Kid Smiles: Pick Up Your Feet

Kid Smiles:

Pick Up Your Feet

Several years ago, I was teaching in an open classroom that had a painted plywood floor with area rugs. One day, one of our three year olds came in with a new pair of cowboy boots. He loved his new boots. Unfortunately, the rigid sole of the boots, coupled with his developing gross motor skills and his apparent joy at hearing the noise he made when he walked, made every step he took sound like a herd of horses clomping in unison, reverberating throughout the entire room. In other words....loud. Really loud.

One of my coworkers had asked him several times to please try to walk a little softer, but that is almost impossible when you’re three years old and your shoes don’t let your foot bend. Finally, my coworker had heard the last clomp she could bear, and said (gently and with humor, by the way), “oh for Pete’s sake, would you please pick up your feet?!?” My favorite part of this story is the little boy’s response: with a look of perfect bewilderment on his face, looking straight at my coworker, he reached down, raised one foot, and tried to “pick up his feet.”

Besides the fact that this still makes me smile every time I think about it (and every time I see the young man who is now in his 30s...not sure if he still wears cowboy boots....), there is another part of this story that has an important point (and speaks to one of my teacher/parent pet peeves): the shoes we put on kids’ feet, and why it matters.

There are two very good reasons that young kids need good shoes, especially when they are at school or on the playground. 1) Their feet are growing and they need arch support to make sure their foot structure is forming correctly; 2) Their gross motor skills are developing, and they need to have the combination of flexibility and support to facilitate that development.

Footwear that is developmentally appropriate for preschool children will have these important features:

Flexible, yet sturdy, sole.

Good arch support.

Good fit that keeps the shoe securely on the foot.

Tread pattern that helps the child to keep from slipping.

Footwear that meets these criteria includes tennis shoes, sandals with contoured soles and straps that fit behind the heel, “hiking” boots/shoes, etc. Footwear to be avoided for active play includes cowboy boots (unless they have a flexible sole and a good tread pattern), flip flops, “Crocs” or other clog-type shoes that fall off easily, flat sandals  that have no arch support, etc.

This doesn’t mean that children should never wear things such as flip flops or Crocs, but the suggestion is that you differentiate between “house” shoes and “active shoes.” One way to determine whether a shoe is helpful or restrictive is to watch your child run—if he/she hesitates, or is tripping/falling frequently, the shoe may not be secure on her/his foot; if he/she is running “flat footed,” the shoes may not have enough flexibility in the sole; if your child is slipping on grass, wet pavement, or smooth floors, it may be that there is no tread pattern on the bottom of the sole.

What about going barefoot? Great idea!....at home, or on the beach. And once a child’s foot “architecture” is well formed, there will still be plenty of time for flip flops and cowboy boots. It’s not being mean to make sure your child’s feet are developing with strength and support, any more than it’s mean to expect them to eat healthy food and limit their intake of ice cream or cookies. Think of the flip flops as an occasional treat, and the tennis shoes or sturdy sandals as “foot nutrition.”

And, oh yeah...we asked the three year old’s parent to save the cowboy boots for home. He did just fine in his tennis shoes, and we were all happier with the softer-soled “thud” instead of the herd of horses.