We did all the questions again. But this time, the doctor said that my eyesight was not perfect

As told to Chaya Rosen

MY name is Yossi, and I live in Eretz Yisrael. I’m in first grade. I like collecting cards and trading with my friends, and I love to read. Before first grade, my mother took me to the eye doctor. She explained to me that before schoolwork gets more serious, it’s a good idea to make sure that I see well. My mother told me that sometimes, there are kids who don’t see well, and they don’t do well in school — not because they’re not smart, but because they can’t see properly, which makes them unable to learn properly. That made a lot of sense to me.

We went to the eye doctor and had to wait a long time. I got eye drops that stung my eyes, but I was very brave. My mother squeezed my hand and told me that I was doing great. After a very long wait, we went into the eye doctor’s room. It was dim inside, with interesting machines and a big box of round lenses with plastic casings. I sat on a black, swiveling stool and tried to swivel around, but my mother stopped me. The doctor spoke to her for a few minutes and then he turned to me. He checked my eyes, and asked me to look at a flashlight. It was a funny, duck-shaped flashlight. Then he covered my eyes, one at a time, and looked into the other eye. Then he said we were going to play a game. He flicked a switch and the room grew even darker, and he turned on a projector. The wall across from me lit up with a gray box. In the gray box, there were numbers. He asked me if I could recognize my numbers. “Of course!” I said. We learned that in gan, a long time ago!