Barefoot Children

alfaromeo

Is it acceptable this day and age?

My good friends have both been my redundant this year, she in January and he in March, they hhave a daughter who is seven, same age as ours.

Their daughter now goes barefoot, they say they can not afford £30 to £40 for shoes and she is better of barefoot then in cheap shoes

My mind says there is nothing wrong in that and when the weather was nice I had no problems with it.

Now the weather is not so nice I find myself wondering how acceptable is it

We went on a day trip out to York, it was wet and cool but my daughter insisted on taking off her shoes too and the girls had a thrill of a time running along the wet streets splashing through puddles.

So is there anything really wrong with letting your children be barefoot

red_devil

i dont think its a good idea they would be dirty all the time and what if she steps in dogs !!!! or broken glass?

*Louise*

I was going to say nothing wrong with it, at home and in the garden...but you mean gong out and about? Shopping and things...what about to school, surely not??


I would rather my children wore cheaper shoes (and do extra checks for fitting) than be ridiculed for being too poor to buy shoes.

Please tell me she wears shoes to school....:eek:

Person_one

*Louise* wrote: »

I was going to say nothing wrong with it, at home and in the garden...but you mean gong out and about? Shopping and things...what about to school, surely not??


I would rather my children wore cheaper shoes (and do extra checks for fitting) than be ridiculed for being too poor to buy shoes.

Please tell me she wears shoes to school....:eek:

I thought the same, I only wear shoes if I absolutely have to, but that would definitely include a day trip to York!

The canvas pumps they wear for PE are cheap but not too bad for the feet surely? In wet weather the poor girl will be so uncomfortable.

jinky67

Can I just point out our feet were designed to BE barefoot and not crammed into shoes or boots

I would have no problem with my kids doing it, I used to do it myself

Hectors_House

We used to run around barefoot all the time when we were littlies but we were living in New Zealand where it seemed to be a cultural thing.

We were made to wear our shoes in school but allowed to take them off again during lunchtime (I can still remember the long line of shoes outside the library!).

We spent most of our free time down on the beach so our feet got cleaned anyway (besides having baths).

We were taught to wear our shoes all the time whwn we came back to the UK because of the dog mess/glass etc.

Violetta_2

Better in cheap shoes than bandages because she's hurt her feet on glass or stones. I prefer being barefoot but have you tried doing that on pavements/paths , it blooming hurt's. Our feet may not have been designed to be "crammed into shoes" but I don't think they were designed for stony path's, escalator's busy places where someone in high heels could stand on their toe's accidentally (ok that's going to hurt anyone not in steel toe cap's) I think tootsies need some sort of protective barrier against the world out there because some of it's sharp.
Would it be wrong to assume her parents wear shoes?

Dormouse

I'm with the majority, barefoot is great in the garden/beach/countryside - when it's warm! - but definitely not in a city! How weird!

MERFE

I too at first thought it would be in the back garden and just playing out the front. I don't make the kids wear shoes for this, they can and often do if they want to be riding their bikes or similar. I don't wear my shoes to get the washing in from the tumble dryer which is in the garage unless its wet. However for days out they need shoes. I do get annoyed with the amount of shoes they need, wellies, sandles, school shoes, trainers for pe and plimsoles but they are necessary same as school uniform and other clothes to play in or for nice so you have to just get what you can afford. Same thing goes for haircuts, when money is tight you have less of them or diy ones.

Mupette

That's terrible, the parents can afford a day trip to York but can't buy their child shoes, it's a bad excuse using the price.

I have only spent about £25 for school shoes for DS because they had to be black only with no logo's

Other than that he wanders around in cheap crocs, or trainers, and is happy to.

You know your house and garden is clean (to a certain degree)
but the child would be walking where people have spat, been sick, dog wee, poop and chewing gum have been.

galvanizersbaby

jinky67 wrote: »

Can I just point out our feet were designed to BE barefoot and not crammed into shoes or boots

I would have no problem with my kids doing it, I used to do it myself

Do you mean around the house/garden?
Or would you send your children to school barefoot?

I would have to go with the majority and say that it would be downright impractical/uncomfortable and possibly dangerous for kids these days to walk our streets barefoot