Benefits of Going Barefoot (& the Best Barefoot Shoes)

Now that warm weather is here, our family is spending a lot of time outside in the sun… and barefoot.

The benefits of getting outside are well-documented, but the barefoot part is often met with more skepticism. In a world where people are being diagnosed with “text neck syndrome” for spending too much time looking at a phone, it is funny to realize that many of us think that going *without* shoes is unnatural.

Benefits of Going Barefoot

Walking barefoot benefits the body in various ways. Think about it logically- feet weren’t designed to be in shoes, especially not the stiff and highly-restraining shoes we have today. Walking around barefoot (or as close as possible) may have quite a few impressive benefits:

Support the Body’s Natural Feedback Systems

Biomechanist Katy Bowman (and upcoming Wellness Mama Podcast guest) from Nutritious Movement claims that our modern shoes are contributing to a lot of problems including osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, knee-hip-back pain, and bunions. This is partially because most shoes block full motion of the foot joints and nerve feedback from the feet.

She explains:

There are nerves that interpret the shape of the ground by how the bones in the feet bend at 33 different points (joints). This creates a mental image in the brain (similar to how a dolphin uses sonar to avoid obstacles). Wearing shoes prevents any motion in these joints (except the ankle) and leaves the shoe-wearer “blind” to the environment. This is what makes stiff shoes the worst when it comes to natural development.

This is a large part of the reason that some neurologists recommend flat shoes, like swim shoes, for children with certain neurological delays. Wearing shoes with less padding improves the feedback from the feet and helps improve walking in these children.

Strengthen Feet & Legs to Avoid Injury

Most of us wear cushioned, supportive shoes with a positive heel. A positive heel means that the heel of the shoe is higher than the toe. Typically, the dressier the shoe, the more noticeable the positive heel (especially for women) and the more “athletic” the shoe, the more cushioned.

Heels and supportive running shoes are the norm, but some experts speculate that they may cause more harm that good!

Cushioned running shoes, which date back only to the 1970s, may seem comfortable but may actually contribute to foot injuries, say Daniel Lieberman, PhD, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, and colleagues.

Supportive and cushioned shoes encourage the wearer to land on the heel of the foot when walking or running, as the shoe absorbs the impact. This alters the natural step and posture and creates a different walking pattern. Watch babies who have just learned how to walk to see the difference!

It also limits our natural movement patterns and causes our muscles and range of motion to atrophy over time. Watch a baby or small child squat down and try to imitate it. Children can squat with butt to heels while maintaining a neutral spine. Most adults can’t.

Many factors contribute to this (sitting too much, not moving enough, etc.), but shoes play a big role.

Learn to Run Naturally Again

The book Born to Run popularized the idea of barefoot running as the author, Christopher McDougall, chronicles his search for pain free running and how he found a primitive tribe that ran great distances barefoot or in minimalist sandals.

As The Art of Manliness explains:

The publication of the book coincided with a Harvard study by Prof. Dan Lieberman, which showed that people who grow up running without shoes run differently than those of us who run shod. Though the study did not speculate as to whether barefoot running was better or worse than running in shoes, it did demonstrate that making the switch resulted in softer landings and reduced impact force.

In other words, running/walking barefoot or in barefoot-type shoes may be an easy way to improve walking posture. It may even help avoid joint problems.

It is important to note that barefoot and barefoot shoes showed different results when studied. The feet don’t get the same feedback while wearing any shoes. This is why experts don’t recommend running on hard pavement with barefoot style shoes.

Benefit the Brain?

Katy Bowman also explains that nerves in the feet are designed to sense temperature and terrain. This feedback helps us develop a proper gait and stabilization. When all our feet get to sense is the inside of these shoes, this process is put on auto-pilot.

Bowman explains that the body then moves this information to a part of the nervous system called the inter-neuron. Here’s how she explains it:

More about the inter-neuron: You know how when you walk into a room with a fresh baked pie, it smells delicious, but after a few minutes you don’t smell it anymore? Your brain moves information that is constant into a different part of your brain to free it up for other things, so the more similar your environment, the less your nerves work to perceive. And the less they work, the less healthy they are.

Isn’t Being Barefoot Dangerous?

There are two main concerns with going barefoot:

Lack of arch support
Potential for parasites

I don’t worry about these personally, because:

Lack of Arch Support

This is a touchy subject, especially as rates of foot pain increase. Many people now wear orthotics and extra support for the feet. Movement specialists like Bowman feel that this could be making the problem worse.

The reasoning is that the feet weren’t designed to have as much support as modern shoes provide. Our feet are so supported in most shoes that we don’t have to use the muscles of the feet in the same way. Over time, the muscles weaken which may cause the problem.

As with any muscle, we have to actually use it to strengthen it. Foot pain without arch support may just be a sign of weak foot muscles that need to get stronger. Incorporating more barefoot movement (or wearing barefoot style shoes) may help strengthen the feet over time.

A podiatrist friend cautioned that they often see injuries when a person makes too fast of a switch from highly supportive shoes to barefoot or barefoot shoes. Like any type of exercise, we should start slowly and work up. Running in mini-mattresses of shoes one day and in zero-drop shoes the next is a recipe for disaster.

Potential for Parasites

When I mention that my kids don’t wear shoes in our yard, I typically get at least a few responses along the lines of: “I’d prefer not to let my kids get parasites from being barefoot, thank you very much.”

A quick search for the risks of parasites from going barefoot will have you convinced that we will all die from horrible parasites and diseases if any of us go barefoot. Except that the data doesn’t back this up.

If you are reading this, you likely live in a first-world country. You likely have indoor plumbing and bathe once in a while. Hookworms and other parasites were common when the majority of us didn’t have indoor plumbing. Human feces were often disposed of in yards, gardens, etc. Since hookworms can be easily transmitted through human excrement, they were much more common.

Improved hygiene and laws/codes prohibiting the open disposal of human feces has greatly reduced this problem. Even Dr. Lauren Ploch, a dermatologist who is very anti-barefoot admits that she has never treated a case of hookworm in the US.

Then again, some researchers are looking at purposefully ingesting hookworms to help reduce allergies and asthma. Interested to see where the research ends up on this one!

Viruses and Bacteria

Walking barefoot also exposes feet to potential viruses and bacteria. I don’t worry about the potential small risks for these minor and treatable problems. But then, I also think regular dirt exposure is important! Our family has never experienced any problems from spending time barefoot in our yard and other safe areas.

I consider the potential problems from wearing over-supportive shoes much more worrisome. Of course, with anything, do your own research and make sure you feel comfortable with whatever option you choose!

For those who aren’t comfortable with being completely barefoot, new minimalist and barefoot shoes are the best of both worlds. These are also great for everyday use in places where shoes are needed.

Barefoot Shoes: a Healthy Compromise?

In my opinion, being barefoot is the best when possible. When that isn’t an option, there are some great barefoot shoes that provide almost the same benefits. In general, shoes can be considered “barefoot shoes” if they:

Do not have a raised heel. The shoe should be flat and all the same thickness from heel to toe.
Allow free movement of the toes. Many shoes have thin or even pointy toe beds and constrain the toes. A barefoot shoe should be open or allow free toe movement.

In other words, barefoot shoes provide a basic protective barrier between the foot and the ground and not much else. Barefoot shoes also qualify as minimalist shoes, though not all minimalist shoes are technically barefoot shoes.

My Favorite Barefoot Shoes

There aren’t many shoes that qualify as true barefoot shoes. Minimalist shoes are another great alternative in cooler weather or for occasions that require them. Here are the barefoot shoes that our family uses:

Vivo Barefoot

One of my favorite brands. They also make a lot of great minimalist shoe options including sneakers, water shoes, and dress shoes. For a true barefoot shoe, their Eclipse model is great. I’ve found them on Amazon here, but they are usually cheaper on the Vivo Barefoot website.

Xero

This company also makes minimalist footwear that meets the criteria above. I really only like their Teva-style sandals, but they have some sneakers as well. You can order direct from their website or I like to order styles with free returns from Amazon so I can try them on. They also plan to release a kids’ line soon.

Earth Runners

Most shoe stores don’t carry barefoot style shoes so often we have to buy without knowing if the size is right. Earth Runners has a great sizing system and also a custom option that is great for wide or narrow feet or to make sure sizing is perfect.

Anya’s Shop

I had the opportunity to chat with Anya on my podcast a couple of years ago and really enjoy the information she shares about minimalist shoes as well as her story. You can check out her selection of barefoot shoes here.

Five Fingers

Five fingers are the most protective of the barefoot shoes we use. These fit the foot like a glove and often get some interesting looks in public. These are the go-to barefoot shoes of fitness experts like Mark Sisson. I often travel in these because they are comfortable but protect the feet from truly gross places… like airports!

Robeez

None of the above options are great for babies and toddlers. I’m especially careful to let little ones walk barefoot whenever possible so they can develop good walking patterns. Thankfully, walking barefoot is a little more socially acceptable before age 2 or so! When going barefoot isn’t allowed, I put babies in Robeez (or similar) shoes as long as possible.

Important Notes on Barefoot Running

Being barefoot is great. Running barefoot on pavement may not be, at least without proper training!

Before I tried barefoot running, I consulted a friend who is a physical therapist about the safety of it and any possible problems.

He explained that when barefoot running is done correctly and worked up to slowly, it can be safe, but that many people jump in and begin running the same way they’ve always run, just without shoes, and that this causes problems.

Foot Strike Matters

From what he explained, the foot strikes the ground differently when shoes are worn. With shoes, a person is more likely to heel strike, or let the heel touch the ground first (unless the person has specifically trained not to run this way). Without shoes, landing in a heel strike can be damaging to the foot, especially over time, and it is much better to land on the mid-foot or top of the foot.

If a person tries to run with a heel strike in minimalist shoes or barefoot, this is likely to cause discomfort or even injury as the full impact of the strike is absorbed in the heel and transferred up the leg. Landing in a mid-foot strike allows for a more gentle impact and reduces this risk.

Work up Slowly

Even if a person begins running with a mid-foot strike when switching to minimalist shoes or barefoot options, the process uses the muscles of the foot and leg differently, and should be worked up to slowly. I speak from experience on this one, as my first day running in five-fingers, I pushed too hard and ended up with really sore calves for about a week.

The benefits of running barefoot or in minimalist shoes is that it naturally leads to a shorter stride, which means a lower impact on the feet and legs, and that it leads to landing with a slightly flatter foot, which may also help reduce injury.

Learn to Run Correctly First

The podiatrist’s suggestion? Learn to run the right way before trying to run barefoot. Even if you don’t plan to run barefoot, there may be benefits to learning to run like you are. A mid-foot strike is gentler on the feet and legs and may reduce the chance of injury.

If you heel strike like I did, I found it helpful to practice on nice soft grass or sand and focusing on landing mid-foot. This brought back memories of running around the backyard barefoot as a kid. When running this way, the heel still hits the ground, just not before the ball of your foot does (many people make this mistake, never let their heels touch, get really sore calves, possible achilles tendon issues, and swear off barefoot/minimalist running for life).

Smaller Steps

Another thing to focus on is increasing turnover. This means taking smaller steps but moving the legs more quickly. Instead of extending the foot in front of the body to propel forward, I focused on just leaning my body slightly forward to propel myself and “catching” myself during a controlled forward fall.

For running, I also found some type of barefoot shoe helpful. As much as I love walking around barefoot in the grass, this wasn’t doable on concrete or harder surfaces, and minimalist shoes like five-fingers protect my feet but allow me to work on my running technique.

Do you spend any time barefoot? Ever tried barefoot shoes? Share below!

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

182 responses to “Benefits of Going Barefoot (and the Best Barefoot Shoes)”

Kimmie

August 7, 2018

Here is another recent study of different populations – this one compares Germany and South Africa. Again the study concludes that the health benefits of bare feet for children come from being barefoot “most of the time.” So for all of you moms who are patting yourselves on the back because you let your kids take their shoes off at the park, “most of the time” means your kids should have been barefoot for the walk to the park too.

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kimmie

August 6, 2018

Here is a good article about a major recent survey. Note especially the conclusion that the children who show the strongest, healthiest legs and feet are the children who are barefoot “most of the time.” The article also explains that “social convention” is the only reason the opposite is true for many children. It is interesting that the children in the study are school age children in a wealthy suburb of New Zealand who spend most of the time year round going barefoot and have the healthy bodies and good fitness to show for it. In other words, if you want to raise healthy children with strong bodies, then they should be growing up wearing shoes only when they really have to and going barefoot just as much as possible. Do you really want to mess up your child’s health for life just because of “social convention”?
http://theconversation.com/children-should-spend-more-time-barefoot-to-encourage-a-healthier-foot-structure-100289

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Windy Leona

August 2, 2018

Moccasins such as softstar that are handmade in Corvallis, Oregon by the Softstar elves are another good option. My kids wear theirs outdoors and unless the ground is very wet, their little feet stay dry. We prefer the ones with the simple leather bottoms rather than the rubber soled shoes.

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1. Joey
  
  August 5, 2018
  
  It is so sad that you make your children wear shoes in the summertime. ?
  
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Kitty

July 13, 2018

I’ve begun going barefoot after reading this article. I do not run (unless my dog is super hyper and needs to get some jitters out), but most of the advice I read is for running barefoot. I find it very awkward to try to walk without striking my heel first; I can’t seem to find a way that feels natural. Maybe because I’ve walked this way for 23 years. Is it something I’ll just get used to and do without thinking eventually? I’m just a little afraid of messing something up in my legs if I try doing it wrong. Any advice?

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1. Karen
  
  July 14, 2018
  
  For walking — not running — it’s entirely natural for your heel to be the first part of the first to touch the ground. It’s really a question of whether you strike the ground hard with your hear or just sort of roll you weight to your forefoot. This will come naturally once you get used to using your feet to feel what you are stepping on. Try walking on a path with gravel or a sidewalk with twigs or acorns. You will learn quickly that you need to put your foot down lightly and sort of feel what you are stepping on first before applying you full weight to avoid the ouch of stepping on something pointy or hard. Think about how you would walk if you walked on your hands and think of your feet as an extra pair hands you walk on — use your feet to touch and explore, not to strike or hit, and you’ll be fine. I also have to emphasize that learning to walk barefoot is a lot easier if you make a real commitment to spend as much time as possible barefoot while it is warm outside and to ditch the flip flops entirely. Shopping, errands, school are all great times for going barefoot — not just in your own yard or at the beach. Developing good muscle tone and barefooter’s soles — thick skin and a nice cushion of supple fatty tissue on the bottom of your foot — will make barefooting sooo much more comfortable. But you need to put in the time and exercise. That’s why for my kids we allow shoes only for school and little league and (sometimes) church as soon as its warm enough not to wear a coat outside in the spring and all through summer. I know they have tough little feet that can carry them safely and comfortably anywhere.
  
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mike

July 9, 2018

This article has tons of great tips for easing into walking properly both barefoot and in barefoot shoes. In both cases it is very different from what most of our feet are used to, but it’s amazing how good one’s body feels after spending a few hours walking without shoes on. The key is developing the correct (and natural) walking stride as most of us have learned the wrong way from wearing too-supportive (and often worse-then-useless non-supporting) footwear. Try it…I think you’ll not only enjoy it…but you’ll feel better too. My barefoot shoes have pretty much taken the place of runners whenever I need them.

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Karen

July 6, 2018

Cathy, with arthritis and chronic back pain you may have a special issue that needs medical attention. With that caution, a big part of back pain is weak foot and ankle muscles. Your forefoot is the wold’s best shock absorber and what God gave us to support and distribute our body weight. People with weak feet and ankles use their heels to support all that weight when standing and to take all the pressure and shock when walking. Your heel sends all of that pressure right up to your spine. So how do you get these strong muscles and learn how to stop walking and standing on your heels? Go barefoot! Doing your chores at home barefoot is a great barefoot exercise. Pay attention to how you stand and walk and let your forefoot and not your heel do the work. You can find some exercises on the internet too. Don’t wear padded athletic shoes — it’s impossible to feel how you are walking to learn a good gait and posture. And flip flops are even worse because you have to flex your foot unnaturally to hold them on. As you get healthier feet and a better gait, you’ll want to go more places barefoot. You need to give the skin on the soles of your feet a chance to toughen up so you feet will be happy outdoors and public places. If you walk on rough surfaces barefoot, your body naturally will grow a thicker skin on your soles. You’ll even get a cushy fatty layer under the skin as a kind of natural shoe that makes barefoot walking all sorts of places feel really good.

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Cathy

July 5, 2018

I have a question that I have not seen answered in the long list of posts. I have back problems and arthritis, and fear that wearing barefoot shoes with minimal ‘support’ will cause me more harm than good. Just standing on concrete (such as the gym at church, or shopping/walking in stores or on concrete for hours) kills me now — wouldn’t barefoot shoes be worse? I can’t stand on concrete barefoot for long periods due to my back, but even in cushioned sneakers, my back hurts (just not as quickly). I am intrigued by the concept and the logic behind this type of shoe. Any advice/comments before I spent a lot of money I don’t have on barefoot shoes?

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1. Micah
  
  July 7, 2018
  
  I agree with Karen’s advice but would add that re-learning how to walk and stand using your whole foot and not just your heel is tough to do any way except barefoot. You really need the feedback from the nerves in your feet to know what you are doing. If your feet feel that they are still inside a shoe or sandal, your brain will trigger the old, bad habits baked into your muscle memory. You need to be completely barefoot often enough for the barefoot way to become like second nature. When it feels normal to be barefoot and weird to have anything at all on your feet, then it is time maybe to try some barefoot shoes. But I think you’ll rather be barefoot! ?
  
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2. Micah
  
  July 7, 2018
  
  I used to have chronic back pain but started going barefoot after reading articles about the benefits on the internet. I am now completely pain free and can garden and even pick up my grandkids with no stiffness even. It felt so good to be free of pain that I am barefoot almost all the time now. People tease me sometimes about being barefoot so much, but I don’t care. A life without pain is worth it. And it feels so good to be barefoot too. Even going to the post office is fun when you can do it in bare feet!
  
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3. karen
  
  July 8, 2018
  
  Cathy, I agree with Micah. I would not invest in a pair of barefoot shoes until you have spent enough time going barefoot to re-learn how to walk barefoot and to develop the muscle memory to make it stick. That means this summer you need to commit to spending lots of time barefoot in lots of different activities and working up to the point where most days are barefoot days for you for the whole day and shoes/sandals are for no more than just a few hours total each week. I know it may feel a little weird at first to be out and about without anything on your feet, but you should never have to go through a life of chronic pain just because other people think you need something on your feet. The best way to get over being self-conscious about being barefoot is just to do it. People who actually are your friends will be happy you have found a way to deal with your pain. Once the cold weather comes, you’ll be ready to start wearing a barefoot or minimalist shoe and still keep all the good habits of gait and posture you learned by walking barefoot because they will be baked in as second nature.
  
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4. Mike
  
  July 9, 2018
  
  I agree with Micah and Karen, you really need to be used to barefoot walking before committing to barefoot shoes of any kind as they are all very expensive. As you get used to walking for on the balls of your feet you’ll begin to feel the great cushioning it provides and a lot of the pain will go away. I found one inexpensive way to begin barefoot walking outdoors is to buy a couple of packs of black or grey ankle socks and wear these. They give you a bit of protection from hard and sharp surfaces, but allow your feet to flex as they should. Mimicking the best barefoot shoe and barefoot experience. Plan on wrecking a pair for each venture you make most of the time as they will be worn through pretty fast on pavement…but socks are way cheaper than barefoot shoes. They are also a fun way to ease into the habit of not wearing shoes at all when you go out. (I would stay away from white socks for obvious reasons).
  
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Nikki

July 5, 2018

So how does one go about learning to barefoot run? Is barefoot walking s thing we also need to learn?

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1. karen
  
  July 6, 2018
  
  Your question shows how really important it is to let kids go barefoot as much as possible at least through elementary school so they can form good gait and posture to last a lifetime. Children don’t need to be taught how to walk and run barefoot — it’s what comes naturally so long as they are in bare feet don’t wear shoes that force them to learn bad habits. For an adult who has spent a lifetime in shoes, especially for someone who has spent years jogging or running regularly in padded athletic shoes, it can be tricky to learn new habits. For me, I was really lucky because we live in a neighborhood with brick streets (think cobblestones just with bricks). Learning to run barefoot on the bricks was great because running on your forefoot feels good, even a single heel strike on brick really hurts! You also have to really think about what you are doing and learn to feel where you are stepping with your toes to avoid jamming your foot in the space between bricks while running. Ouch! If you don’t have quiet brick or cobblestone streets, there are other training strategies you can find on the internet by just searching how to run barefoot. That will bring up some books too. But a whole book on this seems a bit silly to me.
  
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jared

June 9, 2018

I’ve gone barefoot but having issues finding shoes my size as I need a 15US. Anyone have any ideas of a good company? Need some dress shoes and casual work shoes.

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Joey

June 7, 2018

OK, guys, you persuaded me. DH and I have been discussing/arguing about whether our oldest needs shoes while it is warm outside. He is still in the stroller sometimes, but mostly he is walking on his own now when we go shopping and of course to place like church and for playing. DH thinks it’s not safe for him to go barefoot and has been trying to insist on shoes when he’s around. After reading everything here, I want 100% barefoot until it’s cold weather again. What do you know, you’d never believe it but I somehow lost his shoes yesterday (in the trash). So I guess that debate just got answered! I’m not going to say anything until DH looks for his shoes, and I’ll act really surprised when he goes up and down the house and can’t find them. If DH wants him in shoes, he’ll have to take him to the store himself. And deal with a very unhappy toddler whose mommy has taught him to hate wearing shoes. ; )

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Heidi

June 7, 2018

Last weekend my two middle boys (6 and 8) went over to play in our neighbor’s yard, and their mom made my boys put on her kids’ old worn out Crocs because it was “dangerous” for them to play in the grass barefoot. The nerve! My 6 year old isn’t used to running in shoes and fell down and cracked a tooth. It’s just a baby tooth, so the dentist went ahead and pulled it, but we have to worry now about his other teeth shifting around etc. She didn’t even apologize and blamed me for letting my kids run “wild without any shoes.” That was sort of the last straw. Today she texted me and asked me to pick up her kids at the park district day camp and drop them at her office. I did, but I decided the kids had to take off their shoes to get in my car, and we had to go to the grocery store too. It was a lot of fun to deliver her barefoot kids with super dirty grocery store feet to her right in front of everybody else in the office. I left their shoes in my car and said I would go back to get them but then texted her that I had to run and would drop the shoes off at her house later. I got probably 10 texts and three phone calls from her, but I was really busy and didn’t pay much attention. It completely slipped my mind that she had mentioned the kids were going out with her straight from work to meet her new boyfriend. Oops!

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Winnie

June 6, 2018

I just love all these posts from moms fed up with the grief we get for our kids’ bare feet. I was inspired by your blog this weekend to do something very naughty : ) My two oldest girls (9 and just turned 10) are best friends with twins whose mom is my exact opposite — she had just the two IVF twins at 44, completely focused on career, and hates for her daughters ever to be barefoot. She leaves them at my house pretty much all the time but gets really angry if they go home barefoot. Now I always remember to wipe off their feet and get them back in their shoes, and its our secret that they’re usually barefoot. I invited her twins to go to summer camp with mine, I ended up driving them to camp by myself. A bunch of the kids had arrived in flip flops and slipped them off to play, so no one noticed our girls showed up barefoot. I was going to get their shoes out of the car but decided they probably only needed the “extra” pair of old shoes in their bags anyway. Summer camp is a whole month long, so I hope they are careful with those shoes!

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1. Winnie
  
  June 30, 2018
  
  It turns out I was a lot naughtier than I intended. ; ) I got a call from the camp after I dropped off the girls because it turned out the shoes I drove off with in my car were the only shoes they had for camp, so they were stuck at camp for a month without any shoes at all. The camp called me because their mom wasn’t calling them back. I told them not to worry about because their mom let them go barefoot all the time and that was why they showed up at camp with no shoes. It was time to pick them up yesterday, so I persuaded their mom to go with me. You should have seen her face when she realized her girls had gone barefoot for four weeks (almost — the camp said they had some extra boots for when they rode horses). She was pretty angry, but the girls all thought it was pretty funny. I told her that maybe she should start taking her own kids to camp and start checking her voice mails about her kids and that got her pretty quiet.
  
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Kara

June 5, 2018

Now that school is out I am bracing my self for all the mean and offensive comments from people who have a problem with my kids going barefoot. The worst is from moms of my kids friends. Last summer I dropped off my daughters at a birthday party barefoot, and when I picked them up they were in brand new shoes because another parent saw them and thought we were too poor to buy any for our kids. They had forced my kids to put them on even though they did not want to. It is nice to see some moms turn the tables for a change!

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Willy

May 29, 2018

That is sooo funny! And how could she complain if all the kids including hers had just gone barefoot over the same course? I am guessing the rest of you were in gumboots? It’s too bad you can’t get this American mom out of her fancy shoes more often!

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1. tilda
  
  May 30, 2018
  
  On cross country days the teachers and most of the farm mums usually go barefoot, too. It’s just easier that way because most of us are already barefoot or in jandals anyway and a little mud and cow manure does not bother us at all. As I said before, shoes are not allowed inside our school, so most of the teachers do not bother with wearing shoes or jandals to school.
  
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Dinu

May 27, 2018

I don’t like to wear shoes. My bare feet are the best shoes. I’m a barefoot hiker …

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1. tilly
  
  May 28, 2018
  
  As I shared in my previous posts, I am a teacher in a rural farming community in New Zealand, and none of us born here would think it the least bit odd to go for a trek wearing bare feet. We all grew up roaming about everywhere in the country without a thought for shoes. Our primary school children all run cross country in bare feet, usually through a course laid out across pastures full of mud and the stuff cows leave behind. New families that move here sometimes never quite get used to our ways, especially the mums, but at least we get to have a bit of fun with them sometimes. One American mum came to watch her children in cross country and ended up taking a long, unplanned barefoot hike. As we watched her step gingerly across the paddock in some cute little ankle boots with heels to join the rest of us at the finish line, one of our teachers had a brilliant idea. We asked her to be a course referee at the far end of the course, and persuaded our farmer host to take her there on his tractor. He found a dry spot to let her down and then drove off. When the race was over, she kept waving and calling to us, but we just waved back because her chauffeur had returned to his work. Finally she gave up and made the long walk back on foot. She lost both boots in the muck and got a very up-close barefoot experience with the messy part of life on a dairy farm, and we got a great photo for the local newspaper. You should have seen the look on her face! We all love that photo!
  
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Bettye

May 26, 2018

My view has always been, if you want to send your kid over to my house and expect me to mind them and give you free babysitting, then your kids are going to follow my rules. I told our neighbor several times that she should send her kid over barefoot when he wanted to play with my kids, but she didn’t listen. I don’t know if the shoes were actually destroyed, but I did manage to get them back on his feet when it was time for her to pick him up. Now she respects my rules, and everything works out just fine. If that makes me a bully, then I guess that’s that.

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1. Carla
  
  May 26, 2018
  
  I completely agree, Bettye. Your house, your yard, your rules! And I think the way you handled the situation with your new neighbor was perfect. It was really rude of her to ignore your rules for kids playing at your house. I would have done exactly the same thing.
  
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tilda

May 25, 2018

Like most New Zealand primary schools, we have a strict uniform rule. For footwear we allow either bare feet or black leather lace up shoes with school socks (up to the knee). We eliminated school sandals a few years back because no one was wearing them. All children have bare feet during the school day year round because we are in the far north, the warmest part of NZ. When a new child wears shoes to school, the child usually forgets all about shoes at day’s end until everyone is queued up for the school bus, and a quick pat on the head and a “we’ll find them tomorrow, dear” usually sorts it. Of course, the same thing happens again the next day and the next until a very frustrated mum calls the school. We usually send the child home carrying his shoes that day, and then the next day the shoes go in the teacher’s desk drawer during morning tea and (eventually) to the charity shop. Of course we tell mum not to worry and that they’ll turn up, but they never do. Eventually mum give up and buys a new pair. Once those disappear too, mum realizes that school shoes are a very expensive and hopeless cause. Only once did an American family hold out through four pairs of lost shoes for their eldest! All of theirs have been happily barefoot ever since. But their mum still can’t accept that her children are going everywhere wearing bare feet.

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Mike

May 14, 2018

Just got my new Luna “barefoot” running sandals. Wow these things are comfy! Did the whole gamut of “barefoot” shoes yesterday. Took the little ones to the zoo for the afternoon so I wore my Vibram Five Fingers (the whole place is paved with awfully rough asphalt and there is a ton of goose poop there this time of year)..Five Fingers are also great for running after wandering little guys. Needed to go shopping in the evening so took the Lunas out for a test drive. These things are amazing right out of the box, but I’m still getting the hang of adjusting the “laces” as they call them. Got back home and immediately realized I forgot cereal for the boys. Decided not to bother putting the Lunas or any flip flops back on. Best “shoes” of the whole day! I find it’s getting easier just to walk out the door and not bother with any sandals. Most of the staff at the stores I go to are used to me walking around that way anyway. Just have to make sure I wash my feet before I put them up on any of the furniture afterward!

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Mike

May 10, 2018

This discussion has really heated up lately! I think it’s usually great to let the kids go about barefoot. At the same time there are times when some kind of shoes are a practical necessity. I cringe when I see kids riding bikes barefoot. Having once had to jam my feet on the ground to stop short of car that didn’t see me, I was glad I had flip flops on. As it was, I left two blue skid marks 8 feet long on the concrete and the rubber toe plug pieces were actually melted (the soles were about 1/4 inch thinner under my toes and balls of my feet and I could feel the heat through what was left of the soles from that stop). Don’t even want to think about doing that in bare feet, no matter how toughened…

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Teneko

May 10, 2018

Some of you guys seem to be a little mean. Destroying property – especially that belonging to others – is not cool. Forcing kids into shoes a size and a half too small to hurt their feet on purpose? That seems a little abusive to me, to be honest. Why would you purposefully hurt your child (physically or mentally) just to make a point? The “jokes” may eventually catch up to you.
I like going barefoot in my house and ran around barefoot on the farm when I was a kid. But what Katie says about the environment outside what she has control over is a really good point. Where I live, you might step on broken glass or other potentially dangerous debris. Then there are the chemicals and cleaners that I definitely wouldn’t want absorbed into my skin. I work so hard to make sure what I put on my skin, into my body, and on my floors is safe. The rest of the world generally doesn’t…so I have my nice lightweight “minimal” shoes from SoftStar. Besides, they are very cute and incredibly comfortable.
I don’t think a post and comments on this site have ever made me feel as upset as what I’ve read on this one.

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1. Mike
  
  May 14, 2018
  
  Nicely said. Going barefoot is very much an individual choice and one that I don’t think should be forced on anyone. Kids will usually do it quite willingly on their own ( When I was young I wanted to wear flip flops everywhere, and eventually got braver and walked barefoot) As we go barefoot more and more we find out what places and situations we are comfortable in sans shoes. Experience also tells us what we can expect to encounter in different places, and how to prepare. I remember my first experience coming across glass splinters from a broken bottle everywhere just on a short walk near home. I knew enough to carefully walk tiptoe and gently flatten the glass so I could make my way through it. Stepping on that unprepared would have been a painful and dangerous lesson. I also learned that spending a whole day barefoot can become uncomfortable if it involves a lot of walking on pavement. Conversely I’ve spent entire days at school enjoying the cool terrazzo floors (though I once ended up walking into the middle of spring graduation and feeling a little underdressed in shorts, a tee shirt and bare feet, along with the worry about all the spiky high heels I had to walk among.
  While not having to spend money on shoes for a large family is great, it would be less than responsible not to at least buy some flip flops for those times when bare feet just aren’t a good idea.
  
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2. Bettie
  
  May 18, 2018
  
  Teneko, I’m sorry but I have to disagree. Thirty years ago, everybody thought it was perfectly okay for kids to go barefoot all summer to the stores, library, post office, and certainly outside to play. Now people freak out if they see a barefoot kid in Walmart. Good grief. Protecting our children from getting treated as weird or being made fun of or worse when they go barefoot requires us moms to be a little creative. For example, our new next door neighbor’s son became best friends with our boys almost as soon as they moved in, but she refused to let him go barefoot with my boys. Well, I guess I had to follow her instructions, right? So, a few weeks after they moved in, a heavy rain turned some newly turned flower beds in my back yard into deep mud. I told the boys to go have fun in the mud. For some reason their little friend was holding back, so I picked him up and carried right into the middle of the muddiest bed and plopped his feet right in. He was trying to tell me something about brand new shoes, but I knew his mom wouldn’t want him to take them off, right? Well, they were so coated in mud I figured they had to come off. His shoes were such a mess I figured it wouldn’t hurt if the boys used his shoes to make mud pies. That little boy never wore shoes to our house again!
  
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  1. Katie – Wellness Mama
    
    May 18, 2018
    
    Going barefoot is great, but destroying someone else’s property is never ok. Just because you don’t agree with another parents choice doesn’t give you license to make decisions for them, just as you wouldn’t want them making these same decisions for you…
    
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3. Joanne
  
  May 18, 2018
  
  Teneko, I have to say you are wrong. Barefoot kids are better all the way round — healthier and more fun for the kids, and a lot easier and cheaper for mom. We’re not going to let a few stuck up, neurotic moms ruin it for the rest of us. Sometimes that means taking matters into our own hands a bit. The last time a mom moved into our neighborhood who did not want to let her kids play barefoot, we moms put our heads together and wore her down because we felt sorry for her kids. She went through about a half dozen “lost” pairs of shoes and an equal number of flip flops before she gave up. We all insisted on no shoes inside the house and of course the kids had to take off their shoes for the swimming pool and trampoline, so it wasn’t too hard for shoes to “disappear” or get left out in the rain or dropped in the swimming pool or worse. My two personal favorites was when our dog ate both her daughters’ brand new Crocs (who knew a beagle puppy would do that if you put a piece of bacon inside each shoe and put them in his kennel) and when we “mistakenly” put their only school shoes in the charity bin we collected to donate for Brownies. (It was easy to convince the girls to go along with the joke because they loved going barefoot.) She complained a lot about losing two pairs of school shoes, but she finally got the message when we told her this would probably happen every week unless she left the shoes at home. She got the point, much to the relief of her kids.
  
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  1. Katie – Wellness Mama
    
    May 18, 2018
    
    I’m sorry, but no matter how much you disagree with someone else’s children wearing shoes, trying to “fix” what you call a “stuck up, neurotic mom” by giving away or destroying their children’s shoes that they paid for is WAY out of line. If the rolls were reversed and it was something that you had paid for you would be furious (and rightly so) that another parent would make such an executive decision. At the end of the day, we will never all agree on the best way to raise children, but it is still each parent’s right to make that determination for themselves, and not someone else’s…
    
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  2. Teneko
    
    May 18, 2018
    
    Bullies.
    I have no problem with going barefoot.
    I DO have a problem with destroying the property of others, bullying, and forcing your beliefs on others.
    Wow…what a comment thread. Try being a little nicer, please, and have the same respect for the properties of others that you expect them to have for you and yours.
    
    -T.
    
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  3. tilda
    
    May 24, 2018
    
    I teach primary school in rural farming country in New Zealand, and bare feet are part of our way of life here. Our kids go to school and pretty much everywhere else barefoot, and lots of grownups do too. But when we have a new family arrive here, they sometimes want their children to wear shoes. We’ve had to work hard to protect our barefoot way of life. We now have a rule that kids have to remove their shoes and socks before entering the school, and we have banned shoes from sports and outdoor play. We teachers strongly encourage parents not to purchase school shoes for their children and to send them to school in bare feet because all they are going to do is take off their shoes as soon as they arrive anyway, and it is quite disruptive to have to make time for just a few children to put on and off their shoes every day. Some parents — especially those moving here from another country — really resist the idea of bare feet. It sometimes requires the child losing two or three or even once four pairs of shoes at school before the parents give up. The teachers at our school have donated quite a collection of lost shoes to the charity in the next town. That may seem mean, but we are doing what we need to do to protect our healthy and child friendly rural way of life.
    
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  4. Joanne
    
    May 25, 2018
    
    Tilda, great comment! If I am reading this right, you and the other teachers at your school are picking up the new kids’ shoes and putting them away while the kids are in class? After new families get used to their kids going barefoot, do the parents usually join in too?
    
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