We Know Your Child’s Feet are Important so Here’s the Cooshoo Guide to Buying Children’s Shoes …
Spinning, spinning round and round … a few more steps and they’ve left the ground, scrambling up to walk the wall and phew, it’s okay they’ve avoid that fall. We’re nearly there, at the school gate, but on no it’s too late! I turn around to see the trouble and their up to their ankles in a muddy puddle! If you’re children are anything like mine, exploring is the name of the game and that means lots and lots of footsteps. On average children take 13,000 steps a day compared to an adults 7,000! Feet are also so different in shape and change as children develop. So, here are some top tips to help you choose practical and comfortable shoes for your child, whilst getting the most wear out of them for you.
Shape: Choose a Shoe that Fits the Shape of the Child’s Foot
Measuring gauges are just a starting point. It’s not all about length and width, feet are 3 dimensional so the shape and depth of the foot also affect how a shoe fits. At Cooshoo we ‘fit the shoes to the feet’ selecting footwear to suit a narrow or broad ankle, high bridge of the foot, shallow foot, second toe longer than the big toe etc. These are just a few of the things to take into account to get well fitting shoes. You get a perfect fit and the most wear out of a shoe, if it reflects the shape of the child’s foot.
Be Prepared with the Right Socks
Before going to try shoes on, make sure your child has good fitting socks or tights the same thickness as the ones they will be wearing regularly with the footwear. Welly socks, rubber soles and saggy tights make fitting a bit tricky!
Growing Room
We all know children grow fast and a good shoe fitter should make sure that your child has enough room to accommodate growth. This will vary depending on the age and confidence of the child. It’s tempting to go for slightly more room but it’s useful to remember that the whole of the shoe gets bigger not just the length and shoes expand slightly as they are worn. Be careful not to try for too much room as this can cause blisters, feet to repeatedly shunt forwards hurting toes and tripping in young children.
Hot Feet
Like adults children often suffer with hot feet partciaurly if they are very active. Trainers are great for action but synthetic materials can often make this worse leading to increased sweating and odour. Leather footbeds and breathable soles like those from GEOX are antibacterial, shock absorbing and release heat and moisture to keep feet cool and dry. The removable footbeds can also be replaced to increase the lifetime of the shoes were fitted ones would need to be thrown away!
Activity
Some children are more active than others! Shoes with buffers that are stitched down as well as glued will provide the best protection for activities that cause ‘upside down wear’ like scootering, football and climbing. Equally, a persons ‘gait’ can mean that the sole of the shoe gets more wear in one area than another, often on the heel or ball of the foot. Choosing a harder wearing thicker sole unit will help to increase the lifetime of the shoes.
Fastenings!
You know your child and what they are capable of, so if the child needs to take the shoes on and off for themselves choose a fastening that they can do up properly so their feet are secure in the shoes. At Cooshoo we make sure children are a key part of testing the shoes and we are happy to give them the time to try putting the shoes on and off themselves. This way we strive to ensure that you leave with a fabulous and great fitting pair of shoes that everyone is happy with!
For more on quality footwear for growing feet, check out Cooshoo’s website, and find them on Facebook and Twitter.