Should children run barefoot?

#21
haha same here.  One day we

haha same here. One day we were picking up our son from my MIL's, and I took him out in the front yard for a bit while we were both BF. This was in October I think, and wasn't too cold at all, maybe 60's. MIL practically chased us out the door "he needs shoes on!!!!" Not much I could do, really.
 
#22
Hi Patrick,Have you taken a

Hi Patrick,

Have you taken a look at SoftStar Shoes (softstarshoes.com). They have a great selection of moccasins for children, and our experiences with the company have been spectacular.

A different option might be Unshoes (http://www.unshoesminimalfootwear.com/). They are having a 20% off sale through the twentieth.



Not to be crass, but I have a rhetorical question. Did your mother-in-law supply in egg or does she financially support you? Sorry, I know melding and becoming a part of another extended family while creating your own nuclear family is rarely easy. I see evidence of that often enough myself, but boundaries can be good for all.
 
#23
No but my in-law's keep our

No but my in-law's keep our son for us A LOT when my wife and I want to go out. They live very close to us, and we don't have to pay them to babysit. So it's advantageous to keep things on good terms with them. Plus my wife tends to side with her mother a lot (not all the time, but usually)... so yeah I just have to keep the peace and all since they help us out all the time.

Also MIL has supplied many of our son's clothes since our income has not been so great over the past year. It took me forever to be able to get VFF's for me (still haven't TRULY paid for them), and so we can't really justify spending more than maybe $30 on a pair of shoes that he will likely outgrow so soon.

I just saw ZemGear's junior shoes on a website for under $30, but my son's size is sold out right now. That's the most promising thing I've seen so far. I would love to see him in some Merrell minimalist shoes when he's older (if not barefoot) but wow, $60-$75 for children's shoes is just outrageous to me. I can justify it when your feet are fully grown and shoes can last 2-3 or more years, but not when they're outgrowing shoes every 6 months.
 
#24
I'm right with you on most of

I'm right with you on most of that Patrick. My inlaws do a lot for us and my wife sides with them regularly, glad shes finally coming around on minimalist shoes. We don't have a lot of money for footwear either and luckily, my son is still young enough that shoes aren't too terribly expensive yet. We have actually been looking for new shoes recently for him because he has almost grown out of his current soft soled shoes and babie-r-us doesn't have any in a bigger size. I'm going to see if I can find them online because they are cheap. Anyhow, good luck in finding some shoes. I hear really good things about softstar mocs but I haven't looked into their prices yet for kids shoes. Adult shoes were pretty expensive though... At least to this college students budget.
 
#25
Welcome, Patrick!  I just

Welcome, Patrick! I just added a new ad for Terra Plana VivoBarefoot Kids shoes, so give it a try when it pops up. It doesn't cost you anything extra to purchase through our site; we just receive a portion of the sale. This goes for all of our ads. I hope to have a Soft Stars ad on the site soon too, so they will have kid-friendly shoes there too.
 
#26
ugh, Terra Plana's for kids

ugh, Terra Plana's for kids are around $75. Soft Star versions that could be worn outdoors are $40-$50, and they even have some toddler boots that are $95!!! Unreal!

I guess it's like healthy food alternatives. They're always more expensive, which is why lower income folks are almost always worse off as far as their general health is concerned.
 
#27
Go to

Go to http://www.swimoutlet.com/ and order some aqua socks/water shoes for kids. They are in season there all year long, very affordable, and very healthy for kids.
 
#28
#29
Yeah saw those, but my kid is

Yeah saw those, but my kid is still in toddler size 7 I think, and the smallest of those is 11/12. I saw another model on there that come in smaller sizes, may look into those.
 
#30
I saw a model that had a

I saw a model that had a clunky built up heel there, first time ever I saw that there. If those are the ones you're looking at, I would avoid them. You want something that is very flexible, zero drop, no heel, and a loose-fitting toe box.
 
#31
This is the one I saw, I

This is the one I saw, I think my son would be a Medium right now. All the others I see start at around size 10 or 11 which is way too big for him right now. http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/22580.htm?color=10970

There's a Sports Authority in my town that sells Speedo so I may look to see what those are like, not sure if they'd have them right now or not, though.
 
#32
As someone mentioned earlier,

As someone mentioned earlier, the soft leather baby shoes at Target are about $15 (http://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=baby+shoes&category=0|All|matchallany|all+categories). They are similar to the Robeez but cheaper. I think with a good pair of socks they're perfect for dry weather. You can try painting the soles with Plastidip to make them last longer on wet ground.

SoftstarShoes are amazing, we never bought them but my friend gets them for her son every year. You can order them with a weatherproof sole. The boots are very warm. I think their sale is in January.

Other brands I like for kids are :

- Pedoodles (http://www.pedoodles.com/) $40 very well made. I bought my daughter's last pair on Ebay.

- Vivobarefoot (look for seller TerraPlana254 on Ebay, about $25 for last year's models)

- Jingas (http://www.jingashop.com/) They have sales in January. The shoes are soft and confortables but not super durable for crawling kids. My daughter destroyed the top front of hers. One other down side is the fact that the laces are too short for my kids to practice lacing them themselves, but I could have bought an extra pair of longer laces.

- Watershoes are extremely flexible, some models using neoprene are nice for cool weather. There are so many different models that you can find a style you like.

- For indoors, you can use puffy paint to draw an anti-slippery pattern on the sole of the kids socks.

- If you're crafty you can very easily make shoes similar to the Robeez/Softstar. Use recycled leather bag, jacket or pants (I got great cheap leather items at our thrift store). Leather sole + felted wool upper is also a great combo. Some placemats make a usable soling material but I prefer leather+plastidip. There are patterns and tutorial all over the web and you can stitch them by hand if you don't have a machine. Your first pair may not look very professional ;-)



I know it seems hard but as for healthy food alternative if you have the time to research well enough you can find affordable options and sources. I could afford VFF but I'd rather run in $10 watershoes when I cannot be barefoot, they work better for me.
 
#33
Invest $10 in a copy of Dr.

Invest $10 in a copy of Dr. Daniel Howell's "The Barefoot Book" and be sure to have the inlaws read it.

They will never push for footwear again.
 
#34
Patrick, those are the exact

Patrick, those are the exact ones I bought for my five year old down in Destin, Florida, at one of those beach shops, but a different color. They are a very good choice. Be prepared to wash them as they will start to stink, as all of this type of shoe and VFFs do. But they are the easiest things to get on and off!
 
#35
Hi Ashley, a good topic.  I

Hi Ashley, a good topic. I try to get my kids to barefoot as much as possible. My fifteen year old is currently beating everyone in his PE class by being barefoot on the indoor track and on the gym floor. I am glad he has an instructor that has no problem with this. He does prefer to use regular shoes outside. My girls I have a problem with because they want to wear "cute" shoes and they are not even teeagers yet.

Safe surface? I will run anywhere but grass. Too many sharp things are hidden in the grass. Also, I'm not worried about it, but picking up parasites is a possibility.

@Nick - I think every mother-in-law is worried about the kids being too cold. Drives me crazy. If they are cold, they will put something on!

Rick
 
#36
Just read a few more comments

Just read a few more comments and I hope I am not getting too far off the topic and turning this into a shoe thread.

Vibrams - I bought my girls Vibrams and they were just too big of a distraction at school. They also got stinky fast, even with toe socks. Also, they will out grow them fast. So that was an expensive experiment.

Water shoes - a cheap option, but I find the sole too thick and most are too narrow. The ones I got at K-mart have biggest toebox that I have found. I don't run in them, but I do wear them around.

Sockwa seems to be trying to break into the running market. I ordered the Amphibian and it was way too narrow. I sent them back and Sockwa sent me G2's. A much better design, but still too small. Order at least a size larger than you normally would wear. They will be coming out with larger sizes in the spring. For the kids, this would be a cheaper option.
 
#37
PatrickGSR94 wrote: so yeah

PatrickGSR94 said:
so yeah I just have to keep the peace and all since they help us out all the time.
Click to expand...



I hear that loud and clear brother, loud and clear like an echo in my own mind.
smile.png
 
#38
The water shoes I have gotten

The water shoes I have gotten from Swim Outlet have always had wide toe boxes and were very flexible.

Rick, let them wear rhinestones and other removable gems and decorations on their toe nails along with their pedicures, and they will want to show everyone their feet. ;-)
 
#39
sloutre wrote:- Jingas

sloutre said:
- Jingas (http://www.jingashop.com/) They have sales in January. The shoes are soft and confortables but not super durable for crawling kids. My daughter destroyed the top front of hers. One other down side is the fact that the laces are too short for my kids to practice lacing them themselves, but I could have bought an extra pair of longer laces.
Click to expand...

I just went to check out Jingas, and the kids selections are on sale right now. Okay with the conversion, before shipping, they are still $22, so with the £10.50 that ends up at $38.39 at the end of the day, so game over. I got so excited about helping out with this. Grr!
 
#40
I think children should be

I think children should be alowed to go barefoot as much as possible.

We went to school barefoot, summer and winter, so sports, gym, cross-country were all done barefoot.

In fact, until I was about 12 I never had a pair of shoes and went everwhere barefoot. In higschool we had to wear shoes in class but could go barefoot for PE, running and so forth which most of us did.

Even today I go without shoes as much as possible and of course always run barefoot.
 
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