To want to send dd to school in

[Bibithree]

black patent t-bar shoes with a buckle and without:
a heel of any kind
velcro fastenings
flashing lights
a toy of some kind in the heel
metallic pink and lilac butterflies/flowers stiched onto the top

I just wanted black patent t bars! Am I an insanely old-fashioned mother?

[StillNorks]

YANBU but they are hard to find not patent but ok will keep looking

[Bibithree]

Oh! I think I love them! Thank you.
I caved and bought a pair of velcroed patent shoes at Clarks as her first day back was today, but am keeping everything crossed she grows out of them very very soon!

[StillNorks]

What size are you looking for?

[StillNorks]

IMO kickers last as well, well until they grow that is

[katiestar]

What have you got against velcro , just out of interest ?

[Bibithree]

I'm looking for a size 10. I have no proper isuses with velcro apart from hating the rrrriiiiiping sound it makes and the way it gathers bits of fluff, I just really like buckles.

[MissSunny]

Message withdrawn

[Littlefish]

How old is your dd? Can she do buckles up by herself? If not, then I suggest sticking with velcro until she can do them herself.

[blametheparents]

Those Kickers ones are so cute.

I have bought Dd a very plain pair of Startrite shoes for starting school, though they are velcro.

[blametheparents]

Also these are lovely, fit all your criteria except the T-Bar bit

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

Angulus have some lovely red or purple patent t-bar shoes

www.centipedeshoes.co.uk

[cancantcan]

YABNU. I spend my life looking for proper old fashioned black patent T bar or mary janes for DD. If you do manage to find some, please post where!

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

cancantcan if you can get to the shop I linked to you would be in heaven!

[nymphadora]

Yes yes yes someone else who wants proper shoes!

O hate Velcro last 2 pairs we had the Velcro came off the shoes. Why can't a 6 yo do a buckle anyway?

[nymphadora]

Kickers do online. Dr martens are good too , just difficult to find

[crankytwanky]

Tis nearly impossible! Try French companies like Vertbaudet. They don't seem to dress their children like little hookers on the continent.
I sent DD to school in DMs today.

[Bibithree]

If I find a pair I will most certainly post where I found them. Soooo glad I'm not alone in this.

She can undo a buckle but finds it a bit harder to do one up, but she isn't 5 yet. The last 2 years (pre-nursery and nursery) I managed to get what I wanted after much searching, but this year, nothing.

Thanks for the links, will check them out

[Fruitbatlings]

I would have loved a pair of patent shoes as a child. My mother would never allow me All my friends had them too. I had to wear red /black or blue Startrite but no patent. If when I ever have a girl she will wear black patent Mary Janes

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I bought DD2 a pair of brown leather school shoes (Mary Janes), a pair of leather "biker" boots and a pair of bright, bright pink classic DMs from the DM outlet shop near us. £10 a pair and all leather.

However, am finding it impossible to find age appropriate school shoes for DD1 who is 10 and takes a size 40/7.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Oh and I hate velcro too. I don't know what DD1 does to her shoes but the velcro doesn't stick after a few weeks.

[vezzie]

Such pretty shoes! But is that what they cost now? If I don't start saving now, my daughter (4 months) will be home educated, barefoot.

My mother wouldn't let me have patent, either. Our Clarks shoes were bought at the same shop each September from the same sales woman who worked there for about 10 years and had an enviable ladder to get the boxes down off the high shelves, and an even more enviable board-with-slider-and-tape-foot-measurer-thing which tickled. I wanted her job so much.

I suppose the shoes are no more expensive now in real terms but in those days without Primark or Asda for cheapo dresses, it seemed less eye-watering as you had so few clothes and they were all expensive.

Listen to me! Am I a hundred? Do I remember gas lamps and the war?

[Fruitbatlings]

vezzie - I'm the same, my Mother used to take me to a little shoe boutique in Fulham to get me my shoes - had to be Startrite. Same lady who measured my feet for about 10 years. I wonder if she's still there! I'm the same with DS, for some reason I cannot break the Startrite habit, shame really as it means living off value beans on value toast