Should children run barefoot?

ashley

ashley

Barefooters
Oct 6, 2011
33
2
8
42
folsom Louisiana
#1
My 8 year old daughter has joined the running club at school. She also goes on short jogs with me from time to time. She has beautiful form, and I hate for her to lose that natural gait due to tennis shoes. Is it safe for a young child to run in minimalist shoes (or barefoot in very safe conditions)? I don't see why it would be a problem, but I figured I would try to get some opinions before I go get her a pair and try to convince her coaches to let her run in them.
 
#3
Definitely!I'm sure that use

Definitely!

I'm sure that use of shoes in childhood causes damage to the feet which may be permanent. Barefoot is best right from the start to allow the feet to grow naturally. Good form with safe instinct will come naturally too. I wish I was barefoot as a child!
 
#5
my kids do.

my kids do.
 
#6
Absolutely my 11 year old

Absolutely my 11 year old uses NB Minimus at school for track and gym and uses his barefeet when he runs with me, my 4 year old lives in his Zems and loves to go barefoot as much as possible when he can, including short runs when we go out as a family.

I wish my running form was as fluid as theirs.
 
#8
My 9-year-old son runs with

My 9-year-old son runs with me barefoot. He's worked up to about 6 miles. I bought him some VFFs to run in when we were going out at night, but he always ended up taking them off and running barefoot.

Precious, Karen!
 
#9
Holy cow!  If you can get

Holy cow! If you can get your kids/kid out running at all you're doing wonderfully. Barefoot is even better, because that means you've inspired them. Make what accomodations you have to with your local terrain and conditions, but I think you are doing a fine thing!
 
#11
My 9 year old twin boys are

My 9 year old twin boys are allowed to be barefoot in PE everyday. On the weekend we ran a 10 k as a family. One the boys finished in 1:00:06 not bad considering his merrels were untied for most of the race.
 
#12
pbarker wrote:My 9 year old

pbarker said:
My 9 year old twin boys are allowed to be barefoot in PE everyday.
Click to expand...



Well, color my daughter green with envy! She has been unable to convince her PE teacher that barefoot is OK. She wears Vivobarefoot shoes on PE day. The rest of the week she wears minimal sandals to school.



She told me last night that she wants to do some extra fund raising for the school's fun run this spring because the top collector gets to be "principal for a day" and make one rule for the day. She's planning to declare barefoot day at school. :)



Peace,

Karen
 
#13
My 10 and 11 year old run

My 10 and 11 year old run barefoot (by choice) when we do our 1-2 mile loop around the neighborhood at night. We've had a couple of stubbed toes but that's it. The 11 year old literally could not run in shoes -- it was like he had bricks strapped to his feet. Ditching the shoes was the best thing for him, definitely!

I wish that school was more open to barefoot or minimalist, but they require regular running shoes for gym.

The 15 year old will run barefoot too, but not at football practice :)

I say do it! and agree wholeheartedly that adding shoes changes form, and that kids usually have beautiful form built in.
 
#14
These are all great

These are all great stories.



Kids are fantastic runners and I learn from watching their natural form and running stratagies.

When we did the 10k last weekend the kids naturaly did run/walk. The walks were very short ~15 seconds.



Karen

I hope your daughter wins "principal for a day" that would be fantastic!

I am hoping to talk with my kids PE teacher and make sure he knows we appreciate what he is doing.
 
#15
JosephTree wrote:Holy cow! 

JosephTree said:
Holy cow! If you can get your kids/kid out running at all you're doing wonderfully. Barefoot is even better, because that means you've inspired them. Make what accomodations you have to with your local terrain and conditions, but I think you are doing a fine thing!
Click to expand...



It is all in the approach one takes. I've enjoyed reading Deacon Patrick's take on running with one's children. Hopefully I'll be running with our children in a few years.



Gracia y paz,



A
 
#16
My 7yr old daughter ran the 1

My 7yr old daughter ran the 1 mile fun run with me before my last 5k, and she was barefoot. My son will also run with me barefoot (since he never wears shoes anyway), but only if we're racing. He's 4 and hates to loose, so we only race when Sissy is not looking cause she thinks it's funny to beat him and watch him melt down! Siblings! What can you do!

Either way, it hurts me to watch them run in shoes. They turn into the spawn of Frankenstein!!! "Clop-clop" and their form all kinked up and jerky. I gotte get them some Zems or something for school soon!

-Jonny
 
#17
My 18 month old, is amazing

My 18 month old, is amazing to watch run. He does everything right. My almost 14 year old though, it's really difficult to get her to run. She has a hard time breathing when she runs, plus she has bunions really bad on both feet which hurt her. Unfortunately, she has inherited this trait from both sides of her family, her grandma on her moms side has them really bad and my Dad just had surgery to remove a bad one a couple years ago. I had always thought they were caused from ill fitting shoes but according to her pediatrician that is not the only way to get bunions and they are inheritable. She is not a girly girl either so does not wear cute shoes despite being painful. She actually really loves her converses which aren't too bad considering all the other options out there. Anyways, occaisionaly I can get her to run with me but it's not that often.
 
#18
Whew, glad to know. The trail

Whew, glad to know. The trail they run on at the school is safe, but because she is at school she has to have something on her feet. For right now I just got her a pair of water shoes ( to make sure she really does want to do this). And when I say very safe conditions I mean I only let her run barefoot in places that I know well, are clean and free of glass or rocks, and are mostly grassy.

Thanks a ton everyone!!!
 
#19
I know this is old, but I'm

I know this is old, but I'm hoping we can get something minimal like Zems or similar for my son who turns 2 in a few weeks. He started walking a year ago, and was barefoot most of the time over the summer. However my wife stays home with him during the day, and her mother wants him in shoes all the time. She goes around to area yard sales and buys these tiny "athletic" style shoes for him with super stiff soles. In pains me to see him walking around in those things.



I sure hope when he gets older, assuming I'm still running and can actually run a decent distance by then, that he'll want to run BF with me.
 
#20
My mother in law does this

My mother in law does this stuff too. My wife now works with me because she does see some of the logic in my thoughts and I have shown her enough proof that now, despite still wanting our son in shoes, she listens to my input about width of shoe and flexibility. She really notices the difference in how he runs in the clunkers and how he does in my style of shoes. He is very clumsy in the shoes her mother buys for him and often hurts himself while in them. Now we just make sure to always have our style of footwear for him whenever we go over there. The shoes we have are almost like moccasins in that the sole is leather with some slight rubberized designs on the bottom for traction. They were like $10 I think at Babies-r-us. Now that it is getting colder we are having battles again because my mother in law thinks he needs cold weather boots... Ugh, does it ever end?
puzzled.png
 
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