To be surprised how many parents can't afford children's footwear?

[moita]

I must have been living under a rock but: I recently started volunteering for a charity that donates coats to children who need one.

I live in a village just outside a deprived city and we have lots of requests for coats from struggling parents.

It was eye-opening. We then started having the same request: for footwear, most specifically wellies. We put out social media messages for used but good condition wellies. Lots of people donated and they were all pretty much snapped up.

I've got to say: I was surprised, naively so? I felt guilty buying my toddler wellies from the supermarket but here were parents happy to take used ones away. And a lot of the people who came to use are single mums who have fallen on hard times.

I don't know. I just feel so sad that our service is so needed.

My son has a pair of wellies, two pairs of trainers, one pair of pumps and a pair of school shoes. Altogether we have spent no more than 12.00 on any one pair but I consider these essentials. We haven't been extravagant and his school ones are Clarks for 3.00 of ebay. As a singular item they are costly enough but when three or four types need to be replaced at any one time for multiple children it is bonkers even with cheap shoes. I work for Social services so Im only too conscious of what the world is like. Keep up the good work OP Lord knows we need it.

Our toddler is going through shoes at £30-£40 every 2 months (like most) and I've often thought how hard it must be for parents on even lower incomes than us to afford it.

I always find Clarke’s sale never have the size my lot need. Maybe it’s just my local one but every time I’ve been in they measure their feet and only seem to have the most expensive ones in their size. I stopped even trying there after one of the sales assistants made me feel awful by telling my youngest “oh mummy won’t let you have the ones you want and wants you to have these ones”.

As I said now im on my own with them I really struggle with the price of shoes all three of them are in adults shoes. 10yr old in 6, 12yr old 9 and 15yr old 6 so their shoes cost a fortune even if it’s just from a supermarket. I wish I could buy them better but on min wage with rent, heating and bills that I can’t get out of until the contracts run out I’m a bit stuck. I do worry about their feet but then again I grew up getting shoes from the market and my feet have no problems at all so hoping they will be the same.

We are comfortably off and I still wince every time I have to buy a new pair of shoes for my toddler.

Hmm wonder if its possible to make an expandandable shoe
You can use insoles to buy bigger for more room for growth. I don't even do this and DS gets a year out of school shoes. He's 14 and in an 8, so his feet aren't huge though.

Yabu. When I was a kid we had one pair of black school shoes and that was it. Wore them to school, park, beach, parties. And my gran had to buy them for us as my mum couldn’t afford to. Single parent in the 90’s.

I used to work as a fitter in Clarks. They will always try to sell you new shoes if your child has gone up half a size but generally children can get away with growing a whole size until they need new shoes. Also it’s pretty easy to self-fit shoes from other places. You want a thumb width of space between the end of the shoe and toes, snug across the width (not tight so toes are pressing but not baggy so you can pinch loads of material, and make sure the heels don’t slip when they walk in them.
Further tip, most children can go up a size from their measured size and still be fine (so measured at 12 go up to a 12.5) which gives you even more growing room.

You don't need to be particularly low income nowadays to struggle with the costs of footwear and clothing for your children, given the cost of living and rents.
Many people buy the main shoes new ( school shoes and trainers) and struggle to do that, repairing with superglue as needed, and buy extra footwear ( sandals, pumps, wellies and boots) second hand or accept hand me downs.
The cost of new school uniforms, especially if branded or a very specific style is horrific, and thank goodness for schools running second hand uniform initiatives.
I'm shocked that anyone is shocked that parents struggle to afford these things tbh.

I am part of a local hand me on site on Facebook- there are always requests for shoes and wellies but they get passed on once outgrown by the new owners. It works great. Shoes can end up looking worn but there is still demand for them. Community helping one another out. I often post my DC outgrown clothes and shoes and pleased that they get reused as like many have said they are out grown so fast!!!

I'm just amazed that some families replace plimsolls, slippers, wellies for 4 children at a time - aren't they things that are handed down?

Thankfully trainers seemed to last until they wore out and so did their shoes. I often, in the infants, bought dd a pair of start-rite closed sandals between Easter and Whitsun and they lasted all through the holidays and often through September and replaced them with a winter pair. If her winter school shoes lasted until July then she often had a pair of doodles for the summer holidays. Fortunately crocs were very popular when mine were under 11 and they seemed to last for years.

DD had a pair of white trainers at 11 for school and they lasted until Yr13. Then again, she never grew beyond a 3.5!

With charity shops closed this must be a huge problem. There’s needs to be more places to donate to that are well advertised. I had bags of baby clothes to donate recently and it was so difficult to find a local charity to give to. A couple had lists of what they did and didn’t want but I wasn’t about to spend ages separating everything. Eventually I just dropped them in the charity bins but I’d rather they had gone to a local place.

I'm just amazed that some families replace plimsolls, slippers, wellies for 4 children at a time - aren't they things that are handed down? My sister wouldn't have wanted mine (except plimsolls), they were either boys' or unisex and she insisted on pink everything, and girly school shoes. Likely easier if you had all boys.

Children’s shoes are so expensive for how quickly they grow out of them. When the dds were small it could be a struggles to buy all the types they needed and they didn’t always have wellies.

We are lucky in that we have a Clark’s outlet near us, so I’ve never paid more than £20 for Clark’s shoes, some have been less than £5. I always tried to pass wellies and other shoes if they were still in good condition on as I know what a struggle it can be to keep with Kids ever growing feet! Luckily now the dds feet have stopped growing.

As others have said kids shoes - especially toddler shoes are really expensive. I can't justify £35-40 for a pair of shoes that will last 6-8 weeks. I tend to get my kids feet measures now and buy 2nd hand Clarke's on eBay for a fraction of the price.

@transformandriseup

Our toddler is going through shoes at £30-£40 every 2 months (like most) and I've often thought how hard it must be for parents on even lower incomes than us to afford it.

'Most' people don't pay that kind of money for toddler's shoes.

@ladyvimes

Yabu. When I was a kid we had one pair of black school shoes and that was it. Wore them to school, park, beach, parties. And my gran had to buy them for us as my mum couldn’t afford to. Single parent in the 90’s.

Schools now require multiple pairs though. School shoes, football boots and indoor trainers at our secondary. There is such a thing as relative poverty, you could not expect a child to wear school shoes when out of uniform these days.

A decent pair of leather shoes or trainers in kids size is around £30-50. And if your child has wide feet eg G or H you’re limited to Clarks, Startrite or the Barefoot brands.

There is an obsession with buying Clarks shoes in this country I've never seen elsewhere.

Even stranger because Clarks shoes are not the quality that comes with the reputation, certainly hasn't been for some time.

When my kids were little, I got stuck by the 'oh, you know you have to buy Clarks if you don't want to be deemed a neglectful mother' motto.

I til I had enough if paying the odd for shoes that disintegrated after 6 months and needed replacing even if their shoe size hadn't gone up.

After that, I went for supermarket shoes and unsurprisingly, they fitted just fine, lasted as long but for 1/3rd of the price.

My kids are adults now and feet are absolutely fine.

It’s the number of pairs they need too; 2 pairs black leather school shoes (1 a reserve as bound to get wet and muddy some days), 2 pairs of wellies (1 for home 1 to keep at school), indoor PE shoes (plimsolls or indoor trainers), outdoor trainers that stay at school for outdoor PE, trainers or boots for home (or sandals for summer). Garden shoes eg crocs for summer or the beach so they can be rinsed off easily!

In West Yorkshire some areas have a school uniform donation scheme. ( Think it's called the school uniform exchange - but you dint have to exchange you can just donate) I wonder if there could be a similar scheme where people donate good quality clean used coats and shoes

it's not a new thing, when I had my first DC my parents would buy clarks vouchers for birthdays and Xmas (along with actual presents) They told us it was because whenever they had a very tight month that would be when me or my sibling suddenly needed new shoes. They also thought proper fitting shoes were essential for growing feet hence it being a clarks voucher.

Have to say those vouchers were a god send many times! Even though we both worked and above minimum wage, when you have small children and childcare aswell, money doesn't go far.

After that, I went for supermarket shoes and unsurprisingly, they fitted just fine, lasted as long but for 1/3rd of the price

Supermarket shoes are fine provided your child has average width feet (and you have a foot measure at home).

If child needs a narrow or wide fit then Clark’s are one of the few U.K. brands that measure width. Obviously you can buy Bobux or other brands but you pay just as much and have the hassle of sending back if they ‘feel ouchy’!

I manage a Foodbank and I'm actually shocked that so many of you are only just now seeing this as an issue. People are really really struggling now. If you've got spare stuff, give your local Foodbank a ring, they might take it, or if you have a sharing shed, you could leave things there. Or a local sales and wants group? There are some desperate people out there who would bite your hands off for some shoes/coats.

@dontdisturbmenow

There is an obsession with buying Clarks shoes in this country I've never seen elsewhere.

Even stranger because Clarks shoes are not the quality that comes with the reputation, certainly hasn't been for some time.

When my kids were little, I got stuck by the 'oh, you know you have to buy Clarks if you don't want to be deemed a neglectful mother' motto.

I til I had enough if paying the odd for shoes that disintegrated after 6 months and needed replacing even if their shoe size hadn't gone up.

After that, I went for supermarket shoes and unsurprisingly, they fitted just fine, lasted as long but for 1/3rd of the price.

My kids are adults now and feet are absolutely fine.

Supermarket shoes were fine for wellies and trainers, but not for school shoes. They rubbed dd1 like mad, there’s no way I could have brought them for her to wear all the time.

Dd2 was really hard on her shoes. She seemed to have a habit of developing a hole in the bottom of her Clark’s shoes around the may half term. I’d buy supermarket shoes to just wear for the last 6 weeks of school. More than once I’d have to replace them after just a few weeks. Total false economy for dd2!