If you are a child you don't know that what you see isn't normal. I have reduced distance vision in my right eye, but how do I know that isn't normal unless someone tells me? It's only when someone asks you directly and you can describe what you see to them, that a problem can be identified. I identified my eyesight problem when I couldn't read a bus number from a distance of 20 feet, a scary thing when you know that I'd been driving around quite happily for a year like that!

Phoebe's eye problems were identified by several factors... a routine eyetest through the school, coupled with information from her teachers - poor concentration, disturbing others with chat and questions, tendancy to go off and do something else familiar - I would suggest that in the 1920-30's, that sort of classroom behaviour was considered just being a naughty child, and was punished rather than investigated.

My father had glasses at an early age (b1927, glasses by age 7), but I've no idea of the circumstances in which he got them. Presumably a parent or teacher noticed he was reading at a distance of about 6 inches!

LTS