AIBU to let my children go barefoot in the house?

[ellargh]

Every time my dad comes around he comments on it. He tells me they'll have problems with their feet and they should have slippers on or grip socks indoors. I let them go barefoot because we have laminate and tile all downstairs so socks end up being more of a hazard or more likely, as they do with slippers, they take them off.

He acts like it's child abuse and when I tell him to mind his own business he grunts and then comments the next time. My children are 4 and 2 so playing in the house is what they do best. The floor is always warm and if they are cold they just put their socks or slippers on themselves in the living room as they're lined up behind the door.

It's basically a case of come in, go barefoot. DP and I do the same and have always done that we can remember although my dad tells me I was never without slippers and so I should make my children keep them on.

AIBU to keep them barefoot as long as they're happy or am I doing real harm?

[RillaBlythe]

Bonkers. YANBU.

[pictish]

Yanbu - ignore your silly dad. If he cannot shut up about it, tell him to.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

with little children barefoot is often best as tight socks or shoes can cause feet probs so indoors no shoes or socks, as long as your house is warm and chillblains arnt an issue your doing nothing wrong.

does he say why he thinks its practicly child abuse?

[WelshMaenad]

eyes child's bare feet

eyes own bare feet

No. Barefoot is actually healthier. My DD's physio asked the school to let my dd do PE barefoot wherever possible as its better for her balance. You pay a fortune for shoes that promise a 'barefoot experience' (MBTs etc). It's good for people to walk barefoot. Honestly.

[Firawla]

yanbu, its normal and better than them wearing shoes indoors. I put socks on mine but they tend to take them off indoors cos they prefer barefoot anyway - its good for the feet. what harm can it do?!

[TeddyBare]

Going barefoot is supposed to be good for developing feet. Shoes offer so much support that feet don't develop their proper muscles so barefoot is supposed to help prevent that.

[degutastic]

Barefoot only if you've adjusted their diets to minimise sugars and ensure their hoof growth is sufficient that they don't end up foot sore

I may have some species confusion going on here...

[monsterchild]

YANBU. What everyone else said. Plus, it's fun to be barefoot!

[MummyPig24]

YANBU. Plus, you can't force children to wear slippers or socks. Ds has slippers, very rarely wears them. Dd outgrew hers ages ago but I'm a terrible mother so haven't got her more. She almost always takes her socks off indoors anyway so I suspect slippers would be rejected. I'm sure if your children's feet were cold they would tell you. My Nan has laminate and I take the kids socks off there or they go flying!

[CamperFan]

Does your dad have other, strange foibles?

[ellargh]

He thinks it will cause flat feet and they'll end up with "deformed feet". I've assured him the doctor said it was fine (Doctor Google but he doesn't know that) but he doesn't care and says it's all rubbish. I'm just fed up of hearing it.

He came around unannounced earlier and said that my children were cold. DD was in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a strappy summer dress. She had a big double duvet on the sofa and the heating on as she has just come out the other side of tonsilitis and was watching a DVD but apparently she was freezing according to him and I need to put more clothes on her. She's 4. She would say if she was cold.

He's a lovely man, adores his grandchildren and helps us out a lot but it seems if I don't do things his way I'm the devil parent and he has to comment. I've spoken to him about it but he keeps doing it so I thought if I showed him a thread saying yes or no one way or the other it may drum it into his head. Although there's always a chance that we're uneducated fools ;)

[ilovetermtime]

YANBU, your dad's nuts!

[Mathsdidi]

YANBU. None of us wear shoes or slippers in the house. I trained both kids early on to take their shoes off as soon as they arrive home (and they ask at other people's houses too). I would happily never put shoes on my feet but I would be considered odd if I walked around outside without them.

[valiumredhead]

He does have a point if they were walking miles and miles on hard,unforgiving floors - pottering around at home is fine!

[RandomUsername]

My son refuses to keep socks on anyway so id have a hard time stopping him going barefoot. Couldnt do it myself though, love my slippers too much.

When i was a teen i used to go to a friends house and all her family walked around the house barefoot, the bottoms of their feet where always black with dirt, it was horrible!

As long as you have clean floors i dont see a problem though

[mrscumberbatch]

We are barefoot on wooden floors 50% of the time when we're home.

The other 50% it's just too damned cold!

[CailinDana]

YANBU. I don't have a choice with DS - since he started walking he's always pulled his shoes and socks off as soon as we get in the door. I wear socks around the house and DH wears horrible old man slippers. I don't get what your DF's objection is? How does he think people who never ever wear shoes manage to walk around?

[ellargh]

We've had many an occasion of black feet :o

It's spurred me to clean & feel proud when everyone's feet only look slightly dirty the next day!

[WiseKneeHair]

I wear my lovely, furry boot slippers from August to May and in the brief period of summer inbetween, I wear flip flops as I hate going around the house with bare feet. because I don't vacuum enough
However, we have a trail of scoks around the house as DH and all three DC taken their socks off as soon as they get in.
It doesn't seem to have done them any harm. and their feet smell less than mine

[CailinDana]

There is actually a lot of evidence out there that walking and especially running barefoot is far better for you, because wearing shoes forces you into a particular posture that doesn't necessarily suit your gait. In plenty of parts of the world no one ever wears shoes and studies have shown that they suffer a lot less injury to their knees, hips and back as they get older.

[ellargh]

He's batshit crazy on a lot of things but he seems to have a peeve with my children being barefoot, my children being cold when they aren't (hats are mandatory in the cold) & everything being meticulously ironed. He couldn't stop himself mentioning that DD's pinafore was a bit creased. She's 4! The antics she gets up to in school are such that she comes home looking like she's been dragged through a hedge backwards with some mysterious PVA glue thrown in for good measure.

I used to think these were just quirks but it's pissing me off now because it really is never ending.

[pictish]

Flat feet?
Tell dad to bin his much thumbed copy of Old Wives Tales will you?

[pictish]

Your dad sounds like an overbearing pain in the arse to be honest. How do you put up with him??

[Chestnutx3]

Just don't respond she smile, nod and ignore.