Aibu to want my son in properly fitting shoes? But how the hell do I afford them and what about wellys?

[washingonawednesday]

13 mo ds. Just started walking (v v excited) so purchased first pair of shoes. He has a wide g fitting combined with a tiny 2.5 size.

Obviously bought clarks shoes, but at £24 a pop, am slightly concerned about keeping him in these as he gets bigger- replacement pair every 3 months ish as his feet grow I suppose- eeep!

Anyway twattish ex husband has bought him crappy cheap trainers. No indication of width fitting at all and wants to know for how long he has to have 'special' shoes that have a width fitting. Don't know what to tell him. I'm not asking him to buy shoes- but don't want him to put him in cheap crap ones.

Also I want wellys but clarks don't seem to do them small enough.

General shoe confusion!!!

Have always bought DS and DD Clarks shoes. But it is expensive...... so sometimes I go to ge them measured to see if they have grown and if they have then I look on ebay .... quite often you find shoes on their for £5 or £6 which, becuase kids grow so fast, have hardly been worn. I bought DD a pair of mid clark suede boots with flashing lights, flowers embroidered on them and fluff round the top for £5. Normal cost in Clarks £35. esp in winter, its so wet and muddy outside after a week brand new shoes dont look that way anymore in any case!

The BHS ones tend to have quite a low instep though - so no good if your dc have a high instep.

I have never really followed the 'rules' on shoe fitting. We have had a selection of fitted, off-the-shelf, and hand-me-downs.

An orthopedic surgeon once said to me that shoes were for snow and snakes. Other than that, don't bother! Have them go barefoot indoors and in the garden.

If a toddler takes a liking to wellies, you will not get him out of them. My DS1 was known to sleep in his wellies, and wellies must be the most ill-fitting of any footwear.

You can think that it seems bad now when their feet are growing fast, but it gets worse when they need multiple pairs of shoes. My DSs' prep-school had 5 pairs of footwear on their uniform list, and that did not include the extra pair of trainers needed at home. I soon learnt to drop any notion of having standards when it came to footwear.

£24 is cheap, just wait until you have teens!

my son is 6ft 6 inch tall with size 13 feet. cheapest shoes online are £60 and as he walks a lot, they wear out quickly! I spent £170 on two pairs of shoes last month (weeping softly here)

shoes and SOCKS have to fit young kids well, often many a mother will cough up good fitting shoes but forget to put decent well fitting socks on a kids feet. the sock shouldnt need to stretch to fit along the foot length. esp on babies with their soft little bones.
( love babies feet, i turn to complete mush when i babies little soft feet. its the only time a foot is beautiful.)

my other kids have weird shaped feet, and need lots of padding to fit the narrow heel in the shoe. So we have ended up spending a fortune on him over the years.

It a good job i love primart shoes!!

Also lots of other cheaper shops such as Deichmann and Shoe Zone do offer shoe fitting services, and their shoes are cheaper. Probably inferior materials to Clarks but with the small length of time kids are in shoes it really doesn't matter too much

Op, when you buy shoes just make sure that they fasten properly, don't slip off when you tug at them and they need a thumbs width of growing room at the front (from the tip of their big toe to the edge of the shoe). When they walk make sure that they don't trip over as that means they're too big and look around the ankle to make sure they don't slip as they'll rub.

I get mine measured in clarks and buy them shoes off ebay.

You can get babies shoes hardly worn esp in tiny sizes.

If you find a shoe style that fits then look out for it in sales/on ebay and buy it in the next couple of sizes.

shoesforkids online sells clarks, startrite etc cheaper.

I prefer the independent shoe shop to clarks for range and fit.

For wellies, pumps, slippers etc - I just buy the size from M & S or similar.

You will get to know his feet and what works best. DD used to have alot of kickers when younger as they fit her well, were better made than clarks and were cheaper off ebay.

Expensive shoes are just a cynical exploitation of parental fear.

Shoes that are too tight or restrictive will do damage. Shoes that are too loose will cause your child to fall over when trying to run. But as long as they are neither, you don't need to have a specially fitted shoe unless your child has abnormally wide/thin feet. Most don't, not really (g is not that wide).

Cheap shoes are absolutely fine as long as they are reasonably snug but there is enough room for your child to wriggle their toes and for you to fit your little finger down the back between the heel and the edge of the shoe.

It's worth paying extra for better quality simply because this works out less expensive in the long run, but reasons such as 'not ruining a child's feet' have been created by shoe manufacturer's to part parents from their money. Clarks do not = better quality these days, either. I've been far from impressed with the shoddy plastic fittings and poor-quality leather.

I buy good-quality, real leather school shoes from an independent local shoe store, where I get quality superior to clarks at a fraction of the price and where fitting is also included. The rest of the time I buy online or supermarket cheapies, though my DC live in wellies a lot of the time (and they're not fitted as a rule are they!).

Startrite sell a plastic measuring gauge online, or you can print off a paper one. It comes with instructions and is useful if you want to buy online. It's not that hard to learn how to measure a child's foot correctly after all and ultimately it is only a guide - different manufacturers and different styles will fit differently.

eragon here might be of interest. DH wears these and does loads of walking. A pair usually lasts about 18 months - 2 years.

I wouldn't climb on the Clark's bandwagon yet, if ever. Dgd is 13 months old too. She walked at 10 months and is now very confident on her feet. She's also been measured by Clarks but rather than pay a small fortune out for shoes that are hardly worn at this age, she spends most of the day without shoes and most of her outside walking (at this time of year) is done in wellies. She's also got soft, cheap trainers for when out in the pushchair.

Your ds will need properly fitting shoes. But don't be in too much of a hurry to rush out and buy them and don't assume that only Clarks can sell suitable footwear.

I brought my son clarks shoes in August and when we went back in dec he had only grown 1/2 size on one foot. We got him some proper soled shoes as he tends to walk on the inside of one foot £36 later.... Then checked eBay for some play shoes....£5 and hardly worn me and my oh both hate putting the £36 pair on now! I do think it is important to be properly measured but there are cheap ways of doing it too

It's the high instep and 'H' fitting width that makes it hard here. But I am on benefits, and really rather skint - but I still make sure that my DC's shoes and socks fit well. I should have mentioned the socks myself - they are, in fact, MORE important than shoes - because a tight sock almost 'binds' the foot, like the Chinese used to. A well fitting sock is VERY important. Kudos to the poster who metioned it!