Barefoot homeschooling

Right now I raise my two boys, one 5 and the other 8. Both of them are homeschooled as the schools here are bad and my husband holds a great job, meaning I can be a SAHM and take care of the kids.

Both of them have lived barefoot their entire lives and it was something we decided to do after reading the benefits of barefooting. When the oldest was born, we didn't buy footwear because he was little so there wasn't much point, meaning we could decide later if we wanted. We later decided against it.

Right now we live in a suburban area and we haven't had a reason to buy them footwear yet. They've always played barefoot and have spent their childhoods so far barefoot so they aren't anywhere near wanting to wear footwear. They haven't asked us ever. Because they are always barefoot, they have very durable feet now and they always end their day with dirty, black feet.

Socially, there is a stigma of course. Whenever we go grocery shopping on the weekends, people do a double take and look at us without shoes on. They'll walk pass, look at our bare feet (probably assuming we are rednecks too) and walk away pretending they didn't see us. We've been approached but if a shop turns us away, we go to another one so we haven't had any issues so far. They don't mind. They enjoy being barefoot and they enjoy being free.

The best thing about raising kids barefoot is that they always seem to be really carefree and happy. They run around the yard and run over prickly twigs and sticks like it's nothing. If they step on something sharp that hurts, they'll hop and skip and go back to running around. A thorn gets in? They'll pull it out or we will if they can't. They just don't mind and we haven't had any issues whatsoever.

They haven't had any diseases either (hookworm doesn't work like that) and they always get their tetanus shot. Either way, we haven't run into any old nails yet so there's that.

The boys do love being barefoot and they've never asked for shoes. They've never needed shoes so it looks like they can go their entire child and teenage hoods barefoot. Hopefully this was the right choice but it sure looks like it.

 

That is great!! Hopefully they’ll keep it up as they get older and not cave to society’s rules.

 

If you don’t mind me asking, where do you live? I live in SW Pa. and am always barefoot myself.

 

Thanks for checking in. Its always nice to hear from or about other barefooters. In your post you said " Whenever we go grocery shopping on the weekends, people do a double take and look at us without shoes on." Does that mean all four of you? or maybe three of you? are barefoot too?

 

Thanks for sharing. Its fantastic that you are raising two little barefooters and I hope well into their late teens they feel absolutely no need for footwear and carry on being barefoot.

Do you go barefoot also?

 

I don't think they will, hopefully they don't.

We live in Delaware. We go barefoot all the time. My husband wears shoes to work but I haven't worn footwear in about 2 years, when I went to a wedding.

He doesn't usually come. It's usually just me driving there with the kids but when he does come, it's barefoot like is three.

Thanks. Yes I do.

 

Sounds like you and your husband and bringing 'em up right. As someone who wasn't allowed to go barefoot as a child, I love hearing a good story like this.
Keep 'em bare, and keep' 'em free!

 

That's the one place I give in and wear flip flops. I know its stupid people put their hands on everything, wiping runny noses then bug out cause my feet are on the floor like anyone is going to drop food on the floor and were going eat it but not after OMG I walked barefoot on that floor.

The whole problem some people have with feet is that shoes make feet gross causing them to want them in shoes that made them gross in the first place.

Total bad feedback loop.

Just watch out for some idiot "concerned" for the kids "safety" starting trouble. A lot of a** holes in suburbia.

 

Agreed! Idiots screaming about "health rules" etc. while ignoring the fact that everybody's putting their germ infested hands all over everything. The other day a saw a man sniff a tomato by putting it right up against his nose. Not the tip of his nose; right up against the nostrils. Yikes! Methinks I may never buy fresh produce again!

 

My boys are 6 and 9 and almost never wear shoes apart from school and sport especially in summer. Their feet do get filthy but it beats filling their shoes and socks with sweat or sandals which get slippery.

 

nothing beats the horror of smelly, sweaty, dirty socks seasoned all day long into shoes. you can't look away from the godawful stench- and I lead the parade, after two hours my socks become WMDs. Last time I checked in some Hotel I had to hang them things out of the window just to breathe

 

Oh we will!

The thing about your hands is that you use it to eat and you rub them in your eyes and what not. You don't eat with you feet, so there's no reason to have them covered in safe environments where the floor isn't made of lava. We have a nice relationship with the community so people are usually fine with us being barefoot around the grocery stores.

Definitely! Their feet become dirty but string too. I know that most kids have feet as soft as a baby's bottom and would struggle to go barefoot even along a hiking trail covered in sticks. My kids on the other hand can run on sharp gravel paths without breaking their stride because of how tough their feet are and their pain tolerance. Plus, who knows what sort of germs are growing in shoes? At least when you are barefoot, you can wash them off and not have the illusion of clean feet.

That's unlucky. And people see shoes as hygienic....

 

I’m assuming that you own your own home. Do you and your husband do your yard work barefoot? Such as mowing the lawn, working the garden, if you have one, home repairs, etc.

 

I nominate you for mother of the year !

 

so glad there are mums out there who let their kids go barefoot evreywhere. Im a mum with two boys too, have been on this site ages ago. We go barefoot everywhere down here in New Zealand....my kids go to ordinary public school always in bare feet - no problems or hassles at all, still this is NZ!

 

you ever walk on railroad ballast with bare feet?

 

Oh New Zealand sounds heavenly... A barefooter paradise. I'm barefoot everywhere though here in England and when I have kids I'll encourage them to be barefoot too.

 

I have, but not a lot. It’s kind of rough and slow going. I like trains and we have a main line that runs through town. I’ve gone down there to watch trains and have walked along the tracks or across them.

 

Yep, we do. Unless it's the odd thing or two that we can't do, we do our stuff barefoot. We have work boots for more risky jobs like sawing wood though...

That sounds nice. I've heard about how nice NZ is. If only that was possible here.

Yeah we have! It's funny, I remember when I was a young girl and my group of friends and I were walking along a railroad path and I was barefoot. We were all just talking about how I can possibly walk on them barefoot. Railroads are a great way to help tone feet in my opinion, so we sometimes take the kids on slow, calm walks along a disused one nearby. Plus it's quiet. t's

It's like a nice foot massage and a toughener all at once. It's also fun seeing what sort of things your feet can go through without the need of shoes.

 

It's weird. I grew up on a farm in the midwest and if I remember correctly, my parents didn't get me any footwear at all until I turned about 16 or 17, when we had to move to the city and look presentable. You might need shoes in the Alps or in the blazing desert or a factory, but you don't need shoes 99 percent of the time in a normal city or farm.