A few years ago I explained in an entry why children are barefoot, almost constantly, as if the shoes were a tremendous nuisance to them. The explanation is that, that annoy them, that deprive them of freedom and sensations and that is why they are taken away.
Some get used to and end up accepting house slippers and others don't. Whatever you do, you find them barefoot, which is what happens with mine: they arrive home and in addition to taking off their jackets they take off their shoes, and not precisely to wear those at home.
The fact is that after a while of trying to "convince" them how appropriate it is for them to wear them, more than anything so that they do not have cold feet, without positive results, I have given up because deep down I am clear that Ideally, go barefoot... now I will tell you why.
Our feet are designed for more than shoes
Every one of our children's feet has 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 tendons, muscles and ligaments. This makes us see that our feet are a true work of "evolutionary engineer" designed to walk the most unexpected terrain.
In ancient times we had to climb stones, rocks, climb trees, walk through some branches, escape from dangers everywhere, walk outdoors and all that we did barefoot, with feet full of joints and bones that allowed us to adapt to ground.
Now the most we do are three or four foot gestures, which are what we do when walking, on tiptoe and little else, always inside a shoe that does not allow our feet to articulate as they could. In fact, the day we see ourselves walking barefoot on the beach, not because of the wet sand, but because of the dry one, it costs us horrors, because we are not used to it.
In other words, the last thing our children's feet expect is to have to live inside rigid receptacles called hard sole shoes and, at best, it seems that they accept shoes with a more flexible sole, because at least they have possibility of articulating a little (although I say, little).
Why do we wear shoes?
After knowing the structure of our feet we can ask ourselves why we wear shoes. Well, this is perfectly summarized by Dr. García Tornel: "The shoe is to protect and decorate".
In the same way that we use clothes to protect ourselves from the cold and to be more (or less) elegant, in the same way that we use the car to go to relatively close places, our legs being perfectly trained to take us there and in the same way that we can change of channel rising from the sofa but we prefer to use the control, we use the shoes, those gadgets without which we could live but that make our lives easier, because they protect our feet and because they serve to combine with the clothes we wear.
When they are at home they can go barefoot
After three or four years dealing with my children to put on their house slippers and see that I have not obtained the desired results, I have decided to let them go barefoot because I have observed that they do not catch more cold by going without slippers. Just in case, as the cold bothers the soles of the feet, we put on socks and, when possible, non-slip.
Wearing shoes does not make children develop their feet better. In fact, as it is said that walking on the beach is very healthy, walking barefoot at home is also healthy, because that way the foot adopts positions that with a shoe will hardly adopt, that way the foot and foot muscles are strengthened ankle and that way the child will be more prepared to walk, run, jump, etc.
The arch of the foot is not going to form better by wearing shoes, that is, a child who wears insoles is not going to have the foot less flat than a child who is barefoot, because what is known now, contrary to what is always it has been thought, is that the insoles help correct a posture problem, because of having a child with flat feet, but the problem still exists when the child takes off his shoes. It is like that child who puts on his glasses and looks good, and when he takes them off he sees again badly. With glasses corrects your problem but does not solve it.
So you know, if you are one of those who walk all day behind your children with the house slippers in your hand, go forgetting this strategy: it is best to go barefoot. Some non-slip socks and voila.
