Perks of a Back Up Pair

As a customer, you may think an eye-wear retailer is just trying to sell you more glasses, more lenses or more accessories. While we are running a business, we are also here to help you make the most out of your time at our office and make the most out of the products we offer. We want to offer more than just a business-client aspect to our relationship. We want to help your daily life be and function better, make it all a little easier. Having a spare or back-up pair of glasses might seem unnecessary, that feeling is only true when you don't actually need them. Think about the moment your glasses are nowhere to be found. Or when they have fallen and cracked, or been stepped on by accident. Not so unimportant an issue now, is it?

As a parent there are lots of things you need to remember each and every day. Healthy lunches and water bottles, signed and returned permission slips, book fair money, drop-off and pick-up times, sports and other after-school activities, even play dates and birthday parties. These are just but a few of the many kid-centric issues parents encounter each and every day. And all of these issues are in addition to broader aspects of daily life, like loads of laundry, food shopping, meal preparations, house cleaning, and even homework help. So many things to remember, and to remember ahead of time so we aren't scrambling at the last minute. Out of all of these issues, one that seemingly falls low on the list but can have a major impact on you and your child's day is forgetting - or even worse, misplacing or damaging - their needed eyeglasses.

What do you do when you are loaded up in the car, off to drop your kids at school and one of them nonchalantly mentions they forget their glasses? Or you get everyone to their after-school activities and look at your child and notice something missing. Their glasses. How can they read their sheet music or hit the fast balls coming at them if they can't see them?

Accidents happen to us all, but kids can also be a little careless when it comes to their own safety, much less the well-being of their eye-wear. Talking to them about their lack of responsibility does little in the moment.

Being prepared ahead of time can avoid all of these last-minute catastrophes. Maybe it is time to order a back up pair of glasses so you'll be ready when the moment comes. A spare set you can keep in the car's glove box or in your purse or even at home so you know they are safe and waiting to step in, if need arises. Ready and waiting for the moment you or your child just spaced out their main pair, or left them "somewhere".

You can browse through all the various frames we offer and find a pair that is maybe more fun than their daily pair, something suitable as a backup. Or, if they misplace them often or just are careless, get a pair they will not want to wear so they will be more motivated to take care of their more stylish frames. Or a straight-up duplicate of the pair they love so if loss or destruction does happen, you can swap them out and not miss a beat. Come off as parent of the year! Or the hour, at least.

So don't think of a bonus or spare pair of lenses as an unneeded or extravagant purchase. Think of it as an insurance plan to that day in the future when things just don't go as planned. Consider them a way to avoid that extra appointment, the wait for the lenses to be created and shipped. A way to avoid all of the days where your child just cannot see well and feels like they are missing out, on school work, on sports, on just anything they need to see well to accomplish.

All of us here at our office are used to the panicked calls of parents hoping their child's prescription has not lapsed. Or that the wait for new glasses won't be days upon days. But as much as we want to be the super-hero when you need us to be, we can only move so fast when ordering new lenses and frames. Why not be the superhero yourself and get ahead of the issue. Contact us via phone or email, and we can get to ordering that back up pair for your child and have you prepared for whatever the day brings. No matter when that day might occur. And don't forget to sign that permission slip or you'll be making more than one trip to school today.

Once you have the extra pair safely tucked in that glove box, or in the drawer at home, you can work on teaching your child to learn to be more responsible about their glasses, about their cost and what it takes to get them examined, chosen, paid for, created and fitted. Maybe when they are aware of all it takes to bring the glasses to them, they will be a bit more careful with them. And this is a lesson that will serve them and you well now, as well as into their future. One day, when they lose a pair of glasses and pull a spare out of their glove box, they will give you a call and thank you for teaching them how important it is to be prepared ahead of time. Can't hurt to hope, right? Even if they never acknowledge it, lessons can be learned each and every day.

We can learn from the Boy Scouts and be prepared.