AIBU to not shell out £65 for kids trainers?

[Tonka76]

He's twelve and his feet are still growing... I've said if he wants expensive trainers then he needs to ask for them for Christmas. Is this miserly? He needs to be shod I know that... and if I'm honest it's a lot to do with his choice of haurrache Nike which I think are the ugliest shoe if ever seen and just can't face seeing them on a daily basis.

What do you pay for shoes for kids? Am I being a Scrooge?

We dont all live in liberal ethhical bubbles I'm afraid. Buy him the trainers if you can stretch to it. Like many have commented - children can be cruel. I went to a very mixed comp with a huge demographic. To this day I remember being teased about my Nicks trainers - baloney I know. However I'm sure it would've made life smoother wearing credible footwear. One less thing to be angst about! I'm certain this wont impact recognising the value of money.

Oh, this explains a lot!
I got DD (11) a pair of Skechers trainers, she chose them herself, I think they were about £40. At school she got teased by the boys for wearing Skechers not Huaraches. She even got teased for her leather Hummels which were not cheap! However she doesn't want Huaraches as she thinks they are really ugly and a waste of money.
We are fine for money and I am happy to buy her what she wants, but the prices of some of the trainers are ridiculous. I do agree that it's 'wearing your wealth' which I've always found a bit naff personally (a bit like super expensive handbags).

Oh, I love Skechers - but DSs inform me that they are for Oooooooold People: I am the correct demographic, apparently

It is such a fine line to judge, this supporting kids and making sure they are not getting teased or bullied, while not caving in to every single bit of peer pressure and fashion nonsense. I suppose every child and every parent will have to sort that one out themselves.

My almost 10 year old gets trainers from the Nike outlet shop near us. I am DREADING his getting a bit more fashion aware and the resulting cost! He is hypermobile with ultra wide feet too which makes him a pain in the arse to buy for.

19lottie82 "The cold hard fact is, and it has been since I was at school....... if you have crap trainers, you're going to get laughed at. Sorry, but that's the truth!

As long as you can afford it.....Buy the lad his trainers, he will love you and he will feel ten feet tall!"

Well that sucks, doesn't it.
So if you can't afford it your kids will get laughed at.
So then you just have to teach them that there's more to life than having the best trainers. It's what I'm teaching my kids. Sure, my 7 yo comes home and tells me Maddox laughs at his football boots. There's no way I'm bowing to Maddox's peer pressure and getting my 7 yo fancy football boots.

My 17 yo got whatever I could afford until his feet stopped growing. He learnt that I had x amount of money for clothes etc. He could spend it all on fancy trainers/boots or he could get cheaper ones and lots of other stuff as well.

rights, I have to agree with you. At my DCs school there are a mix of some very middle class children and some quite poor families. Why is it OK to get laughed at because you can't afford expensive clothes?
When DD got teased for her trainers we had a chat about it and I explained why its not nice to comment on the brands people are wearing, or to judge people by their clothes, as some people don't have much.
We talked about how much money the family has and I said if she really wanted expensive trainers then we could buy them; or we could spend that money on other things like outings or holidays, so it was a choice we could make. It's not like I am buying her crap stuff; it's just not the 'in' thing to have. I don't really see why the only choice is to go along with the crowd and buy into all this stuff.
Fortunately DD has some lovely friends who also don't go in for all this stuff either, so she will be fine. She says all the playground talk about expensive cars and expensive trainers etc is boring.

Any teasing isn't really about the shoes. It might look like that on the surface but it's not. It's more to do with the bully's self esteem and needing to look down on people.

You don't need to live an liberal ethical bubble to have morals around consumerism/materialism

So Dazzle why did your parents buy you a crap pair of trainers for your birthday? That is just bizarre imo, was it deliberate or did you not tell them what you wanted? If my DDs wanted expensive trainers for their birthday I'd buy them. Just not on a run of the mill shopping trip.

Tonka - you are right about the Huaraches pushing the foot forward. Following this thread I've started noticing feet more at school! The Huaraches seem to push the big toe out of the front of the trainer, often making a hole. Doesn't look very nice in my opinion but them I am am oldie. Hope no-one thought I was weird for staring at their feet though.....
What did surprise me was that out of the whole class (Y6) every single child was in trainers. Don't older kids wear shoes anymore?