21 September 2025
Do you know your Bluey from your Paw Patrol? How are your nursery rhyme renditions? Do you know your Minecraft from your Lego? Engaging with children in the practice settings can require flexibility, empathy, and levity.
Wendy Diddams Optometrists in Knutsford has built a reputation as a family-friendly practice providing children’s eye care and eyewear.
The practice sees a high number of local families, and has a dedicated children’s dispensing area, with toys and books for younger visitors. For children with autism or who are nervous, the staff provide photos of the practice and optometrists, and arrange walk-throughs.
For Fiona Simister, an optometrist at Wendy Diddams Optometrists, the drive to complete the professional certificate in paediatric eye care came from an experience close to home.
She explained: “When my eldest son was a baby, we noticed his eye turning in. I wanted to know everything. So, I signed up for the qualification and I just loved it. Paediatrics is definitely my passion area of optometry.”
Alexandra Fox, optometrist director at Wendy Diddams Optometrists, shared that her passion for welcoming patients of all ages has been partly motivated by her own experience of eye care as a young child.
She said: “I’ve worn glasses from the age of four and I found eye tests very daunting and intimidating when I was little. I’ve always thought that I don’t want kids to feel like that when they come to see me. I want them to want to visit. I want to make it fun.”
The practice team were clear that providing eye care for young children requires a great deal of flexibility.
Fox said: “You can’t have a routine with children. You might ask them to bring toys through to the consulting room, or if no-one else is in the practice, you might be chatting to them in the waiting area.”
Be ready to adapt, the optometrists highlighted, with Fox sharing: “I’ve done ophthalmoscopy on a child who has been on mum’s shoulder. You adapt to do what you need to do.”
Simister shared: “We prioritise making it fun and enjoyable for the child. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box. The first time you do an eye test sitting on the floor, you think – wow! I’ve just done this from the floor.”
Sometimes an appointment might require singing some nursery rhymes along the way to engage younger patients.
Fox shared: “The staff outside will say: ‘That sounded like a fun time’.”
We prioritise making it fun and enjoyable for the child
Tools and techniques
The practice uses a variety of equipment and techniques to support eye testing for younger patients, including different charts, referential looking, stereo tests to meet the appropriate age range, Cardiff acuity cards, dynamic retinoscopy, and colourful children’s trial frames.
Fox said: “There is no age too young for us to see.”
Victoria Schofield, optometrist director at Wendy Diddams Optometrists, has experience as a paediatric optometrist in a local eye department, and brought techniques from the clinic into the practice.
Simister shared: “A technique Vicky brought from her experience in hospital is to use a 20D lens for doing direct ophthalmoscopy on babies and really small children so it’s not right in their face, which makes it less intimidating.”
For very small children, the optometrists might hold a loose lens instead of using the trial frame.
Simister said: “Each child is different. When you’re doing your notes – write down the techniques you used, so that next time you know what the child is comfortable with.”
The practice is also flexible around booking follow-up appointments in order to complete an eye test. Fox explained: “Sometimes parents might say: ‘I don’t know how you’re going to get through this.’ So I will say: ‘Don’t be put off by that. If we can’t do it all today, we can rebook and finish next week’.”
Schofield advised being open with parents about what was achieved at the appointment.
Wendy Diddams Optometrists
Communicating with families
Simister recommended including all of the family in the conversations in the consulting room: “Talk to the child as well as the parents – include everyone in the conversations so everybody knows what is going on.”
Fox added: “Sometimes they might have a sibling there, and we’ll let them watch while we’re using the slit lamp so they are engaged, and when they come back for their own test, they are more familiar with it.”
Engaging both kids and parents in a conversation can be particularly helpful for conversations around myopia management, the optometrists suggested.
Fox shared: “Especially when the child is not myopic, but their parents are, you will have that conversation of – there might be a risk of myopia, and so time outdoors is key.”
Simister added: “We’ll advise keeping screen time to bursts of 20-30 minutes at a time before taking a break and playing outside. That’s the big one for kids who have just got their first phone and are on it all the time.”
While the practice has literature to hand out, this is often emailed to parents, recognising that the information can be a lot to take in during the appointment, and the practice also allows for plenty of time during the eye test for parents to ask questions.
Be understanding
The optometrists emphasised the need for empathy when speaking to parents about their child’s vision, particularly if a referral or further assessments are required.
Simister explained that having personal experience, through her son, of a referral into paediatric ophthalmology for a squint, has helped her connect with parents in these circumstances.
She said: “When they find out for the first time that their child has a lazy eye and vision is reduced, parents are devastated – as an optometrist, I was.”
Fox said: “A parent doesn’t have our knowledge. You need to explain your knowledge, but put yourself in their shoes. If they had thought their child had no issues, they might think they missed something, that it’s their fault, or they should have brought them in sooner.”
“We reassure them that they have done the right thing in bringing their child in, and now that they are under our care, we will care for them,” she added.
During these conversations, parents might seem abrupt, but this can be because they are upset.
Fox commented: “Allow them time to be a little bit upset, and make sure they know your door is open if they have further questions, and that they can approach you about anything further down the line as well.”
Words of advice
The optometrists encouraged pre-registration and newly-qualified optometrists to not be afraid when testing younger patients.
Fox said: “Don’t be scared to make it fun. And don’t be scared to ask for help.”
The practice promotes an open door policy, benefiting from the unique skillsets and experience of the team of optometrists.
Fox said: “If you have a good support network around you, don’t be scared to ask for help if you encounter something you’ve never come across before.”
If you have a good support network around you, don’t be scared to ask for help if you encounter something you’ve never come across before
Simister added: “I’ve done the paediatric qualification, but I’ve never worked in a hospital eye service setting. Whereas Vicky worked for years in the hospital eye service and her expertise is brilliant.”
The practice sees patients of all ages, which means every appointment has the potential to be different, especially with children’s clinics.
Simister cautioned: “Our main children’s clinic is on a Saturday, so I work every Saturday. But I wouldn’t want to change it – it's my favourite day of the week to work.”
Schofield advised optometrists: “Listen to the parents’ concerns really carefully, because they know their child better than we do.”
She also offered reassurance: “Don’t be intimidated – it's not as scary as it seems.”
Being part of the community
As an independent practice embedded in the community, the team get to know families well – whether in routine appointments, fixing glasses that receive a bump in the playground, or local events.
Simister lives and works in the community and said: “I will see children doing their sports for the first time wearing their contact lenses, and the massive boost to their confidence. And when patients get new glasses and I see them in the playground, they will run over to show me and they are so proud.”
Every Halloween, Knutsford holds an event in which children find pumpkins in shop windows.
Often, patients will stop by to show off their outfit, the team shared, or to promise: “I do normally wear my glasses, but it didn’t go with my costume,” Fox shared.
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to join the discussion. Log in