If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to deal with shoe-related parenting issues in the past 18 years, I would probably be a very rich and comfortable woman. From trying to get shoes on them when they are baby (and finally giving up on that one), to trying to keep them in shoes that fit, to finding shoes they will actually wear, to picking up the shoes laid strewn about, to finding lost soccer cleats and missing shoes—whew! Should I go on? If someone would have told me that 25% of my time as a parent was going to be spent dealing with shoe-related issues, I would have laughed my head off. Now, I wonder if I’ve only spent 25% of the past 18 years on shoes…
As I sat down to write this, I had a vision—I imagined that if I had a pile of all the used and discarded shoes that my three kids have been through in the past two decades, it would probably fill one of those industrial-sized dumpsters you see at construction sites. I am not kidding! I am sure that we have done more than our share of cluttering up the landfills of three states with all the tennis shoes, dance shoes, soccer and baseball cleats, basketball shoes, dress shoes, boots, sandals and flip flops that have been coveted, worn, hated and discarded over the years.
So, what IS the big deal about shoes? Is it such a big deal in every country and every culture or are Americans particularly shoe-greedy? It seems especially odd to me since we are one of those families where every one strips to their bare feet the minute they walk in the door and we tend to spend a fair amount of the summer barefoot. So, what is with all the sandals and summer foot wear that end up in our house? I don’t know the answer to my posed questions—I don’t know if we are more of a shoe-oriented culture or if my family is just a more shoe-oriented family. But I think I could probably send all three of my kids to college on what I have spent on shoes so far!
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