign off without offering some helpful and important pointers to keep in mind when selecting sunglasses for your kids:

1. Make sure they are labelled as 100% UV protection or UV400. Everything we sell at MVC is UV400 protected, but if you’re looking elsewhere (gasp!) ensure you spot the label before you purchase. Why? See the next point.
2. Avoid purchasing toys or kids sun wear missing this label. Tinted lenses without UV protection can do more harm than good. When you place a tinted lens in front of your eyes, the pupils enlarge in the darkened lighting conditions. If the protection isn’t there to block UV rays, the lens is allowing MORE harmful rays into the eye. Toys for inside, real sunglasses for outside, please.
3. Select shatter resistant or polycarbonate lenses, they are the safest for bouncy, busy kids.
4. Grey lenses are a good choice in lens colour because they offer a neutral contrast, so kids see the world in natural colours.
5. Where possible, select frames that sit close to the brow line and wrap around the face. The frame will block out as much light as possible, protecting the eyes and the delicate skin around them.

Since we are heading into the warmer months where outdoor activities abound, planning sun wear for the whole family is a great idea. Kids spend at least as much time as adults outdoors, if not more. Just like protecting skin with sunscreen, wearing the right shades ensure kids’ eyes are protected too. C’mon in and have the kids pick up some sweet new sunnies today!

Written by Tracey Lee, R.O Optician at MVC

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