My ten years old got into soccer recently and he’s getting good at it, except, he has this paranoia that he’ll get blind (or will have severe eye damage) if he traces the ball through the air against a sunny backdrop. Because of this he won’t practice in the evening and this is when most training happens.
We had an eclipse recently and I think he took the “don’t look at the sun” mantra way too far and I don’t know how to undo that.
Please help!!!
In: Physics
No matter how many times you explain it to him, he’ll find another excuse. He doesn’t like soccer. 😂
David Mitchell did a great bit on Would I Lie to You about how he was scared of the sun when he was a boy. He said that rules and warnings are generally calibrated for the reckless kids, which can leave the sensible kids terrified and anxious.
The issue with damage on your eyes depends on the amount of light that enters your eyes. The iris in the eye controls how much light enters. When it is dark the iris opens to let more light. When it is daylight the iris closes to let less light enter. So during the day less light enters your eyes so you are able to look at the sun without worrying. The time depends per person but around 30 seconds should be fine. Permanent damage can occur in about 100 minutes. All this is perfectly fine for a quick glance while playing soccer.
As for why there is a problem during eclipse. During an eclipse, the sky goes dark. If it’s a total eclipse it can appear as if it’s night time. During this time, like I said, the iris opens up to let a lot of light in, but it’s dark and it fine. Until the sun shows up. Now it’s very bright, lots of light and your eyes are letting in lots of light. That can damage your eyes very very quickly because the iris is open and the amount of light entering is many many times larger.
Is giving him sunglasses not an option? Like he’s not right but he’s not wrong, either. Give him sunglasses with a sports strap to keep them on his head.
I have been doing this, precisely this, ~1-3 games per week, from when the snow melts until it snows again, for about 15 years. Just had an eye check up and my prescription still has not changed in that time.
Don’t tell him this, but it’s the knees, ankles, and hips he should be worrying about before his eyes…
Do you take this kid to an eye doctor? Have them tell him. You could probably even call them up and ask for the Dr to spend 2 minutes on the phone to reassure him if you won’t have another in person appointment for a while.
This actually used to bother me too, in high school, playing tennis. When serving the ball, you’re watching it fly up into the air while you time your swing. At some point you’re bound to be doing so right into the direction of the sun.
All you can do is what people normally do – wear sunglasses, squint, and do your best to minimize how directly you have to look at the sun, and how long you do it. You’ll get some bright streaks that stay in your vision sometimes, but they fade out in a few minutes.
I don’t know what I’d say to your son, but if you want, tell him that FartyPants69 played a sport that had him looking at the sun probably even worse than he does, he had the same worries, but at age 44 he still has absolutely no problems with his vision
Sunglasses? Worth a shot.
Did you push him into soccer?
Congrats for having a kid with a thinking cap on. Get him some sports wraparound sunglasses and tell him by the time the sun’s down near the horizon, it is being filtered through a lot more atmosphere (so less of it is reaching him) than where it was when a president was challenging it to a staring contest. I don’t think he’s 100% in the wrong here tbh, but that has to do with eyes adjusting to sun vs soccer ball in the moments before sunset.
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