Barefoot?

[CraftyMom]

Do you guys let the kids run around barefoot outside?

My own kids never have shoes on. With the dck's I always put their shoes on, but they want them off. Now with the warmer weather they end up off anyway because we have playing with the water table and sprinkler a lot.

I feel like it's a losing battle with the shoes. We don't have mulch in the play area so I'm not worried about that or rocks. The only thing I'm concerned about is bees or other insects.

Does anyone not bother with shoes in the summer?

As a kid I remember always being barefoot, even now I am barefoot or flip-flops.

[Lucy]

I buy cheap flip-flops in all their sizes and keep them here. I found them at Target one year for $1 !!! Old Navy usually has a sale for them really cheap too.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

We're barefoot all the time. My daughter shucks her shoes while she's still wearing her snowsuit and there are patches of melting snow in the yard! I'm barefoot all summer (and much of the spring and fall), so of course the kids want to be, too. I insist on shoes for walks and water shoes for stream wading (rocks, possible broken glass), but at home, we almost all have bare feet.

[LysesKids]

I and childcare babies are barefoot in house and on the deck once it's warm enough… I wear sandals when taking walks in summer, but all kids are barefoot because they are all in stroller or on grass. in Winter i have my babies inside or in snowsuits

[craftymissbeth]

I wish we could. I personally dispose shoes. I wear flip flops 100% of the year... rain, snow.. I wear flip flops. I have a thing about my feet being covered

My backyard has a lot of little sticks so I'm afraid to let the kids walk barefoot out there.

[jenboo]

I hate wearing shoes or flip flops.
But... We get a lot of bees in the grass, a lot of the Dck fall on the sidewalk (don't want body toes to deal with each day) and with most of the days right now being over 100 degrees the sidewalk is way to hot.
All my Dck have to wear closed toed shoes/sandals outside that are Ok for water play.

[Leanna]

Personally I can't stand shoes and wear flip-flops ALL THE TIME...but I make my daycare kids wear closed-toe shoes outside. I do not allow flip-flops, crocs, sandals, jellies, or slip-on shoes. I tell them we need to protect their feet from rocks, wood chips, things hidden in the grass, bees, stinging insects, not to mention shoes falling off and the potential to stub toes. The only time those shoes mentioned above are allowed is during water play.

[cheerfuldom]

Daycare kids always have shoes on outside....too much liability in letting them run barefoot. Me and my kids usually have shoes on but sometimes not.

[CraftyMom]

My next question, so would you all agree that it's ok to let my own kids go barefoot but put shoes on the dck's? That's pretty much how it goes right now.

I don't think I could keep shoes on my kids with super glue and duck tape ::

The dck's sometimes say "but xxx isn't wearing shoes, I want mine off too"

[KidGrind]

Daycare kids always have shoes on outside....too much liability in letting them run barefoot. Me and my kids usually have shoes on but sometimes not.

[Blackcat31]

Daycare kids always have shoes on outside....too much liability in letting them run barefoot. Me and my kids usually have shoes on but sometimes not.

same here

I go one step farther and require shoes that tie.

NO open toed shoes
NO sandals or flip flop
NO Croc's
NO Vel-cro
NOTHING but good sturdy tied running shoes.

[Blackcat31]

My next question, so would you all agree that it's ok to let my own kids go barefoot but put shoes on the dck's? That's pretty much how it goes right now.

I don't think I could keep shoes on my kids with super glue and duck tape ::

The dck's sometimes say "but xxx isn't wearing shoes, I want mine off too"

When my own kids were present during daycare hours, they were daycare kids and therefore had to follow the same rules as the others.

[Play Care]

My next question, so would you all agree that it's ok to let my own kids go barefoot but put shoes on the dck's? That's pretty much how it goes right now.

I don't think I could keep shoes on my kids with super glue and duck tape ::

The dck's sometimes say "but xxx isn't wearing shoes, I want mine off too"

At the risk of being flamed, I don't care if they keep shoes on. The *one* time I had a child stung on their foot, he *was* wearing shoes and the darn bee must have somehow gotten caught in a little gap - stung he about three times before I could get the shoe off!

[KiddieCahoots]

Daycare kids always have shoes on outside....too much liability in letting them run barefoot. Me and my kids usually have shoes on but sometimes not.

One of the trees in my back yard has a bee hive in it. They are pretty much everywhere in the grass on clover flowers.
I'll admit too, I find it too much work cleaning off all the dirty feet when we come back in....but that's just my OCD at work on cleanliness.

[Childminder]

In the summer they are playing mostly in the water or sandbox so we are barefoot. Dumping sand out of shoes, soggy wet shoes and cleaning their feet is more work than barefoot.

I grew up on a farm and never wore shoes, still remember crying when school started because I had to put them on. My dad always used to laugh and tell everyone I was so tall because I was well fertilized from running around in the barnyard barefoot.