"Boys' shoes" and "girls' shoes".... ffs!

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Just a minor rant.

Took DD to get measured yesterday. There was a wait to be seen. We amused ourselves looking at the different shoes and she looked at some with sparkles on, some with dinos and some with sharks.

Assistant then came up, measured her, asked what we were looking for. I said sensible shoes for walking to preschool in the cold weather and running around outside.

Assistant came back with 3 pairs of Mary Janes

I said politely that I wanted something sturdy with a leather upper. "We only have 1 pair like that for girls. All these" indicating the dino etc shoes "are for boys, so you can't put her in those."

Ffs what is wrong with people? She is three and a bloody half

Maybe there were no female dinosaurs and that’s why they are extinct?

Are boys' feet really wider?

It really is ridiculous, the flimsy shoes girls are expected to put up with, especially for school. In a climate as wet as the UK you'd think sensible footwear would have established itself for both sexes. Over here in Germany you do get silly flimsy girls' shoes, but that's alongside sturdy decent sensible waterproof and warm ones that are designed exactly like those for boys (often in pinks or purples, true and I've noticed an increasing preponderance of flower and butterfly adornments).

8yo DD tried on some "boys" shoes this year and was amazed at how much more comfortable they were. Having been on the receiving end last year of some comments because -
shock! - she plays with boys and went to play at their houses after school, she didn't want me to buy them.

I agree with all of the above points, it is ridiculous and my two dds won't even consider anything from the 'boys' range because they're for boys despite my best efforts. And usually they're adamant that there are no such things as boys' or girls' things. But the shoes weren't a goer.

However, I work at a school and the girls' shoes don't stop them running or being active one little bit. It's not right and it needs to be changed but they're doing OK in the meantime. The real thing they lack is waterproofness etc but the girls can be just as active in them.

As far as I know the shoe fitter uses the same device to measure both boys and girls feet. Surely, if there was a difference, such as girls often having narrower feet a girls 9D would be different to a boys 9D. This cannot be the case if the same device is used to measure the child's feet.

DS2 has quite narrow feet but we have no difficulty buying him shoes from the "boys" range. I am very glad that my children's chromosomes happen to mean that I can easily buy strong and waterproof shoes for them.

The width thing only really comes into play for adult sized shoes.

Ds (aged 14 size 6) wears girls/ladies tap shoes because he has a narrow foot.

You don't always have a choice. I went shopping for DDs school shoes last week in a major town. Tried 3 shops - Charles Clinkard, John Lewis and an independent. Not one had more than one plain, non patent style in DDs (common) size and width, two weeks before the start of school term.

Fatted not that much choice! We have Clark's (obviously only sell their own brand and often flimsy), Marks (don't do fittings), Schuh Kids (don't trust their fittings) or the independent shop we do use which sells Start Rite, Clark's, Geox and other makes.

"two weeks before the start of school term"

Yes, many places will have sold out if you leave it that late.

I got so pissed off in Clark's the other day I went elsewhere for DD's 1st school shoes. She's 4. She loves playing and running around outside. She also loves pink and all things shiny. She wanted patent shoes, fine, but only available in the girls section. I wanted good foot coverage and something she can fasten herself. Unfortunately Clark's did not have a single pair of shoes which we could agree on as my newly turned 4 year old cannot do buckles by herself. The only patent shoes with good foot coverge they had in her size were buckles. In fact, out of 10 pairs of shoes in her size, 1 covered the whole foot, 2 others were Velcro. Not great for active 4 year olds!
Went to schuh and had a decent choice so they got my money!
Dd2 currently has "boys" navy blue trainers. Not sure what makes them suitable only for boys.

I have never been school shoe shopping earlier than the last week of holiday. I am not buying shoes at the beginning of the summer and then having them grow out of them before they have even got them broken in. And I have never had a problem getting shoes for either child.

I get more frustrated with how hard it is to get uniforms at any time of year other than July. Why do most places think that children only grow (or lose/damage) their uniform in July?

Dd1 wears boys shoes. Of course, she's 18 and has made the choice for herself. She needed new work shoes after the last pair of boots she had fell apart (what looked like very sturdy DM style boots actually had hollow heels which split), but she has very wide feet and is on her feet all day. So she asked me to take her to the Clark's outlet and she got boys school shoes which are very, very sturdy and much more comfortable than any of the girls/women's shoes she's ever tried on. She also has boys trainers because they are a wider fit so are more comfortable.

Dd2 had dinosaur shoes in reception. She chose them herself and was delighted with them. Then she went to school and the other children told her she shouldn't have them because they are "for boys". She changed her mind about shoes and asked for Mary Jane style ones when she next needed new ones, even though I can still see her coveting the comfortable/weather proof styles the boys have marketed to them.

It would be really easy for somewhere like Clark's to try out some sturdier shoes with something "pretty" on them and market them to girls, just to see how well they sell. I would buy them, as would most of my friends. But they wouldn't make as much money, because currently we all buy shoes for the summer and boots for the winter.

That really bugs me! I went into Clarks for dds first shoes in February and had a similar experience. I asked them to bring me both the boys and girls that would fit her and they triple checked that I wanted the boys shoes too and obviously thought that I was very strange as they kept sharing stupid grins and eye rolls with their coworkers when they thought I wasn't looking (empty shop and three staff members) and they kept trying to push some stupid fucking Mary Janes with bunny ears on me. Not a single pair of the girls shoes was fully enclosed ffs.

Refused to buy anything and haven't been back since.