Barefoot Children

mrbrightside842

I don't know how people can walk around outside. I can't walk barefoot on our path in the garden as it hurts my feet. The patio isn't too bad. The grass creeps me out as I can't see what's there.

LilacPixie

I hate shoes, garden and inside I am always barefoot. Kids seem to be the same but I insist on crocs for outside for their own safety. There is no way we would walk to the shops barefoot or take them around town with no shoes on.

thorsoak

"Barefoot children" is such an emotive phrase - we all immediately think of the little raggedy children in something like Oliver .....

My OH's father grew up in a family where they could not always afford to keep all the children well-shod - he said that he remembered his mother being delighted when there was thick frost everywhere - because their feet would stay dry in their holey boots. He also remembers not being able to go to school because he had kicked his boots right through and there was no money for new boots until the family could pawn something As a consequence he was almost paranoid about ensuring that his son always had something on his feet - and now OH cannot bear to have nothing on his feet (he is one of the sad souls you see wearing socks with sandals - and me walking a million miles away from him ) . When our children were young, G/F always fussed if they weren't in shoes & socks - couldn't understand why they were "allowed" outside with nothing on their feet.

Maybe some reactions to this thread have similar undercurrents.

Neeny82

Hmmm - well this may be a wind up but I will offer my opinion anyway.

I think if you want to be barefoot in your garden then that is perfectly acceptable. I often run round to the back of the house to take the bins out with no shoes on - but it isn't half uncomfortable. My reason is pure laziness though (if the shoes aren't near the door, i'll just nip out barefoot)

However, narrowminded or not I think if I was to see a child walking through town with no shoes on I would be shocked. People have already mentioned all the nasty things that end up on our pavements including glass and needles (especially in City centres) and the thought of a barefoot + dog dirt incident makes me want to vom!!!

The only times i've ever gone barefoot in town have been at some ungodly hour of the morning when i've had too much drink and too much dancing in heels - so have taken shoes off to help me stagger to a taxi. I did once walk into a takeaway holding my shoes and got shouted at by the staff until I put them back on!

I would never choose to go out with no shoes - my feet would get cold for a start! lol

jellyhead

peachyprice wrote: »

Oh I don't know, I think it's pretty p!key.
No way would I walk round a town centre with a child wearing no shoes and filthy dirty feet.

why would the child's feet be any dirtier than the shoes the other kids would be wearing?

jellyhead

Nitha wrote: »

Met one woman who didn't buy her baby girl a thing on her first Christmas because she couldn't afford it yet forks out £40 a month gym membership!

Maybe the child didn't NEED anything? They're not going to notice a lack of presents. I only bought mine a present for his first christmas because I had an older child who would have wondered why santa missed the baby out.

I wonder if the parents of the girl the OP knows really can't afford shoes, or simply don't believe that they are necessary in summer?

Perhaps behind closed doors they are pitying other children who wear flipflops/jellies/cheap supermarket shoes.

peachyprice

jellyhead wrote: »

why would the child's feet be any dirtier than the shoes the other kids would be wearing?

Dirty shoes are hardly the same as dirty feet are they.

You think it's OK if you cut your feet when they've got city dirt on them? You can't see how getting someone elses bodily fluids or dog/cat/rat/fox faeces in a cut can be potentially dangerous?

And why would anyone want their child walking around the city like a dirty little street urchin?

minimoneysaver

The dirty feet/dirty shoes comment is the reason I don't allow shoes worn in my house beyond the front door.

jellyhead

peachyprice wrote: »

Dirty shoes are hardly the same as dirty feet are they.

You think it's OK if you cut your feet when they've got city dirt on them? You can't see how getting someone elses bodily fluids or dog/cat/rat/fox faeces in a cut can be potentially dangerous?

And why would anyone want their child walking around the city like a dirty little street urchin?

Okay, I see what you mean now - I thought you were saying that the child's feet were dirtier than other children whose shoes would have walked on the same muck as the barefoot child.

Mine doesn't leave the garden barefoot, and I check the front garden for cat poo before allowing him out. We haven't had any cats using our garden for a year or so but I don't want to take the risk.

After reading this thread I noticed the state of the paths as we walked home from an activity today. There was a lot more broken glass than I expected. The dog mess was no surprise There are lots of tiny stones all over the paths too, chips from the road I think.

Mine went to the ice cream van barefoot once - never again! it hurt, and the ground was hot so it hurt his feet. He'd have turned back and got his shoes except for the ice cream van moving off. I ended up carrying him home and getting ice cream in my hair lol

madtrekker

I lived in New Zealand a few years back and a lot of people, young and old, walked around barefoot. Even around town / in the shops. They must have tougher feet because I can't stand it. Even walking down our relatively smooth path hurts my delicate tootsies!