to be totally frustrated at paying money for good shoes in shops that allegedly fit them properly only to find that a month later he can't get his foot in??!

[Maveta]

I KNOW everyone says we should buy good shoes for their growing feet but ds is 18mo and I have already virtually chucked away 90e on two pairs of shoes that didn't last him much more than a month. Maybe 6 weeks. The one other good pair we bought him (another 45e) was rendered useless when dh lost one of them on the way home from nursery .

How do you get around this?? They seem fine at the time, the sales asst swears they're right, I can't bloomin tell because they're leather and can't feel his toe anyway.

Now we have to buy another pair and we simply can't afford to keep spending this kind of money, we don't have it to spare! It's fine if they last him a few months at least but every 6 weeks?? no way. How long should they last? Dh says next time we'll buy one whole size bigger than the asst claims but then he'll be tripping over his feet poor baby.

Message withdrawn

really??? Every time the sales assistants have sworn they should last the season so is this blatantly not true?

And if they really may need shoes every 6 - 8 weeks who on EARTH can afford good (i.e. expensive) shoes??

Yes, DS is now 2.5 and he's never had a pair of shoes last more than 7 weeks except his crocs which were bought big and he wore them all summer. It's very expensive.

you buy doodles or similar for £12 until the growth spurt stops .. toddlers grow quickly .. DS at 5 wore the same shoes for a year

Toddlers feet do grow that fast.

well of course they don't grow very fast all the time as other wise they would have flippers by the age of five.
It just seems to be sods law that as soon as you replace them they grow again.
If it is any comfort DS1's feet when from size 5 to size 10 in about five months - and as that crossed withthe rugby season i not only had to buy new shoes but also trainners and rugby boots at every bit of growth.
THAT was a pretty expensive winter.

and don't get me started on the school uniform and clothes....
and he hasn't stopped yet so just about to do it all again....

I just kep reminding myself that it is a good sign of a healthy growing child...

I got a bit fed up with spending so much on shoes. Now I just get DD's feet measured, buy one pair of ok shoes and a cheapo pair from Woolies.

Oh, just get them from Mothercare or Gap or somewhere.

The major kid-shoefitters make you think that they've got you over a barrel and you really don't have to be. Pick a shoe, try it on, have a good feel to check it fits, et voila. It's not like they do ten mile hikes at that age.

This 'they've got to have x-brand perfect half-size/width fitting' thing is just a ploy to force you to spend £35 a pop everytime, instead of the £12 you could spend at Mothercare.