Poll
Should Your Baby Go Barefoot?
- Baby Feet (via el7bara)
Evidence continues to mount that barefoot running is good for your joints. (Check out the awesome barefoot shockwave video for a visual). But a few experts are now suggesting that the trouble begins long before we lace up our running shoes. "Toddlers keep their heads up more when they are walking barefoot. The feedback they get from the ground means there is less need to look down, which is what puts them off balance and causes them to fall down," says one pediatric podiatrist. Others argue that kids' feet are squishy cartilage and forcing them into shoes warps them. Of course, there's realism. Like you don't want your baby stepping on rusty nails or hypodermic needles. All that considered, what do you say? Would you un-shoe your kids?
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Comments
I once saw a guy and his young son walking barefoot at the santa monica farmers market. The streets were not clean.
Submitted by Fraidy on 08.10.10 at 12:53.
I'm missing an option in the poll: "I'd let my child walk barefoot 99% of the time" (just like I have been doing for the past 14 years, without ANY injury worse than an occasional tiny splinter). It's nothing new that this is the most healthy option, I've seen many articles about it long before last winter's research on barefoot running. From a 1992 article, for example: "In Europe and America flat foot is a common reason for attendance at a children's orthopaedic clinic, but in India children are seldom brought for treatment for flat foot. The few children who do attend with this complaint are from affluent urban families and they all wear shoes. In our clinic we have never seen a child from the farming community or from the family of a manual labourer who complained of flat foot."
And protecting the baby against rusty nails and hypodermic needles... would you let your baby or toddler walk or play anywhere where those are a true risk *with* shoes? A baby/toddler is of an age where they're still falling a lot more than adults (with or without shoes), sitting down on the ground when they feel like it, picking up anything that looks 'interesting' to them & quite possibly sticking it in their mouth. Also for glass, feet aren't as easily cut as many people think but glass shards are nice and shiny when the sun hits them, and could easily draw their attention. I'd be more worried they'd pick it up & either cut their hands or mouths. When I see a child walk around barefoot I'm happy to see that parents have read past all the shoe advertisements and 'gone natural'. On the other hand, I'd flip if I saw a toddler play in a place where sharp litter is a serious problem even if they are wearing tiny combat boots on their feet.
Submitted by Myranya on 08.10.10 at 01:42.
what she said. I walked all over barefoot as a kid and still walk around Philly barefoot all the time.
Submitted by Butwhatifido on 08.10.10 at 03:08.
I've been a vibram devotee for a while now and was lamenting that they didn't come in kids sizes so I can get my little Jane a pair when she starts walking...I checked out vivobarefoots but I don't see any kids sizes - where can I find them??
Submitted by londontransplant on 08.12.10 at 07:13.