We've had this conversation, I am not exaggerating, three times at least
October 19, 2011"I don't know why everyone says you shouldn't stare at the sun. I stare the sun all the time."
"Please don't stare at the sun."
"But I do it and it feels okay."
"It is not okay. Staring at the sun will damage your eyes. This is a fact."
"Hmm, I don't think it's a fact."
"There's really no debating this. No staring at the sun. Period."
"No, but see, it doesn't even hurt!"
"Listen. Even if it doesn't hurt, for whatever reason. Don't stare at the sun."
"I did it once for like ten minutes! And I can see fine."
"You did not look at the sun for ten minutes."
"I really did. My friends dared me and I just stared and stared."
"What?! Stop it! Are you trying to go blind?"
"You don't understand. It's fine. I do it all the time."
"Stop staring at the sun. I can't believe we're still talking about this."
"Mom. Listen to me. I don't get hurt, so it's no problem."
"For the love of--DO NOT STARE AT THE SUN."
"No, see, what I'm saying is, all those people who say it's bad for you are probably wrong. Because I've been testing it."
"They are not wrong. This is basic stuff, Henry. This is--look. No more staring at the sun. Promise me."
"Fine."
"Thank you."
"I'll stop telling you about how I stare at the sun."
"HENRY."
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Hey, guys! Over at my Babble column I'm writing a bunch of posts that are sponsored by Dell (there will be two this week and two next week). And the excellent part of that is that we're giving away a Dell Inspiron! So you should go over there and comment on one of the sponsored posts for a chance to win. Before October 28th, please, thank you, goodnight.
Reader Comments (32)
Just prey there are no eclipses any time soon...
*prAy* Ack. Sorry.
Has he seen the movie Pi?
Just have him watch the opening scene from Pi, and calmly explain that's what happens to kids who stare at the sun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf9IXmCER8o
Ahh, this is the age where they think they know everything (actually that's pretty much every age after they start talking). Make him read this: http://www.strudel.org.uk/blog/astro/000347.shtml and watch the video.
Henry and my son? Separated at birth. No lie.
I'm with Henry. I think it's nonsense! Sounds like medieval mumbo-jumbo to me. "Look not upon the sun or thine eyes shall be stricken and thine cows will not produce milk." Although I will now follow the above links and be proven wrong.
Ummm, I am one of those girls who stared at the sun ALL the time when i was little. AND I also didn't feel anything, so now that I am grown up, kinda I would love to know the real reason one shouldn't look besies 'it's bad for you'. It's all in the details for me :)
Here is the reason why one shouldn't do it.
The retina has no pain receptors, if there is damage you won't feel it. Staring at the sun burns away at the macula, and the cells of the lens of the eye are never replaced; the proteins of the lens are never replenished. The lens cannot repair itself; this damage accumulates over a lifetime.
I've had amazing eyesight all my life, but recently (I'm 35) I found I couldn't read far-away signs as well as I used to. And working at the computer made me dizzy. And I couldn't drive without getting carsick.
So now I wear glasses. I still have 20-20 vision without them, but there are some funky things with my vision that the eye doctor attributed to "sun damage from childhood." Without my glasses, it's like I'm looking through antique windows.
Yes. Oh YES. Insert ANY OTHER TOPIC and this is the conversation I have with my 8 year old almost every day. He is SURE he knows. Whatever it may be.
I am in the library right now trying not to die laughing.
It wasn't until I got to "Mom ..." that I could be sure this wasn't a conversation you had with Scott. What? He's a boy too.
Have you talked about spitting in the wind?
BTDT. He's now 10 and can still see. For now.
Psst, can you ask Babble to put up an RSS feed to your column on it? I don't know why this is such a problem for Babble....
I have missed all your posts which you didn't mention on this site, b/c of no RSS feed!!
Thanks! I just don't want to miss anything!! :-)
*goes back to staring at the sun* ;-)
I don't know why they tell you not to xxxx, I do it all the time and it's fine
I don't envy you as Henry enters the teenage years.
from Discover Magazine
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/03/03/ten-things-you-dont-know-about-the-sun/?pid=21
1) You won't go blind looking at it. Probably.
You've heard this from your mother, your neighbor, and pretty much everyone else: don't look at the Sun or you'll go blind! Well, that's not strictly true. To be clear: no one has ever been permanently and totally blinded by looking at the Sun (despite a recent 30 Rock episode). You can hurt your eyes, but the damage is usually not total, and a lot of it heals (though not always completely).
Usually, damage to the eyes from looking at the Sun happens during a total solar eclipse. The eclipse itself doesn't hurt you -- after all, the point of the eclipse is that the Sun is covered by the Moon! -- but the damage happens in the moments right after the eclipse. While the Sun is blocked, your pupil dilates to let in more light, so when the first sliver of the brilliant Sun reappears your eye is flooded with light. This can cause damage to your retina called solar retinopathy. It's actually not heat damage, but photochemical; the flood of UV light actually alters the chemistry of your cells, damaging them.
In general, the damage is minor and can heal well, though there can be some permanent though relatively minor effects (in other words, you still shouldn't stare at the Sun). Usually the damage is worse in children because their lenses let in more blue light (the lens yellows with age, acting as a natural filter for UV light).
So you won't go permanently and totally blind from looking at the Sun... unless you do it looking through binoculars or a telescope. But then in those cases there are Darwin Awards to consider.
Incidentally, using sunglasses to look at the Sun can actually make things worse, since they block visible light and your pupil dilates to compensate. If you want to observe the Sun -- and I recommend it, because it's fascinating and utterly beautiful -- then read Mr Eclipse's guide to safe solar viewing. It's a site for sore eyes.
Well, he's got a point.
I am pregnant with my first, but I am a nanny to a sweet baby. Over the summer I had 2 other kids, a 4 year old and a 6 year old. I had the same conversation with the 4 year old. ALL. SUMMER. LONG. He was adamant that ObVIOUSLY it was okay to stare at the sun because it didn't hurt HIM at all. His sister would sigh an exasperated sigh and say "Shane, just put on your sunglasses."
...it must be a boy thing.
The only problem is, we only get one set of eyes (unless you get a transplant and then, well, I guess you get 2 sets. Hmmm.). So messing around with them by staring at the sun is pretty dangerous. Which is why it appeals to a boy. How much REAL danger do they have to battle nowadays? No food to kill. No manual work to prove their bravery and man(boy)hood. So the poor kids are left to staring at the sun.
Maybe he needs bull riding lessons or something? Sounds safer for his eyes, at least.
Finally, Bono has someone to join him in staring at the sun.
I like how you pretend that this is a conversation between you and Henry when we all know this is actually a conversation between your husband and you.
Do not stare at the sun, Henry, because of the 4 yr old New Jersey girl whose father told her to look at the sun and now she is blind.
Also, Henry, be thankful and grateful for your mother and the kinds of people that gravitate toward her that can supply her with newslinks about sun blindness like this:
Looking at the Sun is dangerous at any time when any part of the brilliant visible disk of the Sun (its photosphere) is visible; to do so can cause permanent eye damage. This is true at any time, there is an unusually high temptation to look at the Sun, there is a high incidence of eye damage caused. Viewing the Sun through any kind of optical aid, binoculars, a telescope, or even a camera's viewfinder- is extremely dangerous.
I like how you pretend that this is a conversation between you and Henry when we all know this is actually a conversation between your husband and you.
My kid used to look at the Sun, but only while driving in the car, sitting in the back with his head tilted toward the window. Maybe the glass helped prevent damage by converting UV light to infrared. Or maybe there is damage and he is just living with it. He used to complain about seeing yellow and purple dots when he looked at things in sunlight, but now he claims to have no memory of it.