Good Luck

Slate has an article today about schools in Australia mandating that children from kindergarten to sixth grade wear sunglasses outside. I find 2 problems with this: a) isn't that up to the parents to mandate?; and b) good luck getting them to do it. While my toddler son isn't near kindergarten age, he rips sunglasses off with a vengeance and then proceeds to rip the earpieces off. I guess 5-year-olds are probably less likely to be so graphic, but if sunglasses bug them, they won't wear them. So again, good luck!

Australian schools are beginning to require kindergartners to wear sunglasses. In the first school to try it, the rule applies through sixth grade; shades are required only outdoors. Other schools expect to follow, and officials are considering "making sunglasses compulsory in all public school playgrounds." Eye experts go further, arguing that "children should wear sunglasses from infancy." Reason: eye damage from UV rays. Early reports: The mandatory shades are "being well received by the pupils." In fact, "[t]he students say they would also be happy to wear their glasses after school."