They Made Her Take Her Glasses Off!

[Peg In The Pound]

Sorry for this vent but I just had to let off a bit of steam...
My daughter is almost three years old and is in her first year of preschool.
She has worn glasses since she was nine months old to correct her strabismus (lazy eye).
We have been extremely fortunate that, so far, there has been no discussion of surgery.
We received her school pictures yesterday and discovered that they photographer made her take off her glasses!
The teacher's assistant told us the photographer said it was because of the glare on her glasses.
Her glasses are a part of who she is, and I just think it is so )(*&(*&%$$^%$& that they had her take them off.
AND
I have a hard time believeing that they have NO experience in taking pictures of children in glasses... but I would have prefered the glare.

 

[lovesmurfs]

DD's been wearing glasses since 1st grade (she's in 4th) and every school picture she's done has her glasses on.

 

[lowie]

i understand exactly what you mean, it's almost showing her that she isn't as pretty with them on. i'm sure wearing glasses isn't on her list of favorite things, so making a deal out of them might make her not want to wear them. i'd either ask them to re-take the picture or take her to a local photog for portraits.

 

[Kim&Chris]

That's terrible. You should demand a re-do, or take her somewhere & have the photos redone at the studio's expense. I've been wearing glasses since I was 18 months old, and not once did a school photog tell me to remove them. That's soooo insulting. Poor thing....did it upset her to be asked to remove her glasses?

 

[Kirby]

They could have done something, tilted her head differently, adjusted the lighting. They didn't want to take the time to work with her. There might have been a glare but not much. Both of my kids wore glasses from about the 5th grade to 9th and there was a glare in only one picture.

 

[Butwhyistherumgone?]

Sorry for this vent but I just had to let off a bit of steam...
My daughter is almost three years old and is in her first year of preschool.
She has worn glasses since she was nine months old to correct her strabismus (lazy eye).
We have been extremely fortunate that, so far, there has been no discussion of surgery.
We received her school pictures yesterday and discovered that they photographer made her take off her glasses!
The teacher's assistant told us the photographer said it was because of the glare on her glasses.
Her glasses are a part of who she is, and I just think it is so )(*&(*&%$$^%$& that they had her take them off.
AND
I have a hard time believeing that they have NO experience in taking pictures of children in glasses... but I would have prefered the glare.

I feel your pain! My dd is 9 and has worn glass since age 3.
We just had professional pictures done and the photographer asked if she had to wear her glass- UMM YES - That is her!

I would call the photographer and ask for a retake. They should know how to take a picture of kids with glasses - if they dont they need to learn

 

[BabyTigger99]

Any decent photographer should be able to get rid of the glare on the glasses. I worked at Sears Portrait Studio for many years, and we would have NEVER asked someone to take off their glasses.

 

[Tuffcookie]

I used to go to my optometrist's office the day before school pictures and borrow a frame similar to DS's for his school pictures. That way he could have glasses on without fear of glare.
Can you check with your eye doctor and do the same for retake day?

TC

 

[DVCLiz]

They could have done something, tilted her head differently, adjusted the lighting. They didn't want to take the time to work with her. There might have been a glare but not much. Both of my kids wore glasses from about the 5th grade to 9th and there was a glare in only one picture.

Kirby - Change that font size, girl!!!! I had to squint to see it!!!!

 

[robinb]

Kirby - Change that font size, girl!!!! I had to squint to see it!!!!

Me too! Between the font size and the color of the font I can't read your post at all. And I have my glasses on!

OP, I would have them re-take the photo with the glasses on at their cost. I think all photographers will do that for you.

 

[ckay87]

They could have done something, tilted her head differently, adjusted the lighting. They didn't want to take the time to work with her. There might have been a glare but not much. Both of my kids wore glasses from about the 5th grade to 9th and there was a glare in only one picture.

Oh great, now I need glasses.

 

[cruiserkaren]

Yep I'd be mad! My dd is in preschool and will be getting her pics taken soon. I will be sure to tell her teachers her glasses are to stay on!

 

[cheerful chickadee]

I've worn glasses since I was 2 and they always tried to take my glasses off for school pictures. My mom would write a huge note on my order form "KEEP GLASSES ON" and they did abide by that BUT made no effort to reduce the glare. I have a few school pics where my eyes are totally blacked out because of the glare, they really do try to rush each kid in and out.

 

[Peg In The Pound]

Thank you all for your responses! I couldn't tell if I was over-reacting or not (first child, first preschool, first pictures, etc) but I just felt heartbroken that they made her take off her glasses.
I knew that we would probably have to deal with children teasing her at some point (either for her glasses or for her eye crossing when she doesn't have her glasses on) but I honestly NEVER expected to have to explain to adults how insensitive they are being.
We want her to be confident in who she is... and telling her that she can't have her picture taken with her glasses on is just sad.
I am going to call the photographers today and let them know how completely insensitive they were to do that.
But... thank you all.

 

[Ariel Mae]

I believe we were given the option to take off our glasses. We were told of the glares, and it was a suggestion.

 

[linda0706]

The same thing happened to my DD in pre-k. Her eyes cross terribly if she doesn't wear her glasses. She had just lost her front teeth & I wanted that picture! It was the spring pictures & they did not have a retake day. Her teacher was very upset about it also. Not her fault, as she was out sick that day, but she made a point to tell me she never would've let the photographer do that if she'd been there.

Since then I always write on the order form DO NOT REMOVE GLASSES!

 

[Uncle Remus]

Thank you all for your responses! I couldn't tell if I was over-reacting or not (first child, first preschool, first pictures, etc) but I just felt heartbroken that they made her take off her glasses.
I knew that we would probably have to deal with children teasing her at some point (either for her glasses or for her eye crossing when she doesn't have her glasses on) but I honestly NEVER expected to have to explain to adults how insensitive they are being.
We want her to be confident in who she is... and telling her that she can't have her picture taken with her glasses on is just sad.
I am going to call the photographers today and let them know how completely insensitive they were to do that.
But... thank you all.

What a great mom you are!!

 

[jen0610]

Of the 3 kids in my family, 2 of us wear glasses. You can count on 1 hand the number of school/family pictures that show either of us wearing our glasses. It was a MUST to remove our glasses. Mom hates glasses in pictures so much, that she has now drilled it into my kids to take them off. Which when they were little, it was hard for them to not do what grandma told them just before going to school. With my kids now being 11 and 13, they know that they are to wear them in any and all pictures that I pay for. She was in a tizzy when DD11 brought home her school pictures this year and she had on her glasses. She just got glasses in June and was excited to get her picture in them.

But I can say for myself, in family picture, I much perfer myself without my glasses. Pictures taken at parties or outting, I don't mind my glasses, but in posed pictures, they gotta go.

 

[Becky2005]

I agree with preschool with the glasses as it's probably just part of them.

I have worn glasses since I was in 3rd grade. I took them off for my Senior picture. I don't even think it was suggested, I just didn't want them on.

I have the worst picture EVER for my 7th grade due to my horrible glasses I was wearing at the time. I apparently had no idea what those particular frames looked like until I got the pictures back. I do believe I went out and got new glasses after that.

Just a heads up for later on in life that with older kids, it may be THEM taking the glasses off, not necessarily the photographer doing so.

 

[daisax]

I wore glasses from 4th grade through sr year in high school, and always took them off. However, nobody ever ASKED me to!

That photog was way out of line.