Teaching moments

[Cindy]

I have the best job in the world! I am the supervisor for the Extended Day program in an elementary school. My hours are from 6:45 - 8:45 am and 3:15-6:00 pm during the school year. My kids are K-5 age group. We are inside, outside (weather permitting) and our activities run the gamut from dodge ball games to homework help to crafts to computer work. I adore it and have fallen in love with many of the kids.

Once in awhile, I have to use my drops during my time with the kids. I try to be discreet but it's not possible to use my drops without an audience. Some of the kids are by my side all of the time and nothing I do goes unnoticed.

I have explained my drops to some of them when they ask. Mostly, they are amazed that my drops are red in color. I use NutraTear (the red Dr. Holly drops).

The last day of school I overheard one of the kindergarteners explaining to his 'posse' that "Miss Cindy puts red kool-aid in her eyes". I didn't say a word at the time. About a half hour later I took the kids out for Group Time. Group Time that day was 'sharing' our plans for summer vacation. I decided I would be the first to share something. I explained that the red drops I use are, in fact, not kool-aid but drops I use to make my eyes feel better. And that they are red because of the vitamin in them. And that they should never, ever, EVER put anything in their eyes that their parents don't know about. And that they should never put kool-aid in their eyes. Sheesh. Kids.

[rubyslippers]

I also, put my drops in in front of my students. My kids are older, but I talk to them about ways to take care of their eyes and why we run a humidifier in the classroom (eye, skin, and lung health).

[stephgurl1986]

I often think about how I'm going to handle the drops when I start working...I mean,I'll be in an office and I cannot go to the toilet every 30-45min and I know that computer work will increase my use of drops.
@ all the people working in an office: How do you handle it? Do you just put in the drops while sitting at your desk? Did you tell anybody before (when you started the job? or when the dry eyes started)? I think for all the other people it's not a big deal, they won't care whether I use drops or not but for me this is BIG, I mean, I don't know how to handle it...I'll start my work in Sept and I'm really afraid of the whole eye drop thing...

[Judy]

I just do my drops right at my desk in my office.. Not a problem. No one ever says anything to me. There are lots worse things people do in their offices, I'm sure...

[Silverlady]

Don't worry

I'd just put them in at my desk and not worry. If you don't make a big deal out of it, ..then no one else will. I put drops in my eyes everywhere. I've even stopped my grocery cart in Walmart and put them in. I always pull over where I won't be in anyone's way. Eye drops are a big thing to us, but to other people they just aren't. You will probably find that a lot of your co-workers use eye drops too.

Billye

[mary kenny badami]

stephgurl, I agree: don't worry

I recently retired from university teaching in the USA, but there were two parts of my job where eye problems were evident. Here's how I handled them.

(a) Bad vision after Lasik surgery -- great by day, terrible by night. Even by day, because I chose "monovision" to preserve some near-vision and not require reading glasses, I do not have ultra-crisp distance vision. For which I wore eyeglasses around my neck, one lens to bring my "near eye" to 20/20, and a blank space in the other lens area (because that eye generally tests 20/20). I wore them with pride and used them occasionally, just in the event that I should need to look from the back to the front of an auditorium, or sit in the back of my classroom watching a student make a demonstration in the front. So, the second week of every semester, by the time students had had some time to take their measure of me, I spent about three minutes at the end of one class to say, "Some of you may have noticed these glasses around my neck, glasses which I rarely use, but one side of which is empty. That's not a mistake; it's my best accommodation to vision problems. Here's why: I had Lasik eye surgery which worked out well in some respects, but not in others." etc., etc., etc. My students were generally quite curious -- and this took up only a few minutes of in-class time. Some approached me thereafter with questions. I truly believe that my matter-of-fact personal testimony prevented more than a few from jumping onto the Lasik bandwagon. I agree with Cindy and rubyslippers that we can make these into age-appropriate "Teaching Moments."

(b) Pre-existing dry eyes made much worse by Lasik eye surgery -- In addition to classroom teaching, I spent many hours a day at my desk in office hours, advisement, research, computer work, and so on. I always kept my eyedrops ON my desk for my own sake, as a reminder to use them regularly. And I printed up an index card which I affixed to my computer, on which the single word "BLINK" was written in boldface. If I chose to use eyedrops while in conference with a student or a colleague, I would simply say "Excuse me; I have severe dry eyes and need to use these drops just now." I would swivel my chair slightly away from their direct gaze and just use the drops. If they asked for more information, I would tell them. If not, we continued our meeting. And if anybody asked about "BLINK," I would tell them that the tear-film of even healthy eyes can be compromised by computer use if someone doesn't take breaks and consciously blink regularly. Just as Judy and Silverlady said in their posts before this one, in the office for me it was no big deal, not once, not ever.

Cindy -- how great to "see" you again here and to learn that you have been flourishing in your new job!

stephgurl1986 -- Ich wuensche Sie alles gute in Ihrem zukuenftigen Beruf. Ach du meine Guete, habe ich zu viel meines deutsche Sprachwissens vergessen! Ich wohnte in Muenchen fuer fuenf Jahre und arbeitete fuer ein Jahr als “Wissenschaftsliche Hilfskraft fuer den Englishen Sprachunterrict," Bundesanstalt fuer Flugsicherung -- zu dieser Zeit (1969-70) gefunden am Flughafen Muenchen-Riem. Na ja, wie wir in Bayern typische gesacht haben: Gruess Gott, Stephgurl (wenn Sie Ihn sehen).

[dianat]

Good to see you, Cindy. I'm so glad you love your job. It gives me hope that some day when I go back to work I may find something my eyes can cope with.

Next time you give the kids a lesson in not putting anything into their eyes, you might also mention not letting anyone talk them into unnecessary eye surgery. (Just a pesky little detail that may help them out some day.)

D

[liz56]

So, Cindy, just to clarify, that glass of water that you keep on the nightstand to unstick your eyes in the mornings is unsweetened?

It's nice to see you post. Your stories were my inspiration before I got effective treatment.

--Liz