WF
MY TURN
‘Zeke’s New Glasses’
BY DANA COHEN
34 Washington FAMILY AUGUST 2021
had? I had to change my strategy and try to
build a little acceptance so that he wouldn’t
immediately snub the glasses when they
arrived, which I fully expected him to do.

One night before bed, he told me he
felt sad about needing glasses because he
was worried “people won’t know it’s Zeke
when I wear them.” I reminded him of all
the people we know who wear glasses.

We recognize them easily, and it’s no big
deal—just an extra accessory. Even his dad
wears glasses!
I decided to write a book for him, “Zeke’s
New Glasses,” featuring photos of our
family, friends and neighbors wearing their
glasses. I thought seeing so many familiar
faces and having some silly rhymes would
get him laughing and make the topic of
glasses less daunting for him. I created the
book online and had it printed and mailed
to us. It included 35 family members, friends
and characters wearing their glasses.

“Zeke has new glasses.

Daddy wears them too.

Amanda and Mark have glasses,
and they’re just a few.”
Dana Cohen is a communications
professional who lives in Towson with
her husband, Michael, and their two kids,
Zeke and Thea.

DAVID STUCK
W hen I found out my spirited
4-year-old son Zeke needed
glasses at a routine doctor’s
appointment, I immediately started my
campaign to hype him up about how cool
glasses are and how much fun it will be to
pick out frames. He was not convinced. We
borrowed every children’s book from the
library we could about glasses. The problem
was they all centered around the theme
of not being able to see and how glasses
magically solved the problem. “I can see,”
he’d repeatedly tell my husband and me.

The books didn’t resonate with him at all.

I realized that at 4, the way he sees is all
he’s ever known. Of course he thought he
could see! Honestly, so did I. This was a kid
who pointed out all the different types of
vehicles as we drove along the highway, easily
recognized objects and never appeared to
squint or strain. In his preschool program,
learning is play. He wasn’t expected to read
a chalkboard from a distance, accomplish
highly precise tasks or struggle to complete
schoolwork. Why would he be eager to wear
glasses to fix a “problem” he didn’t think he
I found photos online of some things he
likes and included them, too.

“Glasses help your eyes so you can see the
world clearly.

Firefighters, construction workers and truck
drivers wear them and get a checkup yearly.”
I ended the book with some words I was
hoping would quell the biggest worry he
expressed—that no one would know it was him
behind his new frames.

“Wearing glasses is no big deal. We
promise. It’s true.

Your glasses just make you the best
version of YOU.

You’re still the same Zeke, and
everyone can agree.

Zeke is kind, silly and smart, and now
he can see.”
When Zeke’s glasses arrived, he was more
interested in them than I expected. He tried
them on and kept them on for a bit. Every
day afterward he wore them for longer
chunks of time. Progress! About a week in,
I heard him get up in the morning. I peeked
on my phone at the camera we have in his
room. I saw him get out of bed, pick up his
glasses, put them on himself and grab the
book before settling into his big chair. He
looked at the cover and “read” aloud “Zeke’s
New Glasses” and began to flip through the
pages. We’re now a few months in, over that
initial trepidation, and he recognizes the
glasses help him. He happily wears them
every day.

As parents, we always want to protect our
kids from hard things, but children learn
resilience by facing adversity and working
past it. To a 4-year-old, glasses feel big! I’ve
actually enjoyed navigating this parenting
test. It taught both me and my son the
value of acknowledging an unavoidable life
challenge—and there will be many, as we
all know—and finding a way to creatively
tackle it together. T