to be aghast - yes, aghast - at the huge amount of authoritarian advice people seem to need and expect with regard to children's footwear?

As a person with slightly longer than average feet also I find that Evans do a good range for us-flippered folk. I am one of those people whose idea of hell is shopping for new shoes for me as my feet blister up at the sight of a pair of new shoes (I try not to plan shopping expeditions out loud but rather creep up on the sale racks undectected so my size do not go and hide themselves ).

My mum suffered (and still does) as she was obliged to cram her tootsies into a size smaller shoe as a teenager so she made darned sure that our feet were cosseted by our shoes and that meant new pairs per child. Even my ballet shoes were new .

Shoe shopping was my (and my mother's) idea of hell between the ages of about 10 and 15. I wanted court shoes with little heels (like everyone else). I had wide feet that couldn't fit into courts. My mother wanted me to wear sensible shoes that actually fitted.... She won (had the chequebook). I sulked. It was horrible. And what is worse I now realise she was right and I will probably have to go through the same thing with my DD! Oh joy

I agree with everyone about only being able to buy pink shoes in Clarkes - but I find that with clothes generally - unless you spent a fortune its hard to get away from pink (with 'born to shop' or 'little princess' slogans, but that's a whole other thread!)

And I think that it's important that schools can guide parents re shoes. I hate to see LOs in heels and impractical shoes. Loads of little girls in our school last winter were wearing inadequate pretty little pump type shoes that got soaked as soon as it rained.

evenhope my flippers are wide too and very high instep so shoes often fall off. but i don't go to some soviet shoe shop to be told i only have a choice of two hideous styles, i go to a variety of shops and try them on. fair enough i do own rather a lot of cloggy type things but that is my own choice.

and never ever next their shoes are for people with bird feet.

I don't have a problem with Clarkes fitting service. I use it as a starting point and try different sizes until we get one that fits. It's fairly obvious when they do and don't isn't it?

However I do agree with regard to the choice. We do use an outlet store so it's not so surprising maybe but I do get hacked off with bloody pink (DD refused to wear it at all) and hideous clumpy black boys shoes once the get past the age of about 4 - so dismal

LOL fio - best check DD more carefully before she goes to school in future, just in case!

not sure if it is a nationwide chain but i always go to Johnson's.
They have Clarks, Startrite, Timberland and a bunch of other makes.
They measure the feet then bring out what styles they have in the size. I refuse to "choose" first as it is pointless and DD1 just gets the hump as they won't have "the one". Then i choose whichever one fits best with advice from the shop assistant.

DDs love buying shoes ...

and my mum made us wear Clarks up to about age 14 and now i have brilliant feet that fits any shoe so am v grateful.

Strict rules on footwear at DD's school, but it doesn't bother us - red or black shoes only, sensible shoes only, no sandels or boots. We knew the rules when we chose the school.

DD has some lovely red school shoes.

And then she has lots of pretty or funky footwear for out of school - boots, Crocs, sandals, flip flips, etc.

what only shoes?

I think there is a lot of over controllng in parenting generally.....shoes are shoes, they should keep feet dry/protected and that's about it...and yes i do pass them on from child to child if they're not too knackered.

fishie- I would take issue with your 8.31 post "do we all need special width fitting as adults? NO. we just buy shoes which FIT our feet." I need a wide shoe. My feet were wide as a child, and they are still wide. But normal shoe shops do not make wide shoes for adults and I struggle to find shoes that fit.

Given that a large number of children are a G or H fitting (judging by the difficulty in getting hold of said articles) why do they not continue to do these fittings into adult shoes? Even the so-called wide fitting some shops do isn't wide enough for me. Only shoes designed for very very old ladies are made wide enough.

Adults don't need faffy fittings because the bones intheir feet have calcified. IIRC this does not happen until you reach about 18 years so children should wear propely fitted shoes, lenght and width or their feet will be damaged.

I think well fitting shoes for developing feet are essential - if feet are going to be clad at all (I much prefer barefeet) then it should be with something that supports movement and allows for growth.

I remember hating my mum as a child for making me wear sensible shoes (I wanted to wear the patent leather kitten heels I had bought from the jumble sale) - but that is why it is a good thing she was in charge. I have large and wide feet and cheap shoes never fitted me - the worst part of my childhood was when dad was unemployed and we had clothing vouchers that could only be used in bhs - the shoes were awful and didn't fit very well but we had no option.

Buying good shoes for my equally wide footed dc's is a privilege I take very seriously. I think all uniforms are the devils work - but I wouldn't argue with a spec for good footwear life is too short.

My mum was very fussy and authoritarian with our shoes when my brother and I were little. Apart from my fallen arches (as a direct result of pregnancies) we both now have healthy, well-formed feet. My sister OTOH rebelled and insisted on fasion shoes from a very early age: she now has mis-shapen, painful feet, and regrets her actions.

hahha he's got crocs now hahaha.

Ahhhhhhh, my DS's feet don't seem to be growing, I forget other people have to change shoes

flame it was wondrous bargain for a 16-23mo (just worked out they lasted six months), my friend's ds had three pairs in that time. wish could get my shoe budget down to that cost per wear!

mamonkey it is very difficult, ds was in those daisy root things till his feet got a bit bigger, it was spring/summer too so not much rain. misdee may be able to help, i seem to remember she had a similar prob with dd3.

I think Start Rite seem to specialise in smaller feet. More styles in narrow fittings and smaller sizes.

Where as Clarks seem to go with average sizes.

Start Rite do size 3.5 (I feel like I should be on commission). When dd1 was first walking I took her to Clarks, they measured her at 3.5 but didn't have anything in her size and told me that I'd never get shoes to fit her as she was too small and I'd have to get boots specially made. Went to SR and they gave me a choice of about 4 styles.

Can I just say, when you get your childs feet measured at Clarks they should always tell you that the size the measure is just a guide.
What style of shoe and actually fitting them will determine the size and width.

Clarks shoe fitters have to go through alot of training to fit childrens shoes,

but
any problem you have or if you think that the shoes they are fitting arent right, you should always ask for a second opionion.

Why is it such an issue to have uniform school shoes?

I don't understand the outrage - school uniform is school uniform, including the shoes. Black/brown pref leather shoes look nice & smart and coincides with the whole school uniform thing. It also helps guard against the stupid parents who think open toed heeled sandals are suitable for running around in playgrounds.

I remember falling over in sandals and not only having scraped knees but stubbed toes too - it makes more sense to have closed toes in school.

£45 is bargainous???

Actually, if anyone can tell me where I can buy nice baby shoes for walkers in a teeny-tiny size 3 they will earn my undying affection and a gold star.

When I was at primary school (started 27 years ago, left 16 years ago) we were only allowed to wear black or brown shoes and they had to be "proper" shoes ie no sandals.

So I suppose I can't really get worked up about being told what shoes to wear as I've always been used to it (probably DH will get more worked up if/when DS and DD are directed towards shoes, but as I'll be the one buying them, I don't see too much of a problem).