Choosing The Right Shoes For Children – Being Parents

Choosing the right shoes for your children is essential. However, sometimes it is difficult to find the right model among the multitude of products found in stores.

You have to keep in mind that the ideal shoes for children must meet the criteria of comfort, flexibility and lightness. However, some characteristics vary depending on the age of the child, which is important to consider.

A good pair of shoes helps little ones to have good posture. Indeed, it is an important factor during growth. Likewise, the choice of footwear will have a positive impact on long-term physical development.

Features to consider when choosing children’s shoes

Thus, we will find out what are the essential characteristics that must be taken into account when choosing children’s shoes:

1 – Materials

This first criterion is fundamental, since it affects the comfort and longevity of the shoe. Leather is the best material because it is breathable, flexible, insulating and very comfortable.

Therefore, you should check that the leather is present on the outside, but also on the inside of the shoe. It can make a real difference.

In contact with the child’s foot, the inner lining guarantees comfort and breathability. Even in summer ! Contrary to popular belief, a barefoot child in a leather shoe sweats much less than a synthetic one.

2 – With velcro closure or with laces?

Velcro has the advantage of being very easy to use. You put on your son’s shoes and that’s it! But it is so simple that it becomes a disadvantage because the child can easily open them.

In addition, the velcro can loosen quickly and, therefore, cannot guarantee good support of the foot, especially during the early years when the child begins to walk.

With the closure of the laces and unlike the Velcro, your child will no longer be able to open his shoes on his own. The laces provide good support, but you need to be careful not to over tighten them to prevent the foot from compressing. The only downside is that the laces can be tricky to adjust if the child is restless. For older children, sometimes it is difficult to teach them to tie them up.

3 – What size?

A shoe that is too small obviously compresses the child’s foot. But a shoe that is too big, bought with the concern that it will last longer, will cause the same inconvenience, because the child will have to tie the laces very well so that the shoes fit better on their feet. Not to mention the discomfort of walking.

Therefore, to choose the right size, here is the ideal technique:

• Remove the mock sole from the inside of the shoe. Put it on the ground and have your son put his foot on it. Keep in mind that the toes should not extend beyond the sides of the shoe in width.
• Keep a space of about 1 cm between the longest toe and the end of the sole to allow the foot to push a little.

4 – Low or high shoes?

The low shoe is not ideal for small children. His feet will be better in a high shoe. At first, all babies’ feet are in the same axis, since the foot has not yet been fully formed. But once trained (about 4 years), you can use both low and high shoes.

And for the baby, how to choose shoes for his first steps?

In the first few months, it’s more about fulfilling mother’s wishes with small sets of baby accessories that combine together. In addition, they will play a protective role against the cold or against possible blows.

At the stage when the baby begins to walk, his first shoes will have a maintenance function and will facilitate his first attempts to stand up and walk on his own. Therefore, it is better to choose shoes suitable for each child and equipped with a heel counter, which will promote the harmonious development of the foot by keeping it in a good position.

Regardless of age, always choose shoes with a light heel and the right size, being careful to leave about an inch wide at the fingertips so as not to hurt. This means that we will have to renew the shoes of the little ones frequently, since it is necessary for their growth.

Finally, we hope that our tips for choosing children’s shoes have helped you and that, from now on, you have the knowledge to make the best choice.