Kids Barefoot With Parents

Just recently I've spotted two cases of kids barefoot in the company of one or two parents. The first was a lad of about 12 or 13 with his father in the centre of Salisbury. {I spent a little time there after a barefoot trip to Stonehenge.) Neither was carrying anything that could have held any footwear. The second was a younger lad (perhaps about 7) spotted near Liverpool St station in London this afternoon. In both cases the parents, who were all properly shod (!), seemed quite happy with their kid being barefoot. Could this be a new trend?

 

Nah!

 

Meh. When I was growing up in the southern USA 20 years ago, me and my brothers and at least 1/2 my friends would wander around barefoot a good chunk of the time. That included going to the grocery store and stuff with our parents - my parents usually didn't care unless we were going somewhere "nice." I don't think its a particularly new thing.

 

I do some volunteer work at a pet store.
At several recent events, preteen/young teen kids were in the store barefoot with their shod parent(s).
Last time was a dad with three barefoot kids in tow, 2 girls and a boy,
Occasionally we get a barefoot young adult or older adult in the store, but not too often.
Also happened to be in a Walmart recently when a group of 4 young teen boys came in - 3 were barefoot.
Probably not a trend, but good to see.

 

No, don't somehow ever see it being a trend, not nowadays. Did however today see a young girl on her own, carrying her trainers and rather deliberately scraping her bare feet along the pavement. Couldn't help wondering whether or not this was with parental approval. It reminded me of the young me as it's what I used to do, hastily putting the shoes back on before reaching home.

 

I am jealous of those kids. My parents would never let me do that

 

i actually recently met one of those crazy anti-barefoot parents finally. well, i didn't really meet her recently, but i recently discovered that she has a weird thing about shoes. so after 35 years of going barefoot much of the time, i had a brief moment of understanding what hipforums barefooters imagine is happening every moment of every day.

 

I recently was at a highway rest-stop that had smooth boulders and simple sculpted features that were obviously meant to be climbed on. One barefoot child was happily blowing off some pent-up road-bound energy by doing just that when her crabby-looking mother screamed at her to "put on your shoes." Crestfallen, the little girl put on her flip-flops (shoes?) and sullenly sat on a bench. (How do you climb a rock in flip-flops?) Nice going, mom.

By contrast, on another occasion, I saw a barefoot dad and daughter racing each other to the restrooms, each one grabbing the other to hold them back, and laughing hysterically. An indulgent (and flip-flop wearing) mom trailed behind with a big smile.

I hate to be judgemental, but I wonder which kid is happier and will grow up better adjusted? (whatever that means)

 

I think some parents are so worried about what others might think of them for letting their children go barefoot, they create a mask of perfection so to speak.

Who will be the happier well adjusted kid? I think all of us here know the answer......

 

If you ever come to the eastern US and see two young boys walking barefoot with their barefoot parents, it might be us!

 

That's great! But also kind of sad because that to me means you are the only barefoot family in eastern US.

 

um, no. doesn't necessarily imply that like if he said "it MUST be us".
ok I'm done being pedantic.

 

No, there are some other barefoot families here. It's a once in a blue moon thing but they do exist.

 

you all need to get down here to New Zealand.....barefoot kids everywhere! and lots of barefoot mums and dads too....summer just round the corner down here, beautiful barefoot weather!

 

Looks lovely. My husband holds a great job here though, we wouldn't want to lose it.

 

Oh that's good. Still quite rare though here in UK. I do see barefoot kids but not many parents in bare feet too.

 

Unfortunate. I wonder if there'll be a movement in the future? Lately, there's a huge push over organic food and healthy eating, so maybe one day there'll be a push to go barefoot unless absolutely necessary?

 

I most certainly hope we see this "push" and going barefoot everywhere is a genuine option for most people.

 

We can but dream.

 

Well, when you think about it, there's been a huge push for stuff that's good for us even if they don't suit our cozy, sheltered lifestyles. Stuff like having less sugar, staying fit, making kids do lots of sports, and lately eating organic etc. Going barefoot is probably a case of 'when' not 'if'. Being barefoot has way more benefits in a largely feet friendly world like ours, so people will look beyond the small risk of getting hurt or our sheltered fear of having feet that are dirty from grime and dirt. Being barefoot will hopefully be the mainstream one day. Or I'm just extremely optimistic.