Attention: This is a boring, practical-mom post. Not your thing? Catch ya later.
Yes, we found shoes. Not Keens, but that style, which is what I wanted.
Shoes for the boys are kind of a dilemma for me. Do I pay more for better shoes, hoping they'll last longer, but knowing the boys will likely outgrow them? Or, buy cheap ones more often? I've tended toward the latter as they're growing so fast! Although over the years I've made quite a few treks to a Vans outlet, hence the sort of matching shoes in the "Cone Age" photo below.
And I've learned a little bit. So this is for my friends with "littles":
1. Most kids' shoes are made too narrow.
I don't know what the deal is, because my boys' feet weren't particularly wide, but most kids' shoes are too narrow. Maybe they're proportioned for adult feet, which are different than kids'. I don't know. I just know they're narrow. How do I know? I'd slide in my cardboard "feet" and test them.
When the boys were little, every three months or so I'd flatten out a cereal box and stand them on it in their sock feet, trace around them, and cut them out. I just never really trusted the boys to be able to tell me if their shoes were fitting properly. And for good reason...
2. Kids won't tell you the shoes are too small until they're REALLY too small.
They may really love their shoes and not want to grow out of them. Or they may just not notice it, because it crept up on them so slowly. But they won't tell you their shoes are pinching until they're painfully tight. So I'd slide their little cardboard feet into the shoes they were currently wearing, just to test, from time to time. Then I'd take the them (the cardboard) to the store, to shop for shoes.
I realized I could either shell out for expensive shoes that come in widths or find an alternative. So that's why I started buying Vans when they were toddlers. Skate shoes are boxy, like kids' feet. And they outgrew them before they wore them out. WIN-WIN!
And at the outlet mall I used to be able to get last year's styles (or the year before's) at twenty bucks for the first pair, and the second pair for half. Which works for me because I'm
So there ya go.
3 comments:
Little Filipina feet and dress shoes do not mix well. I think for the fall we will be hitting Payless for their wide width shoes. I thought the first four were sometime hard to fit for shoes. The three littles are worse. I'm all for inexpensive shoes too. Kids are hard on shoes!
Blessings!
Deborah
Love those shoes!!! And hate shoe shopping for my kids! Olivia's feet are wide at the top and narrow at the heel, so it's almost impossible to find shoes that fit her. I like the cardboard foot idea, though. I need to implement that with Steven - getting him to talk about how a shoe feels is night unto impossible.
Thanks for this tip! We got with Converse a lot around here - except three kids later and none that tie themselves yet and they're kind of a drag. But cute. And come in lots of fun colors. Xochi is my first without really naaaaarow feet.
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