Neighbour keeps telling Dd to put some socks on

[justcantthinkofone]

And saying that’s how she’s getting ill.

We live abroad, but it’s fairly cold right now -14 degrees now, around 17 in the day (it’s coldish for us)
Dd, 4, loves running around the house with no socks on, I keep telling her to put her socks and slippers on, but she invariably takes them off. She often runs into the garden barefoot. Our next door neighbour is an older lady married to a retired Dr, she keeps saying to put socks on the last few weeks. We’ve all been ill last week and Dh was telling the Dr about it after we’d recovered, Dr’s wife starts saying again how Dd got ill because she had no socks on etc. Isn’t this an old fashioned way to think? Can we really get ill from this? Dh is now blaming me and saying she has to wear her socks

A scientifically respectable 2005 study showed that study participants whose feet were artificially chilled (20 mins in a bucket of ice water) were significantly more likely to report cold symptoms in the following days compared to people whose feet were not chilled (20 mins in a dry bucket).

I remembered that study because of the image it raised in my mind.

Make of that what you will, but since I read it I try to keep my feet from getting chilled. Your neighbour could be right…

Do you live in Cyprus by any chance?
My grandma despairs at my children running around barefoot as they will catch a cold. She also tell me off for going to bed with wet hair, and not wearing enough layers 😂 It's very common in some cultures. Native Cypriots and Greeks also think we (British born) are mad for wearing short sleeves over there unless it's the height of summer!

DS2 didn’t wear socks at all till he was 4, he’d either refuse to put them on or rip them off as soon as we got home. I stopped arguing with him over it but we’d get loads of comments when he was in his pram about his cold feet, he just didn’t feel the cold!
We are a shoes off in the house family and only DD and DH wear socks in the house, ds1&2 and me all go bare foot even in the winter.

I am a bit odd. My feet were VERY badly burnt several years ago that messed with my nerve endings. I rarely feel cold EXCEPT if I am poorly or over tired and then I wear socks. My family Just accept that I go barefoot when they are freezing.
The thing here is "old wives tales"
Must wear a vest , must wear tights, must have a scarf etc.

People "projecting" !

If the child moans about having cold feet after telling them to put socks on ....ding ding ding learning experience. If you ask are your feet cold and they say no, forget about it

I always felt that putting socks on to avoid a cold was a sort of metaphorical way of saying dress appropriately for the weather. We’ve all been poorly this week too and I’ve been badgering my son to put his slippers on to keep warm, not because I specifically think that’ll make the difference between having a cold or no cold but to comfort him and warm him up.

neighbour just sounds like they are commenting with kindness not to be annoying. I’d be saying appreciate the concern, I’ll take it on board and move on.

Ask your husband and the neightbour exactly what they say the mechanism is for socks to prevent viruses getting into the respiratory system.

Err, why exactly?

What are you supposed to do duct tape them to her feet 😂

Just tell your neighbour you try but she won’t keep the socks on… I doubt you can get ill from not wearing socks, it’s more likely from exposure to germs which is completely normal for a child.

@SultanOfSwing 😬Sshhh, I’m keeping that one quiet or I’ll get ‘I told you so!’

My dear old nan was obsessed with germs entering through the feet. She used to be horrified if she saw me barefoot even in the height of summer. She and her 8 siblings all lived well into their 90s though, so maybe there was something in it.

She was bonkers though.

She'd hate me! I am barefoot as often as I can be. Only wear shoes for out. Winter or summer I will walk around home inside or out shoe and sockless.

My DM is always telling me that I'll 'catch my death'

I think you simply have to some stock answers for these situations. I lived one place where hats were the bone of contention. Big woolly hats in Winter which seems reasonable but then weird little jersey beanies in Summer aswell which seemed completely ridiculous to me. Nevertheless if my child wasn’t wearing a hat it would invite many comments of disapproval.
Another place, the answer to robust health was an odd little neckerchief which allegedly ensured protection against everything from tuberculosis to bronchitis. Even nursery insisted that children must wear this useless bit of cloth. And then in a cold place, a massive duvet that covered children in a pram up until they were about 6. Buggies were frowned upon. A child could sit up in the pram or lie down under this massive cloud of duvet, but never be in a buggy as they would freeze to death or become EXTREMELY ILL.
Ignore ignore . Crocs are handy sometimes for playing etc on cold days, lined ones are useful to be kept near the door.

Your neighbour is probably just worried. Lots of people offer unsolicited advice out of worry and kindness rather than judgement / nastiness.

And the posters thinking they’re oh so clever because respiratory illnesses can’t get in to the body through bare feet, being cold does make you more likely to get sick. While having bare feet (or wet hair or whatever) won’t make you more likely to come into contact with a virus, being cold makes it harder for your body to do everything (including fighting viruses). That’s one reason it is worrying that there are people in the UK unable to afford heating.

I'm currently wearing multiple layers of clothing and ds is wearing just pants. I used to be as warm as him but now I'm not. It's an age, culture and geographic thing.