My kid’s shoes are costing more than mine!

Hi everyone, today I just want to tell you about a little problem that has been bugging me and my husband for months.

My youngest son, Mali who is only 3 years old has been wearing through shoes literally within weeks! I mean how is this physically possible? I think I would understand it more if he was a big boy but he actually has quite a dainty frame (The poor little man takes more after me in his build instead of his 6’5” dad).

At first I just put it down to the fact that he had just started nursery, so he was a lot more active outdoors, climbing and sliding and playing football. But as the months went by we were buying him a new pair of trainers about every 2-3 weeks – no joke! It just seemed like a bit of a mystery. The part of his shoe which he was wearing through was the heel. There would be a gaping hole right the way through to his foot in no time at all.

Our boys have never had second hand shoes, so I can’t blame this for his current problem. Now don’t get me wrong I am always up for a bargain and used items don’t usually bother me, but my mum has always drilled into me the importance of having new shoes – much to the dismay of my husband. This is so that your feet and the way that you walk don’t become affected by the mould of another person’s foot in the shoes, therefore altering the way your body naturally develops. As much as everybody has their own thoughts on the matter, I think that the way my son walks does add a bit of weight to the theory. If we were to sell on a pair of his shoes that hadn’t been worn through completely for example, I think that the way in which my son walks could leave an unusual imprint in the sole of the shoe that might negatively affect the development of another child, causing him/her to also walk in an unnatural way. But of course, it’s just a theory and each parent will have their own view.

After a few months of replacing his shoes every few weeks I finally got him an appointment to see our Doctor. He examined the way in which he walked and has advised me to only buy him high top shoes for the foreseeable future. This is because his ankle is leaning too far back when he walks, causing him to scuff the heel of his shoe before heavily placing it on the floor. The combination of the two is what has caused the speedy deterioration of the sole of the shoes. So the doctor thinks that having the support of the high top shoe (making sure that they are tied very tightly) will prevent his ankle from leaning too far back and keep it upright.

I was relieved that the doctor wasn’t too concerned about the problem, apparently this is very common – even in adults, and hopefully if we provide him with the advised footwear his body will gradually correct it.

So far we are testing it out on a cheap pair of shoes from George at Asda for only £10 to see how they go (I am reluctant to spend  a lot of money on shoes that will get splattered in paint and covered in mud). It has only been a week, but so far so good. If there isn’t much of an improvement on the life span of these shoes then we will try out the better quality brands like Clarks*, Timberland* and Kickers* to see if the quality of the shoe will make a difference. I’m really not bothered about having the brand names of course, but if the shoes last for months instead of weeks then it might work out to be more economical to spend that bit extra.

I’ll keep you posted to let you know how we get on and which brand of shoe has worked for us.