Grabbing Glasses

Post Reply New Topic

In the last few weeks my son has started grabbing his grandmother's glasses off her face at times when he can reach them. He never did this up until recently, not even when he was a baby. Anyone else have a kid that does this? Any idea how to get him to stop? It usually happens without any warning and can happen when he is calm...

My wife and I both wear glasses, and both of our kids did this when they were babies. We just said "no" sharply each time, and my wife might have given a few time outs when they were too persistent - though mainly we kept our faces, and the glasses, out of reach. I don't know if that's the right thing to do with an older child.

I grabbed my mom's glasses when I was little, much to her ire. After telling me not to didn't work the first few times, she pointed out that I could damage her glasses by grabbing them and then she couldn't see anything. I never tried to grab her glasses again. Maybe that'll work for your kid, too.

My son does the same thing, and he's quick as a cat when he does it too. I'm not sure if he understands what we're saying to him when we try to reprimand him though. I usually just try to warn people beforehand that he's an eyeglass thief. He'll do it with necklaces too, if they're long or if they have beads.

Is this something that seems to amuse him, or that seems to be part of an examination? For the later, does he then study the glasses or the face? If he seems fascinated by the glasses themselves, he could be trying to figure out how they work. If he then studies her face, he could be trying to understand what her face looks like without them, which could be curiosity or related to some version of face blindness.

I'm going to guess it's pretty simple curiosity, however. I have a vague memory of my NT daughter going through a short phase like this around that age, maybe ....

Maybe its just a sensory impulse thing?

Does he get much of a reaction from you? My kiddo used to do things like that just to see what the reaction would be. If you think this could be it, try just ignoring it and putting them on then redirecting him to a task to keep his hands busy.