Raising Barefoot Children

Another thread suggested that many adult barefooters are people who were denied the option of going barefoot as children. I am getting close to wanting to have children of my own, and I was wondering, does anyone have any info on the best way to raise a child to enjoy being barefoot?
Chad

 

Well I have thought about this too, and would suggest raising them in a barefoot-friendly social environment for one. I've seen kids raised in the country who go barefoot everywhere and to school as well. My observations of them suggest that they enjoy the challenge and are encouraged by other barefoot children. I think if I ever raised kids it would have to be in the country.

 

There is a website called Parents for Barefoot Children. Take a look.

www.unshod.org

 

I met a barefoot mom and her 14 year old teen daughter at a McDonalds one evening. They arrived on bicycles. The daughter went in to buy food. I complimented the mom on her (lack of) footwear. She told me she raised her daughter barefoot just as her mom raised her. She said her mom is in her 80's and still goes shoeless.

I met another mom in a Friendly's. Her feet were very dirty as were her 3 year old daughter's. She said her daughter always kicks off shoes, sandles, etc and that she picked up the habit from her!

 

I've wondered about this. There was apparently a time when children routinely went barefoot in warm weather. I can half-remember a quote from either Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer where Huck (the all-around bad kid) was "the first to go barefoot in the spring, and the last to put shoes on in the fall", implying that all the kids did it at some point. But now it seems strange if a child goes around without shoes. When did the change happen?

 

I was constantly barefoot as a child, and when the weather permits, so are my children and I (my husband is more of a flip-flop kind of guy and rarely ever went barefoot as a child! I think that's just horrible!).

It just feels so much better to be barefoot. How can anyone really enjoy having shoes on their feet? I know my kids don't, and neither do I!

 

i don't think i've ever told my kids they needed to wear shoes unless it was to school.

had a lady in a store tell me i couldn't shop there if i didn't put shoes on my kids next time

 

Kids shouldnt have to wear shoes to school and if a school makes a kid wear shoes there then I wouldnt send them there. There are plenty of schools around so youre bound to find one that allows kids to go barefoot and if all else fails the kid can always be homeschooled and then it doesnt matter what they wear. I dont like modern schools anyways, the whole education system is screwed up, too much laziness and corrupt people working in it.

What makes her think theres gonna be a next time? If shes so stuck up about your kids wearing shoes into her place then its not worth wasting time going in there, you should really take your business somewhere else where the customers wishes are more respected. Nobody should have to put up with that NS3 crap from stores.

 

When all the conservative nutcases started taking over everything and influencing society. I guess they wouldnt feel they are able to impose their outdated morals on us unless everyone is wearing shoes so we dont offend anyone.

 

Blame it on our "lawsuit happy society", merchant's phamtom laws, and the athletic shoe industry, especially Nike and Adidas.

Growing up most kids had two kinds of shoes, your Sunday or "School shoes" and sneakers for gym class. You either wore your nice shoes when appropriate or your PF Flyers (that was a brand of tennis shoe back in the 50's and 60's), or just went barefoot.

Thanks to the fashion industry, tennis shoes are not just for gym class anymore and you need several makes and styles to be considered a part of the "in" crowd. And now a water shoe, a WATER shoe????? P'leezze! Now kids can't go the the waterparks and pools barefoot.

So much for barefooting........kids don't know what they are missing.

 

I keep in touch with a family that was on Trading Spouse .. a barefoot family in California. anyhoo, the parents let their sons go barefoot if they wanted and the sons did. in fact the kids went barefoot so much that both parents picked up the habit and now they don't wear shoes except when in some situations, but mostly they are always barefoot.

they are also Taoist, not that that has anything to do with them being barefoot. They are really nice people, not like was portrayed on the show.

 

Like any other decision...I will let my kids decide. If they don't want to wear shoes, I won't make them. If they want to eat a hot dog, I let them. If they want to vote Republican, I'll still love them.

Letting a child make their own decisions is the best thing you can do for them.

 

Eh.... there's a balance though... Sometimes the most important word a child can hear is "No". As far as barefooting goes... it's free, it's probably beneficial, and it doesn't hurt anyone. I can't see any reason to discourage it.

 

Anybody who tells a kid "no" when they wanna go barefoot oughta feel ashamed of themselves. There are so many other things that parents have to tell their kids they cant do, going barefoot shouldnt be one of them. Kids need to enjoy their freedom while they can.

 

it amazes me how much most perants in todays society control their children far far to much. children only have one childhood and it goes very quickly so the perants have no moral right to make them conform to this gross nowday society's veiws

 

I've bin going barefoot since I could walk--never liked shoes; my parents didn't wear shoes a whole lot either only when they had to. I have three boys my oldest is my special needs son, he doesn't like shoes either; he takes them off right after school.

 

if i could i would be barefoot 24/7...but job requirements etc.. I remember being out of school, durring summers, I would be barefoot the entire break.

 

When I was a kid they said I used to kick and scream when they would try to put shoes on me, so they just stopped (unless I was going to school)...We were all at a Denny's one morning and the management came by my parents table and refused to serve us because I was barefoot and i was like 3.....so My parents have not gone back to Denny's in almost 16 years.
It's funny cause thats like on eof the very few things they ever let me make up my mind about as a child. I am glad they did though....oh yeah they made me wear shoes if I was riding a bike oo.....I didnt put up and argument with that one though I did some crazy shit on my bikes.

 

They shouldve let you go barefoot to school and if anybody said anything to you, your parents couldve chewed them out for it. I dont think any kid should be made to wear shoes to school, theres no good excuse for that.

I wouldnt wanna go back to a place like that if they refused to serve me just because of something silly like being barefoot. If they refuse to serve customers so easily then im surprised they dont go out of business. Its better to refuse service to customers who rightfully dont belong in the restaurant cuz theyre causing a disturbance not because of something simple like being barefoot. If I ran that chain and found out one of the managers refused service to a customer just because their kid was barefoot, id fire em.

Easiest way to go barefoot on a bike is just wait till youre out of sight of your parents and then just kick your shoes off, throw em in a bag and then just keep riding barefoot. What they dont know wont hurt them.