Introducing Your Grandchildren to Hearing Loss
Hearing loss affects 1 in 6 adults in America today. You may have hearing loss and even wear hearing aids for it. Your grandchildren may be curious about your hearing aids and may not know anything about hearing loss. You can take this opportunity to introduce them to the world of hearing loss.
You can begin by telling them at least one reality about hearing loss; the fact that you yourself have hearing loss. That way, you are making yourself approachable and opening up the path to any questions and concerns that your grandkids may have about hearing loss.
If you have young grandchildren, you can simply let them know that your ears have grown tired because of all the listening they have done all these years, and have thus stopped working properly. Older children might have more questions and are capable of understanding more in-depth explanations about hearing loss.
Grandchildren who are more interested in gaining detailed information about hearing loss can benefit from your personal experience of it. You can let them know what type of hearing loss you have, how long you have had it, and how you have treated it through hearing aids. Let them know how the hearing aids help you hear more than you could before. Most importantly, remember to emphasize the need for protecting their ears from hearing damage so that they do not face hearing loss in the future.
Letting your grandchildren know what a difference using hearing aids has made to your life may help them open up to the idea of getting hearing aids themselves if they ever have hearing loss later in their life.
You can even make hearing loss more interesting for your grandchildren by turning it into a game! You can teach them tricks of how to lip read and explain in what ways other people can communicate better to help those with hearing loss.
Once your grandchildren are on board with all the necessary information they require about hearing loss, use their help whenever you need a boost with hearing help. Let them know how they can help you and give them small chores to help them gain a sense of responsibility.
The only way your grandchildren will truly learn to take good care of their auditory health is if they see you take good care of yours. Start by practicing what you preach, and engage in safe listening habits yourself. You can do this by turning the volume on your television to a comfortable level, wearing auditory protection such as earplugs or ear muffs whenever you go out to noisy settings such as sporting events or engage in noisy chores like mowing the lawn.
Emphasize to your grandchildren how important hearing health is by letting them know that they hearing is actually a gift that can easily be lost if it is not taken care of properly.