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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Barefoot Children

80 replies

holidaysarenice · 31/05/2012 06:17

This has been nagging all week - really want to know if im waaaaay off the mark or not! So bear with my first post please!

Was in our local park in Glasgow in the hot weather, gorgeous park by day but not got a fab reputation at night.

A local school had their kids all there, running about, playing olympic games, having fun. Fair enough, i could see two teachers and an athletics guy teaching, three teachers on the grass chatting. But that's not my point - just setting a scene.

All the kids were barefoot!! Socks and shoes in a pile by the teachers. Couple of the teachers barefoot too.
I was outraged, kids running on paths, to games set up in different bits of the park, and across fairly long grass. How dangerous is that?

AIBU to think that its not a good idea to let about 40 kids run about in a dodgy-ish park in their barefeet?
If you were the parent would you be mad that this had happened and think that health and safety would go nuts, re the risk of standing on glass/needles/dog poo?

OP posts:

Mishy1234 · 31/05/2012 08:07

YANBU OP. Even if the teachers had looked around, there's no guarantee there wouldn't be any needles in the long grass, especially since the park has a reputation for it's nighttime activities.

Bumdrop · 31/05/2012 08:08

Clearly some people here, dont have the pleasure of inner city parks and the realities of what are commonplace hazards ...
I'm sure its delightful to pad barefoot through a beautiful nz/ aus / british suburban, rural park... not too populated, no dog crap at every turn, no local drug problem..
No alcoholics hanging out, no teenage drunks throwing bottles around ....
Oh i feel sorry for your barefoot souls, skipping through life blissfully unaware,
How clever and right on of you !!!!

Whatmeworry · 31/05/2012 08:10

I am sure the teachers made a reasonable assessment of the area,they are not hell bent on huting kids you know.

And going barefoot is lovely.

Cotton Wool Society

valiumredhead · 31/05/2012 08:20

I grew up going bare foot so this no shoes angst is an alien concept to me -and yes I lived in London for years and ds went barefoot in the park too after a quick scout round.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 31/05/2012 08:26

But what if the kids sat on a needle? Or fell in some dogshit? Or the glass went through their shoes?

Anyway, dogshit between the toes is a bit yuck but won't kill you. A bit of glass might cut but won't maim. Needles are pretty unlikely to be lying point upand if they are it is pretty unlikely they'll catch anything from it.

Far more likely they'll die from obesity related illnesses because they are not allowed outside.

marriedinwhite · 31/05/2012 08:29

I would have not problem at all with children running barefoot in a park - in fact I think our dc spent rafts of their childhood barefoot. Our local parks are in London and not taken over by druggies at all. It's possible they could be but the sensible people here lock them at nightfall and there are huge fines for dog poo and tons of bins so that really isn't a problem. Thank goodness for Wandsworth and H&FC

RachelWalsh · 31/05/2012 08:30

I stay in Glasgow, I don't know what parks are like elsewhere but I wouldnt let my ds run about barefoot. Parks here ARE well maintained but that doesn't mean there couldn't be broken glass, dog shit and the possibility of hypodermic needles. It just seems like common sense to me to wear shoes.

YANBU OP.

valiumredhead · 31/05/2012 08:33

If there are needles about they are just as likely to pick them up as stand on them.

I can remember stepping in a cow pat ONCE, I can still remember everyone laughing Ewww between the toes!

We stepped on things and said "ouch" if they hurt and went and saw our mums for a plaster if we had a little cut. The only time I remember anyone getting really hurt was when my cousin paddled in a stream and there was some glass in there but it didn't require a hospital visit just a salt soak and a plaster.

marriedinwhite · 31/05/2012 08:34

The most painful thing I have ever trodden on is a wasp and I'm not banning barefeet in case anyone treads on a wasp.

longwhitecloud · 31/05/2012 08:49

YABU. Maybe you should concentrate your worry on WHY there are needles in the park, or copious amounts of dog shit or glass everywhere. Seems such a shame to prevent kids from going barefoot because of irresponsible adults. I am from NZ and I am fascinated by Brits who can't get their heads around kids not wearing shoes. Feet can be washed!

Belmo · 31/05/2012 08:55

I'm all for walking about barefoot but not in a park in Glasgow!

Hullygully · 31/05/2012 08:57

This is discusting.

What about verrucas?

WandaDoff · 31/05/2012 09:02

I stay in Glasgow & wouldn't let my kids run about barefoot in the parks here.

valiumredhead · 31/05/2012 09:04

YOu won't get a veruuca from the grass

Hullygully · 31/05/2012 09:06

You will. Bits of verrucay skin come off and then stick on other feet. I read it in Take A Break. My Grassy Verruca Hell.

Birdsgottafly · 31/05/2012 09:09

I don't see the need for the school to do that, shoes to run in could hav easily been carried.

If you want your child to run around barefoot, fine. It's you that will have to take them for the injections and treatment (tetanus, anti HIV/hep) etc (Glasgow has a large amount of HIV positive drug users), if they do step on anything/needles.

We did as children, but the recent ringworm thread reminded me about the amount of ringworm that used to be about and i think this is probably one of the reasons.

That is only if the grass was long, as the OP says and if the parks in Glasgow as they are, here in the NW. There are parks in my area that i wouldn't walk my dog in.

Noqontrol · 31/05/2012 09:16

I would have done it once, I always used to be barefoot. But there's no chance I'd let the kids do it in our local park and I wouldn't do it either. I guess it depends where you live, but here we have broken glass, needles, plenty of dog shit and wasps that just seem to hang out in the grass. So not for us unless we get to move somewhere a bit better.

FredFredGeorge · 31/05/2012 09:52

If the risk of needles etc. was so high in the park, it would not be appropriate to be in it at all - the very low risk of stepping on one, would be very similar to the risk of tripping and falling, or picking up and playing with. Being Barefoot is a red-herring.

BarredfromhavingStella · 31/05/2012 09:57

What Fred said & stop being such a kill joy-I was notorious for being shoe-less as a child, still got both my healthy tough as old boots feet

latebreakfast · 31/05/2012 09:58

They should have been wearing cycle helmets. Then they'd have been fine.

latebreakfast · 31/05/2012 09:58

... on their feet that is...

TroublesomeEx · 31/05/2012 09:59

I think it is only the UK that a stranger could see a group of DC s having fun and want to stop it!

Too right!

DD and I spend a lot of our time barefoot. In fact she walked home from school barefoot earlier this week after taking her socks and shoes off the second she was out of the classroom door.

Snorbs · 31/05/2012 10:07

It would bother me not a jot. Walking barefoot in the grass is one of life's little pleasures.

Noqontrol · 31/05/2012 10:10

I think people tend to judge their own environment fredfredgeorge for themselves. It's impossible to comment on the safety of somewhere unless you have seen it for yourself. In our case it would be safe to walk through the park with shoes on, it would not be safe to run through it without shoes on. The park is several miles long and it is used as an access to other places. It would not be practical to simply not use it. I'm not particularly anal about not wearing shoes, having spent a huge proportion of my life walking without them and building up hard skin to compensate for lack of shoes. So I feel reasonably competent at assessing the safety in my local park and it's shoes on for us.

RetroMom · 31/05/2012 10:14

As a kid on the farm we use to go milk the cows barefoot. When it was cold we'd look for the steamiest cow pat we could find to stand in and warm our feet up!

Did any of the children come to harm in the park that day?

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