to be considering not getting shoes for our DD?

I suggest you do a quick survey of your scottish friends and neighbours feet and then relax!

Depends what you mean by older. If you mean 2 then no. If you mean 13 then yes.

it's preferable for them to be barefoot for as long as possible, so you aren't unreasonable in that

all i would say is that I don't think i would be happy for mine to walk around barefoot outside (apart from in our garden etc) simply because you don;t know what sharp objects etc might be on the ground

Mine got shoes when they were likely to start walking outside. I didn't buy these 'prewalker' rip off shoes, but just soft slipper types that looked funky.

Shoes will not harm her if they are the right sort of shoe and properly fitted.

Walking barefoot is great - in the house, in the garden, on the beach - but not so great in parks, on pavements, city centres etc. If he is happy to be carried in these environments then be aware this is a v. transient phase and she will soon insist on getting down and walking.

i kept mine in those leather slipper type things, that you just pull on, for as long as possible, they are fine in the summer :)

Depends where she will be walking.

If outside then I would prefer shoes. There may be sharp objects you don't notice, etc.

Inside though - barefeet or soft coverings that let her feet have more freedom, etc.

We never wear shoes inside (well private homes, we do wear them in public places) at all. I hate it, as does DD. Dh wears socks inside or slippers but never shoes.

You do realise that not all scottish people are limping around with crippled deformed feet?

The right shoes will not harm feet. Walking on sharp objects will do.

This aussie no shoes thing is news to me!

I had shoes to stop me trotters burning if nothing else...

DS has been walking for a couple of months now, and we are keeping him barefoot for as long as possible - the good weather has helped!

We don't let him walk everywhere, but he isn't up to walking long distances yet anyway. He can walk around in indoor environments, he walks round the corner, along the pavement and up to the house (with DH or me watching closely, looking at the ground on front of him), and also at our local parks, which are very well maintained and on private property, as well as a few more local outdoor areas.

I admit I can't stop scanning the ground around him, it's become second nature, but he is just as likely to suddenly drop to his hands and feet to steady himself, and his hands don't have any special protection either.

I love the way he feels new things with his toes - eg, we have 2 different style manhole covers on the pavement leading up to our house and he always runs up to each of them in turn, touches them with his toes, and then walks across them grinning.

We'll look at getting him shoes if he starts wanting to explore areas that we wouldn't consider barefoot friendly (not sure where yet), or if the weather makes it impractical, but at the moment he is a happy barefoot boy :)

I didn't get shoes for the dc's until they were walking outside, they were still only 15 months though.

Even now we tend to go barefoot in the garden. I'd love to be barefoot all of the time.

I hope you're good at spotting broken glass then. That would cause far more damage than a pair of doodles.

The advice (though I know this seems to change on a weekly basis) when my two were small was keep them barefoot until they have been walking for a few months. Then a good pair of properly measured for shoes. Dd was walking at 1 and got her first shoes at 15 months. Her twin brother didn't walk til he was 19 months (he preferred to roll everywhere) and he got his first shoes when he was 20 months as once he was up and mobile he was off.

I am astonished you didn't have shoes until 13yo!

How did you get to school? (or HE'd?)

DS has had shoes for 2 months, ever since he started walking, at which point he wanted to totter round playgrounds holding on to me. He does walk better in bare feet or socks, but he's not going into playgrounds in bare feet when teenagers use them for drinking on overnight! So he only puts shoes on when I think he may need the protection

Practicality is surely the best guide here?

I lived on a tropical island near australia and only wore shoes for church as my mum insisted! Not school though, I had feet like leather. I regularly would get into the bath at night and discovered thumb tacks and all sorts hanging off of them. sounds really yuk now but my feet were so hard it was like I was always wearing shoes! They're not like that anymore though!

No need for shoes until walking around outside. Are you going to let your baby walk around the park/street without shoes? Are you not worried about her stepping on something sharp. Or will she always be carried / pushed in buggy. I bet you'll last another 2-3 months.

She'll need shoes for nursery when she is 3. Or are you going to let her play in the snow without anything on her feet? I was brought up in Scotland and don't have deformed feet!

Stick with the soft slippers for as long as you can. I was upset when I realised that full time school meant my children's feet were in shoes for 7 hours a day solid, day after day :(

Beware of putting a toddler in wellies too much instead, I did that one winter and the toes got red nobbles on the top and weren't flat out, the health visitor explained to me what the problem was. Ooops.

I love the feeling of walking on sand or grass barefoot, nothing like it!

My poor ds2 got a rose thorn in his foot, it was misdiagnosed as a verucca, but emerged by itself quite a few painful weeks later. I felt I had to continue to send him to pre-school day after day with his sandals on as I didn't know enough to keep him off until his foot was better :(