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
If his irises are light-colored like blue or gray his eyes will be more sensitive to light. Have you tried giving him some sunglasses or something?
If his eyes are actually “following the ball”, then he’s NEVER EVEN STARING at the sun.
Pretty sure that’s a succinct and descriptive explanation.
“Eyes on the ball, boy!” That should be good enough. Peripheral Sun exposure for short times isn’t damaging, much in the same way getting an x ray at the dentist won’t give you cancer. If he’s JUST tracking the ball through the air, he’s got no problem. If goals are being scored behind him because he can’t stop looking, THEN there’s a problem.
Maybe explain it like food. Kids LOVE shitty junk food, but you tell them all the time how it’s okay once every one or two weeks, but all the time is bad. You’re eyes passing over the sun for half a second tracking the ball isn’t going to cause any issues that you can’t heal from. In the other hand, smoking cigarettes for 30 years will fuck you up. Bodies heal.
During sunsets the sky is getting darker so I would definitely take care to not strain your eyes trying to follow the ball in the waning light. Wait until daytime, or get some big ol lights for the practice field
Just a consideration, and this may not be applicable to your son as I don’t know your son:
He may have sensory issues that are feeding into these worries. A lot of kids with sensory issues aren’t always aware they are feeling something different than others do and don’t always communicate the issue well to others. So it could be as simple as “The sun really hurts and disorients me at dusk + scientists say the sun can be really dangerous + going down the rabbit hole of eye damage + likes to follow rules and science” and you can get behavior that looks a lot like OCD, but isn’t.
If this is the case, you aren’t going to get anywhere with logical arguments unless you make those sensory triggers more tolerable and comfortable for him.
My suggestion is to get custom sports goggles that have transitions lenses, so he can be somewhat shielded by the bright light, but can also play as it starts to get darker.
Also consider, he might just not like soccer and this is his excuse.
The reason it’s dangerous to look into the sun during a Solar eclipse is that it’s so much dimmer while still outputting enough invisible UV light to give your retina sunburn.
Normally, if you look at the sun your natural reaction will be to squint or look away, and your pupil will shrink down to keep the light out. During a solar eclipse, your reaction to look away will be lessened and your pupil will not react as much because there is less visible light.
So eclipses are rather unique in that you can stare at the sun without going “oh god my eyes” and immediately closing them, which allows the invisible UV light to make it into you eye and give you burns.
So there’s no need to be afraid of the sun under normal circumstances, as you body’s reactions will automatically protect you so long as you don’t make a conscious effort hold your eyes open and stare at the sun.
Glancing at the sun for short periods is perfectly fine, you have to look directly at it for an extended period, such as you might during the excitement of a solar eclipse, for it to do any damage.
Sunset and sunrise don’t matter much, it’s still more or less as dangerous.
I have pretty light sensitive eyes, and had similar difficulties at the dentist, so I recommend trying with sunglasses to help him feel more at ease.
After all, there’s not much need for him to even have his eyes open for most of the visit.
I played soccer from 4 years old, through college, and still play on a men’s team now at 37 years old. I have 20/15 vision (better than normal). Glancing at the ball as it moves through the sun is not a problem at all, worst case scenario and the ball is punted so far up in the air it gets lost in the sun for 2-3 seconds (impossible at his age, kids can’t kick that hard) and you’ll see the ball in the sky after it gets far enough away from the sun.
If he is sitting there staring straight at the sun for multiple seconds in a row, he isn’t playing soccer.
Tell him that in 5 billion years the sun will grow and swallow the earth and everyone will die!
Every kid growing up should spend at least a little time worrying about that imo!
That and black holes!
If he’s that worried, get him some *Edgar Davids* style sunglasses, he rocked those on the pitch.
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