To feel that shoe shopping for children is frequently a painful experience?

[lottieandmia]

Today I made the mistake of trying to buy school pumps for my dd, who is 5 and who has very wide feet. I should have gone to Russell and Bromley, which is the only shop where the staff seem to know what they're doing but is also the most expensive! The conversation went something like this;

Sales assistant: can I help you?
Me: I was wondering if you have any clarks doodles pumps in a 9.5G please?
SA: we don't do them in fittings
Me: yes they do - I've checked Clarks' website
SA: well we only have a F. How do you know the F won't fit her?
Me: because she's a G/H fitting
SA: let's just see (crams dd's foot into shoes) see, they do fit her.

The shoes didn't fit her and I was left wondering why someone is probably fitting shoes incorrectly in a children's shoe shop all day!

Independent children's shoe shops are your friend.

My daughter loves buying shoes but has difficult feet to fit. My son hates shoe shopping but is easy to fit.

It is always an 'interesting' experience. A good independent makes it bearable.

I don't think there Re My independent shoe shops in my town but possibles in the nearest big town which is Birmingham.

Oh God I hate this.

Me: he's grown out of the size two so could we get a three?
Shop: he's measuring up as a 1.5 so I'll find you those.
Me: no those will be too small, really. Look, he's grown out of the two.
Shop: well he is measuring as a 1.5 so I'll bring those up....oh - it doesn't fit. I'll bring the next size up.

Aaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh..

I much prefer outlet stores now which are 30% cheaper and you get to pick sizes off the shelf, not really on someone who had ten minutes training and won't listen.

Independents in London are lovely but aimed at the Russian Oligarch market, judging by their prices.

If you can afford to do it, might make your life MUCH easier to simply order a few different sizes online, and then return the ones that don't fit.

Try finding school shoes for a 14 (who thinks she is 18) teen girl. Now that is painful.

I trace the foot of each of my 4 kids in A4 sheets, then go to the shop WITHOUT kids. Joy. I take my time, choose what I like and then surprise them. They are happy.

I should add once I took two kids to Clark's to buy school shoes the last Sunday of August. Bad mistake. We queued 45min to pay!! The misery.

Both my DC have narrow feet, but with the highest instep ever - so nothing ever does up properly.

I have to sometimes get wide fitting shoes, but then their feet are slithering from side to side, you could get another foot in there, but it's still pressing on the top of their feet.
We usually have to go up a size as well.

Finding something that actually remotely fits is a moment of immense triumph - we usually have to trail round about 4 different shops and try on about 15 pairs of shoes, before returning home frustrated and shoe-less.

Yanbu - ds1 (13) has wide feet. He is also a fussy nightmare about shoes. Not even being a brat, asd sensory issues with shoes and clothing. Shoe shopping with him is torture.
Dd1 (10) also has asd, has narrow feet with a high instep so like pp I find it impossible to get her well fitting shoes in most shops.
Dd2 (2) has tiny, delicate feet and everything is too wide on her
Ds2 (2) has HUGE feet, they are just massive and so again almost impossible to find well fitting shoes.

Going shoe shopping is literally my least favourite thing to do in the entire universe!

yabu to go shoe shopping for school shoes aleady!
don't you know their feet grow 2 sizes during the week before they go back to school

otherwise yanbu
dc2 has wide feet and school says 'no mary jane style' for girls which narrows choice down even further.

Ah well you see the reason I asked for the specific fitting is because it's those pumps they have to wear for PE. And they come in a F and a G only so I knew only a G would have a chance of fitting!

I agree mous but those pumps seem to sell out quickly IME.