Here is a very interesting blog entry from a runner, Marc Curtis, about getting his son his first pair of shoes.
It surely helped that Marc runs in minimalist shoes (or even sometimes barefoot).
Here is the blog entry: Children’s shoes & the weak foot myth. It’s really good.
It addresses all the stuff we often rail about. How a stiff sole weakens the muscles of the foot. How the foot gets squished in there and shaped by the foot. How seeing all these weak feet, caused by wearing shoes, makes us think that feet are “fundamentally” weak. Of course, the causation runs in the other direction. It’s not that feet are weak and need shoes. In reality, reet are put in shoes and become weak.
Here’s a great quote on how that happens:
The stiff sole will stop their feet from flexing, so the developing bones will stiffen and stay nice and thin. The raised heel will stop their achilles tendon from stretching, keeping it nice and short. The ankle support will splint their ankles (just like a plaster cast) and the raised arch will produce an unnaturally high arch, which will need a life time of orthotics to maintain.
There is one thing he says, though, that I have to disagree with:
Our society wears shoes. We need to, because most of the year the ground is wet and cold and dirty. Shoes are very much an essential part of the kit we need to be healthy and active in our environment.
No.
No, no, no.
Yes, sometimes the ground is wet. No, you don’t need shoes because the ground is wet. Your skin keeps the wet out. In addition, if your feet get wet in shoes, your feet stay wet in shoes. If your feet get wet when barefoot, as soon as you remove the wet, they dry out pretty quickly.
Yes, sometimes the ground is dirty. No, you don’t need shoes because the ground is dirty. Your skin keeps the dirt out. Wash the feet if it bothers you.
Yes, the ground is sometimes cold. No, you generally don’t need shoes because the ground is cold. Human feet do just fine when the temperature is above freezing. When shoes are not cutting off circulation to the feet and the muscles are being properly exercised and drawing in even more warm blood, you’d be surprised how warm they stay in cooler temperatures.
From his blog post, Marc is pretty obviously in the British Isles, which have a long tradition of people going barefoot (particularly the Scots and the Irish). It generally doesn’t get that cold there, because of the Gulf Stream.
For toddlers, they are perfectly capable of deciding for themselves if their feet are cold and they want shoes on their feet. Just don’t make it the default.
Actually, as far as I can tell, if you let your kids go barefoot, the main downside is having to listen to all the “helpful” (and sometimes coercive) advice of every other parent out there who is sure you are doing it wrong!
Anyways, in the end, Marc got this sort of flexible shoe.
Children’s Soft Shoes
They’re better than the usual fare. (I was going to say, with brain on autopilot, “They’re better than nothing,” but no, they’re not better than nothing.) If you’re going to get something, those are surely better than the over-engineered monstrousities we so often see.
It also looks like they’ll have to be replaced quite often as his kid’s feet grow. Bare feet are cheaper, too.
Anyways, go read the article. You’ll be glad you did.
Children’s shoes & the weak foot myth.
It’s the best age to learn to go barefoot and adapt to the whole variety of grounds and temperatures. I wrote a comment mentioning this blog.
If they made flexible shoes that shape for adults I’d probably still be wearing shoes. I guess I have baby feet.
That’s the problem with mass-produced shoes: We have to squeeze our individually grown feet into a product made so that as many people as possible will want to buy it. Same for all clothes but for shoes fit is more important (shouldn’t be too tight or too lose or it gets painful or we cannot walk without losing them).
Also I heard that individually made shoes last much longer than industrial products. So maybe, even as a barefooter, one time I’ll find myself a shoemaker who understands about the importance of flexibility, can work with a wide variety of materials and combine a variety of properties in a shoe that I haven’t seen together yet (resistant against wetness/snow, breathing, elegant enough for business situations, flexible, suitable for long walks even for an otherwise barefoot person, not too warm …)
I won’t wear them often anyway so this may well be an investment for life.
You may need to wait a while to find a shoemaker that good. Or learn to make shoes yourself. (I’ve considered making my own shoes, and other people take shoemaking courses so they can get shoes to fit.) My experience with a shoemaker was not good at all. He had no clue about fit, just fashion.
Not that I’m trying to get you into shoes, but how about getting a moccasin kit? Yes, the shape of the pre-cut leather would be wrong, but you could also buy a sheet of leather and cut it, using the kit as a guide, with a shape that fit your feet. Then, of course, you’d need a leather awl to punch the holes.
But it might end up getting you something serviceable.
And where would you wear them? Ever tried walking on a smooth surface in wet leather? I used to have lambskin slippers, and once when the landlord was steam cleaning the carpet I walked into the kitchen in wet slippers. Completely wiped out and landed on my butt.
I think traditional footwear (moccasins, mukluks) works great in nature, but not so much in human environments. Not enough traction when wet, and they wear out quickly too.
At any rate, it’s too late for me now. I cannot stand the thought of ever wearing anything on my feet again at this point.
I have some I’ve worn outdoors when it was really cold. The leather is fairly rough and I didn’t have traction problems. Also, hiking in the snow, it was a bit slippery but I found I could still get a grip with my toes.
Mine last a long time (because I never wear them!).
The suggestion was just for the times you really need something.
And I also really grok your comment about not being able to tolerate much of anything anymore. Just the thought of enclosing my feet is annoying.
PS. The settings on the blog were that comments could nest 3-deep. This conversation wanted to go deeper than that. I’ve now changed the default number to 6-deep. Let’s see how that works.
Outdoors hiking? Or outdoors going to the mall? Slush in the parking lot (or puddles) followed by smooth floors indoors could make for an interesting visit. Even more interesting in a metro station.
One was outdoors hiking in snow. That got a bit slippery, but toes helped. Another time was a long trip on a sidewalk—not a problem with traction at all, mainly because sidewalks are pretty rough. I also put a lot of mink foot oil on the bottom, and that actually makes it a bit sticky on more slippery store floors.
But we’re talking maybe 5 times in 20 years . . .