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AIBU?

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Original poster

No Shoes

27 replies

vacant · 02/05/2011 00:14

Is it weird or OK to let your children go out with no shoes on?

Neighbour's daughter goes everywhere with no shoes on, apart for school that is. Gave into pressure and allowed my seven year old daughter to go to a travelling fair at the park today barefoot but felt uneasy about letting her do so, although not sure why.

And feel a little silly asking this!

OP posts:
Firawla · 02/05/2011 00:23

I wouldn't let mine walk round on the pavement etc without shoes, you don't know what they may tread on - broken glass, dog poo, even stones and gravel could cut their feet and hurt them so just from a safety and practical reason I would think its best not, also the feet will get filthy. In the park on the grass to run around or something then maybe yes why not, but would take the shoes with me for the trip there and back personally.

defineme · 02/05/2011 00:35

There's crap (literally and otherwise) on the pavement. My kids have trod on wasps/got splinters/stubbed toes/thorns in their bare feet just in the back garden-so certainly not outside.
She's 7, you're in charge, she needs to do what you say and never mind what the neighbours do.

peeriebear · 02/05/2011 00:44

Not on our road; broken glass and dogshit everywhere from a vile minority. Depends what it's like where you are.

LostInSockLand · 02/05/2011 01:00

Couldn't do it here, pavements full of broken glass, dog shit, horse shit etc.

squeakytoy · 02/05/2011 01:04

You gave in?

I certainly wouldnt have, and a travelling fair is certainly not a place where I would allow any child to walk barefoot either.

squeakytoy · 02/05/2011 01:05

Also, in a park, how do you know what lurks under the grass? Fine in your own back garden, if you know that there is no glass, or needles, or dog shit. Not fine in a public park.

MCos · 02/05/2011 01:07

mine won't wear shoes at home. They are kicked off in the hall as soon as they get in the front door and in the car. I am OK with barefoot in our gardens, but make them wear shoes when leaving the house. What is lurking under the grass is my biggest concern also - especially glass, rusty nails or other horrors.

squeakytoy · 02/05/2011 01:08

I dont wear shoes in the house, never have. But I wouldnt go out anywhere apart from a private garden in bare feet.

SpringchickenGoldBrass · 02/05/2011 01:14

If this kid is accustomed to walking around with no shoes on she will have feet like, well, shoeleather. However, if your DD is acustomed to wearing shoes, a fairground is the last place she should be going barefoot. Having said that, she will either hurt her feet and get over the desire to be shoeless, or carry on till her feet are like shoeleather. Inspect her feet when she comes home and if there are any deep wounds get her a tetanus shot.

WhiteBumOfTheMountain · 02/05/2011 01:20

"A travelling fair" How very 1935.

squeakytoy · 02/05/2011 01:24

??? we get travelling fairs every few weeks apart from the winter, are you not in the UK WhiteBum?

WhiteBumOfTheMountain · 02/05/2011 01:27

Yes squeaky! It just seems...sort of vintageto say "Travelling fair" Kind of Enid Blyton....

"Oh look Dick, it's those rough children from the travelling fair and they haven't got any shoes on!"

"Don't worry Anne, those ruffians look like cowards to me...just open up the picnic lunch will you there's a good girl!"

squeakytoy · 02/05/2011 01:29

haha :) I see what you mean, but I cant think of another description for it either really..

sunnydelight · 02/05/2011 06:02

Are your neighbours Aussies? It is really common here for people to go barefoot - in restaurants, supermarkets etc. - which I found really strange on arrival. Bearing in mind we live in an area with deadly spiders I can't bring myself to let my kids go barefoot in playgrounds or the bush but loads of people do. Just different cultural expectations I guess.

Original poster
vacant · 02/05/2011 12:58

Thanks for all you replies, glad I do not live where most of you live.

Neighbours are from Denmark and New Zealand.

OP posts:
LaWeaselIsOupaLaDouffe · 02/05/2011 13:01

NZ very very common to not wear shoes in some areas.

Our family is from there and after moving here I often popped to shop with no shoes on as a kid (in a village) and go all over the place with no shoes on still now...

Unless the streets are dirty I don't think it matters.

(I do have very hard bottoms of feet, so maybe that's why I don't give a stuff)

lesley33 · 02/05/2011 13:04

Unusual in UK to go out with no shoes on, common in some other countries. I don't think there is really a right or wrong here - although it obviously depends where you live. Where I live dog mess and glass on pavements and open grass is very rare and easily avoided. Yes her feet will get filthy, but this won't actually harm her.

I remember as a child wanting to walk around barefeet. Did so once when I was away from my parents and it totally killed my desire as my feet weren't tough and it hurt.

lesley33 · 02/05/2011 13:06

I remember a physio friend a few years ago bemoaning that in the UK we spent so much time wearing shoes. She argued (no idea if she is right!) that this was bad for us e.g. posture and unnatural.

Original poster
vacant · 02/05/2011 13:08

glad I do not live where most of you live. Was meant to add that the pavements around here are generally not so bad. Around the shops they are a bit gruby but our neighbour's girl has never had any problems. I watch her playing on her bike and scatboard barefoot expecting her to get hurt but never does.

OP posts:
AccioPinotGrigio · 02/05/2011 13:14

My grandfather was an osteopath, trained in the 1930's. He always bemoaned the wearing of shoes and whenever we went to his house we would always take them off and go barefoot. It is very pleasant but definitely a location thing.

worraliberty · 02/05/2011 13:19

I'd be very surprised if she was allowed on the rides with no shoes on due to insurance issues.

Parks have all sorts of things hidden in the grass that you really wouldn't want your child to stand on...rusty things, glass, discarded needles, animal poo etc.

emptyshell · 02/05/2011 13:53

I think it's a the more you do it the more your feet become accustomed to it kind of deal.

I'm dreadful for wandering around classrooms during breaktimes in just my socks though - I struggle dreadfully to find shoes that don't want to turn on me and hurt me brutally, so when the kids are out, off they come.

Having said that - I'm old enough that if I step on a drawing pin it's my own idiotic fault though.

Think it was one of our local Tescos that was in the news a year or two ago (back in the middle of pyjamagate) for banning a guy going in barefoot. Yeah it was www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1248240/Now-Tesco-ban-barefooted-shoppers-stores-outlawing-pyjamas.html ...I have to say if he has scary feet like my husband has then I fully endorse this ban.

Think there's a big barefoot running movement too, and those shoes with the five toe parts (ewww at the thought - can't stand the idea of things between my toes) that are meant to mimic being barefoot.

carabos · 02/05/2011 14:08

I once went down to breakfast in a hotel barefoot (not a posh hotel) and was told in no uncertain terms that I would not be served unless I put some footwear on.

Original poster
vacant · 02/05/2011 20:05

[quote]I'd be very surprised if she was allowed on the rides with no shoes on due to insurance issues.[quote]

No one stopped her going on the rides, I would have thought flip flops where more of a hazard on rides as they can easily be caught

[quote]Parks have all sorts of things hidden in the grass that you really wouldn't want your child to stand on...rusty things, glass, discarded needles, animal poo etc.[quote]

But is this not true of the beach?

I was wondering if it is an odd thing to allow, whether people would look at me badly.

My mind says nothing wrong with letting her go around barefoot, but my feelings are having resevations.

OP posts:
dealer · 02/05/2011 20:16

Tescos refused me entry once since I was barefoot. I was 8 months pregnant and my feet were so swollen I couldn't get them on.
I had to walk about 1.5 miles to get bread and milk from a convenience store.

I always went barefoot as a child, much to my father's (born in 1925) disgust, said it made me look like a street urchin. I was well known for my shoelessness as I would go out of the house with shoes on in the morning and then take them off for the 2 mile walk to school, before putting them on at the gate.

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