Rules for Buying Kids Running Shoes

This is a great guest post.  I haven't thought much about running or training shoes for my kids because neither of them participate in sports outside of school.  But, I know that a lot of kids do.  I especially like tip #2, because it's something I have never even thought about!  And it's a good tip for any kind of shoe shopping.  And we must get a new pair for Logan soon because the velcro broke on his current tennis shoes.

 

Rules for Buying Kids Running Shoes

 If you think back to your childhood with so much of a shred of honesty, would you say you loved the process of shopping for new trainers? Or better still, did you even remotely like it? Were you compliant or would you frankly have rather spent a day listening to your grand-dad’s boring stories of manners in the 40s?

Anyway, you get the idea – shopping for trainers with kids is something that all parties usually have a shared hatred for and thus, such occasions should be as infrequent as possible. Sadly for all of us, kids’ feet grow like mushrooms after a downpour and unless you want to see them exploding painfully out of their Converse, you’re going to have to bite the bullet from time to time.

The very slightly good news however is that over the course of recent decades, thousands of tantrums have been carefully analyzed and there are a few highlighted  points of interest. Well, not so much points of interest as crucial tips from the experts when it comes to shopping for kids’ trainers.

For the sake of your sanity, take heed of the following:

1.     Share the Burden – Roughly translated…get some advice from an expert. It might seem like a pretty easy subject, but various incidents would argue otherwise and there are professionals in the shop for a reason. Never forget that they know best and can save you hours of stress and hair-tearing rage by just asking them for a few pointers – never do it alone!

2.      A Swell Time – A child’s feet will have naturally swollen a little by the end of the day…as do everyone’s…therefore be sure to go shoe shopping toward the late afternoon or evening. The last thing you want is to buy a pair that seem ok at 8am and are summarily causing them agony by 6pm.

3.     Trial Run – You wouldn’t invest in an evening dress without first trying it on and giving it a good examination, so be sure to let your kids do the same with their shoes. Make sure they try them on, lace them up correctly,  and take a walk of more than three paces around the shoe store. They might even have a treadmill in store that your kids can have a run on to really get a feel for them…though chances are they’ll need a little coaxing to do so. Maybe bring some sweets along for the ride!

4.     No Breaking – Never fall into the trap of thinking an uncomfortable or painful pair of shoes will do, as they will be “broken in” after a while. Kids’ shoes should and must be comfortable from day one as their feet are far more sensitive than an adults and any discomfort or poor-fitting represents a danger to their health.

5.     Stay Grounded – Last but not least, never forget to pay attention to the kind of surface they’ll actually be using them on. For example, if they’re to be hitting the school’s hard gymnasium floors then of course think of something with plenty of shock-absorption and grip, but if they’re primarily for carpeted indoor areas then be sure to choose accordingly. Also, pay close attention to how badly they will leave their mark on polished floors – you don’t want them bringing home a red face and large bill after school!

 

By Caroline Harfield

Caroline Harfield has taken a break from her career in fashion retail to raise a family, but has refused to keep her advice and opinions on evening dresses to herself in the meantime. Despite on-going dreams of the Milan Catwalks, she is more than proud to call Peckham her home.


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