How long to wear soft soled shoes?

[jam's mum]

I have a silly question - I don't really know anything about kids' shoes and my daughter wears ordinary shoes now, which I'm now thinking was a bad idea?

But what about shock absorbency? Is it a red herring? Is shock absorbency not really necessary? We do live in a city, so she's walking on paved surfaces most of the time...

[gigismomma]

For those of you with older toddlers/young children, how do you wear soft soled shoes in the winter? We have slush here most of the year, soft soles just wouldn't hold up (or keep their feet dry), and I can't carry them everywhere. We wear boots for heavy snow, but 90% of the time just wear flexible soled shoes.

[songbird516]

Originally Posted by Janine I'm going to be the odd one out I'm sure, but I'm a big advocate for barefoot running, so I say keep kids in soft soled shoes forever. Kids have proper foot strike, and wearing hard-soled shoes changes that. I wear soft-soled shoes even as an adult and I'm slowly learning proper foot strike again. Studies show that people have fewer foot/ankle/leg injuries with soft-soled shoes.

I agree I wll buy my little guy a pair as soon as he starts walking; my daughter already has a pair of soft star moccasains, and I just bought a pair for myself.

[songbird516]

Originally Posted by jam's mum I have a silly question - I don't really know anything about kids' shoes and my daughter wears ordinary shoes now, which I'm now thinking was a bad idea? But what about shock absorbency? Is it a red herring? Is shock absorbency not really necessary? We do live in a city, so she's walking on paved surfaces most of the time...

Your feet and legs are designed to absorb shock as long as you are walking properly, without a thick sole. So, yes, I think that shock absorbancy is way overrated. I've always preferred flat shoes myself, and I've finally decided to ditch heels altogether and start my little ones out with minimal/barefoot shoes. This is probably one of the few "crunchy" things that my husband and I agree on! He has a pair of barefoot shoes also.

[songbird516]

Originally Posted by gigismomma For those of you with older toddlers/young children, how do you wear soft soled shoes in the winter? We have slush here most of the year, soft soles just wouldn't hold up (or keep their feet dry), and I can't carry them everywhere. We wear boots for heavy snow, but 90% of the time just wear flexible soled shoes.

Soft Star Shoes makes boots...not sure how water/slush resistant they are, but you can check them out! It says that they are naturally water resistant.. I think they are a great company. (boots are pricey, though, especially for kids!)
http://www.softstarshoes.com/kid-sho...chocolate.html

[CaylaEP]

Merrell makes minimalist shoes for toddlers now. I just saw them in our local store, like the sneaker style.

[trulyprecious]

We usually use them until the kids turn two years old however, my four year old has two pair that he still prefers over regular shoes/sneakers.

[tesslouise]

My DD began walking at 10 mos. but stayed in Robeez or Ministar shoes until she was 2 and started preschool 2 mornings a week--she was required to wear "real" shoes and I had her fitted at Stride Rite and she LOVED her new shoes. Now I take off my shoes as soon as I get home but I have to remind her to. Kid just loves shoes.

[Teexie]

I'd still have DD in soft soled shoes if I could find some to fit her. She has huge feet for her age (almost 2) and I wasn't able to find any after she outgrew her last Robeez.

[iris0110]

Originally Posted by gigismomma For those of you with older toddlers/young children, how do you wear soft soled shoes in the winter? We have slush here most of the year, soft soles just wouldn't hold up (or keep their feet dry), and I can't carry them everywhere. We wear boots for heavy snow, but 90% of the time just wear flexible soled shoes.

My kids do wear rain shoes when it rains (we don't really get much snow in TX) but other than that they found the toe shoe love. Tharen has a pair of Bambino leather shoes as well (they make it all the way to size 7-8 years). Kearnan wore soft star moccasins his entire first year walking and they make it even in the snow (what we get in tx) with no problem because of the sheep skin lined soles. Just have two pairs so they can be dried between wearing. I don't know how they would do in super heavy (like snow drifts) snow. I might opt for the boots if we had lots of snow. Now Kearnan will wear converse but they also have very thin soles for sneakers and he is 11. It is hot here most of the year though so I'm lucky if I can keep shoes on them at all.