Children's shoes and half sizes

[OutyMcOutface]

I kniw I am-I'm a mummy and should have figured this stuff out by now. So I recently took the eldest for his regular foot measurement (paranoid about him wearing ill fitting shoes). He's been measured as a 10 on one foot and a 10 and a half in the other. He is currently wearing size 10 shoes. What am I supposed to do? Do I buy a 10 1/2 shoe or do I wait for his biggest foot to reach size 11 and buy size 11 shoes. He's not complaining if any pain or tripping over so I am tempted to just wait but I don't want to harm his feet. Are you actually supposed to buy half sizes and full sizes or is it just a case of giving you more choice? Why don't children come with an instruction manual?

If my DD is 6 on one side and 6.5 on the other I will buy 6.5. I feel I’m always playing catch up but she’s still only 2 so once her feet have grown a bit more I’ll just probably not bother with half sizes.

I go with the larger size, but get him to try on the shoes and walk around in the shop, because some brands are a better fit than others.

Before you get their feet measured, ask the shop assistant to check the fit of their current shoes. If there is still growing room then you don't need to change. If the bigger foot does need a bigger shoe then buy that size and pop an insole in the other shoe for the smaller foot.

@Zapados I feel like an idiot for not thinking of that-I was reluctant to get the bigger shoes because I was worried about ankle roll and hoped that the other foot would catch up by the time he got to size 11 but clearly an insole would help with that. Thank you!

Thick sock(s)!

The smaller foot will probably always be smaller. A lot of people have two different sized feet. You have to fit to the bigger foot. It you press your thumb gently into the toe part of the shoe you should be able to feel if he is near the end/touching the end of the shoe.