Look at how God designed your eyes. The bones of your nose, cheek, and brow form a protective cage to keep large objects from hitting your eyeball. Tear ducts make fluid to wet the surface of your eyes when wind dries them out or when a speck of dirt needs to be washed away. Eyelashes catch dust before it gets onto your cornea. Your lids adjust (squint) to keep bright light from hurting your eyes.

God gave you those natural protections. But eyes are still very delicate. Doctors warn that they are easily injured. They also say that most of the eye injuries they treat could have been prevented. So how can you protect your eyes?

• Wear goggles for some sports and safety glasses for some kinds of work.
• If you do get a bit of something in your eye, don’t rub. Blink and look side to side to try to move the speck to the corner of your eye where tears will wash it out. Or ask your parents to help rinse your eye.
• You’ve probably been warned not to read in dim light. And not to spend too much time staring at computers and phone screens. It’s probably good advice, although doctors don’t agree whether these things actually harm our eyes or just make our eyes tired.
• Wear sunglasses on a bright, sunny day or in bright snow. And don’t stare directly at the Sun or other bright lights.
• If things look out of focus across the room or words on a page look blurry, tell your mom or dad. You might need glasses. Not only could lenses help you see more clearly, your eyes won’t get tired as quickly. And if do you have glasses, wear them. (By the way—don’t wear other people’s glasses.)
• Finally, consider others. Wouldn’t it be awful to know that you hurt someone’s eyes? Don’t throw dirt. Be careful with sticks. Watch out where you point sprays.

Whether for yourself or for others, you could think of lots of rules. And when it comes to eye safety, that’s exactly the point—THINK!