I have spent three summers fighting the sunglasses battle. If you have a child who refuses to wear sunglasses, you know exactly what I mean. The routine is always the same: you put them on, they take them off. You put them on again, they take them off again, faster this time, with more conviction. You try a different pair. Same result. You give up and spend the rest of the holiday squinting at your child squinting into the sun, feeling like you've failed at something fundamental.
I had tried four different pairs of children's sunglasses before I found Babiators. My daughter Rosie removed every single one within minutes of them going on. Some lasted seconds. One lasted approximately the time it took me to take my hands away from her face.
The Babiators Polarised Keyhole Sunglasses in Totally Tortoise are the first pair she has kept on. For an entire two-week holiday in Portugal. I am not exaggerating when I say I nearly cried the first time she left them on for more than five minutes.
Why I Decided to Try Again
I'd essentially given up on children's sunglasses as a category. Then a friend whose daughter is the same age as Rosie mentioned Babiators at a playgroup, specifically because her daughter — also a dedicated sunglasses-remover — had started keeping them on. She said the key was the fit and the flexibility: the frames are made from a soft, flexible rubber that doesn't pinch or feel rigid, and the fit is designed for children's faces rather than being a scaled-down adult frame.
I looked them up that evening. The Totally Tortoise Keyhole style caught my eye immediately — the tortoiseshell pattern is genuinely beautiful, the keyhole bridge is a classic shape that works on small faces, and the polarised lenses meant proper UV protection rather than just tinted plastic. I ordered them from ALTOE for £45, which felt like a lot for children's sunglasses but considerably less than the cumulative cost of the four pairs I'd already bought and abandoned.
Why These Ones Specifically
The flexibility is the thing. Babiators frames are made from a material that bends rather than breaks, which matters both for durability and for comfort. Rigid frames press against children's temples and behind their ears in ways that adults barely notice but children find immediately intolerable. The Babiators frames flex with movement, which means they don't create the pressure points that make children want to pull them off.
The polarised lenses are also genuinely polarised — not just UV-coated, but actually polarised, which reduces glare significantly. I noticed the difference myself when I tried them on (briefly, before Rosie reclaimed them). The Totally Tortoise colour is also a factor: it's a proper tortoiseshell pattern, warm and classic, and Rosie has decided she likes how she looks in them. A child who thinks they look good in their sunglasses is a child who keeps them on. This is the insight I wish I'd had three summers ago.
What Happened on Holiday
We flew to Portugal ten days after the sunglasses arrived. I packed them with low expectations and a backup plan that involved a lot of shade. On the first morning at the pool, I put them on Rosie. She looked at her reflection in my sunglasses. She left them on.
She wore them every day for two weeks. At the pool, on the beach, walking around the town, at lunch in the sun. She wore them until the light faded and then asked where they were the next morning. On the last day, she fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport with them still on her face. I took a photo. It is my favourite photo from the entire holiday.
How It Changed Things
The practical answer is that Rosie's eyes were properly protected from UV for an entire summer holiday for the first time. That matters — children's eyes are more vulnerable to UV damage than adults', and the years when they're most likely to be outside in bright sun are the years when protection is most important.
The less practical answer is that the sunglasses battle is over. Rosie now asks for her "tortoise glasses" when we go out in the sun. She puts them on herself. She keeps them on. Three summers of fighting, ended by a pair of flexible rubber frames and a tortoiseshell pattern that a three-year-old decided she liked the look of.
For £45, the Babiators Polarised Keyhole Sunglasses in Totally Tortoise are the best children's sun protection purchase I've made. They're also the only children's sunglasses I've ever bought that I didn't eventually find at the bottom of a bag, still in perfect condition because they were never actually worn.
Get the Babiators Polarised Keyhole Sunglasses in Totally Tortoise here: Babiators Polarised Keyhole Sunglasses – Totally Tortoise
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