What are your kids wearing on their feet?Are they runners?

palouserider

Barefooters
Mar 7, 2011
125
1
16
I thought we should not neglect to pay attention to the under 18 crowd. They are tomorrow's role models. I was also curious how many kids do what their parents do and if they do it by choice?

Our daughter is 14, has run 2 5 K's but does not consider herself a runner. She prefers swimming, ice skating and horseback riding. She is running around the house barefoot but wearing mostly flat shoes outside. She has found a pair of minimalist shoes she likes, EVO barefoot red/black and she also is barefoot a lot when she does ballet. Occasionally she'll wear some high heels for a few hours.

She decided to cut off the heels of a pair of traditional pair of sneakers and replace them with a thin layer of rubber. They look very nice that way.:)
 
My 14 yr old daughter is very

My 14 yr old daughter is very much a fan of converses and these ugly shoes called osiruses or something like that. I hate them. My toddler goes barefoot much of the day and when we go outdoors he wears a thin soled, wide and flexible shoe to appease his mother. I have no problem with him being outside barefoot obviously, but his mother on the other hand... There's a show called "Monsters inside me" and one episode they aired was from a local town by us (where we want to move if we can ever sell our condo) and the little girl in it ended up losing her eye and nearly died because of some weird, extremely extremely extremely rare for humans to get critter that she got from the ground. Damn show...
 
My 3 year old has a pair of

My 3 year old has a pair of normal athletic shoes (which I hate, but my wife still likes to put her in them, she's almost outgrown them so their days are numbered!), she also has a couple of pairs of Robeez (basically leather mocassins) which I encourage her to wear, and I call them her running shoes (she'll run up to 1/4 mile or so in them). She also loves her flip flops, and homemade huraches. She also has some various mary jane style shoes that have a bit of a raised heel, but have very flexible soles.
 
My children are having a

My children are having a mixed reaction to my barefoot running. They have been "forced" to wear shoes to protect their feet in the winters and when working. Some of them are thankful for the liberation at last. Others are a little concerned about how far I might take this. As a family we hope to all join in a community 5k this spring where at least half of us will be running barefoot. I have always emphasized comfort over looks for shoes--and now I am close to considering "comfortable shoes" as an oxymoron! One son considers himself a runner (priding himself on speed in running shoes and/or military type boots) and is now running barefoot as well--quite a new experience. The rest run for fun and would not consider themselves runners. I am encouraging them all to read and research the barefoot topics on their own.
 
We both wear VFFs although my

We both wear VFFs although my wife runs barefoot a lot and we both just got huaraches.

Our trim and diminutive daughter has run 5Ks with me since she was 5 or 6. She started begging for VFFs a couple of years ago and is on her second pair. Her street shoes tend to be flat Pumas or fashionable flat canvas sneakers although she lives in flip flops most of the warm months. She did 23+ miles on a timed 8 hour ultra (Howl at the Moon), much of it off road, switching between her Pumas, VFFs, and just a little barefoot. And she did the first St Louis R&R 1/2 marathon in VFFs in October just after turning 13.

She's the little one in this news photo:

http://commercial-news.com/sports/x1533029116/Howl-at-the-Moon-brings-out-the-best



She has two speeds; pause and fast-forward!
 
tomdetorres wrote:We both

tomdetorres said:
We both wear VFFs although my wife runs barefoot a lot and we both just got huaraches.

Our trim and diminutive daughter has run 5Ks with me since she was 5 or 6. She started begging for VFFs a couple of years ago and is on her second pair. Her street shoes tend to be flat Pumas or fashionable flat canvas sneakers although she lives in flip flops most of the warm months. She did 23+ miles on a timed 8 hour ultra (Howl at the Moon), much of it off road, switching between her Pumas, VFFs, and just a little barefoot. And she did the first St Louis R&R 1/2 marathon in VFFs in October just after turning 13.

She's the little one in this news photo:

http://commercial-news.com/sports/x1533029116/Howl-at-the-Moon-brings-out-the-best



She has two speeds; pause and fast-forward!



Quite an impressive running daughter you have!
 
10 year old daughter:She

10 year old daughter:

She prefers to be barefoot as much as possible. For school and places where barefoot isn't an option she usually wears a pair of flat, minimal sandals, even when it's cold. If she absolutely *must* wear socks and shoes (PE days) she wears Vivobarefoot Neos. She prefers to run barefoot when she runs. She's done a few fun runs and she once did a kids' triathlon, but she doesn't run on any regular basis.



6 year old son:

Right now his regular shoe is a kids' water shoe by Merrell that we bought on sale in early fall at REI. He's starting to outgrow them. Not sure what we'll put him in next. We've got a pair of VFF KSOs that my daughter wore 2 years ago that might just fit him now, so it might be those. He likes running and tends to prefer running in minimal shoes than running barefoot, though he's done both. He doesn't run on any regular basis but he's mentioned that he wants to do a kids' tri this summer now that he has learned to swim and bike. When the weather warms up I'll get him running more regularly with me if he still wants to give the tri a shot.



Peace,

Karen
 
That's a scary thought with

That's a scary thought with Chaser on the loose!
 
7yr old son loves barefooting

7yr old son loves barefooting and VFF's has run 2 1mile fun runs and 1 5k with shoes can't wait for spring so he can run one barefoot. He wore VFF's to school and they threatened to send him home if he wore them again as they were unfit for school. I'm trying to reason with them but since I work at a school I have the understanding that the students are usually smarter than the faculty.
 
My 9-year-old son runs

My 9-year-old son runs barefoot with me and is up to almost six miles. I did buy him a pair of VFFs for running at dark, but he doesn't like them too much, so he chooses to run with me barefoot in the dark. It's not so bad because the streets are pretty well lit. I look forward to running with my 5-year-old son when he can start covering some distance.
 
Last summer my 16 year old

Last summer my 16 year old son started running a couple times per week, usually just a mile or two at a time. Sometimes he even ran with me, at the beginning or end of one of my runs. He's the one who would say things about my barefoot running that made me afraid he would never be interested. I was afraid I started bfr just at the wrong time for him - at the dawn of his teen "angst" - and that he would never try it just because his dad does it, if you understand. However, out of the blue one day he ran 1 mile barefoot. He got some pretty painful blisters from it and had to take it easy for a week to let them heal. Then he started bfr again, only in small increments with gradual increases. He would carry and use my VivoBarefoot Ultras when he needed to use shoes. By the end of September he was able to run a mile barefoot and enjoyed it.

My 9 year old is the one who loves the idea that his dad can run for hours at a time in bare feet. For him, I started the bfr at just the right time - when he still thinks dad is cool! (Poor kid! He'll soon learn otherwise.) Anyway, this summer he decided he wanted to run with me, and would go with me at the beginning or end of my runs. He tried running barefoot a couple times, but decided he preferred his shoes, which are Under Armor running shoes, but are flexible and fairly minimal.

My 12 year old son was in track last spring, using the same type Under Armor shoes his brother has. I guess he felt that he had enough running from that, because he wasn't interested in running much the rest of the year. He ran with me a couple times, though.

I got each of my boys, a pair of Merrel Trail Gloves for Christmas, and they all like them. My 9 year old wore them to church Christmas morning, and wears them everywhere he goes.
 
This past summer my 5 year

This past summer my 5 year old said she wanted to run barefoot with me so we did a few times. Depending on the weather, she also played barefoot outside a lot. By the time it got a bit colder she preferred barefoot to any of the shoes she had so this winter we've tried to give her and her 2 year old sister the best minimal shoes we could. We got a pair of Soft Star Phoenix boots for the 5 year old and while they're warm enough they don't have enough traction for winter use. For the two year old we got Soft Star North Stars and they worked well all fall as long as it was dry. For winter she wears Vivo Barefoot boots as long as it's not insanely cold.
 
You could do that.  Or just

You could do that. Or just get them some water socks/aqua shoes like I do. They are always cheap, and by far THE best minimalist shoes you can buy. And they're always in season at www.SwimOutlet.com.
 
palouse: Depends on your

palouse: Depends on your definition of winter. I've found that with a decent pile of wool socks and shoes that are roomy enough to fit them you can wear just about anything no matter the temperature. I spent a winter a few years ago in worn out sneakers with holes in them and it was fine well below 0F if I used my good socks.