What kind of shoes are your kids wearing for fall? I always have SUCH a hard time finding the kind the style I like and DD1 is getting pickier. She's also starting kindergarten and I'm feeling anxious about all my choices because I want her to "fit in" and be "cool". (I realize that sounds totally crazy of me, but I'm nervous for her!!)
She has one pair of lace up sneakers but can't tie them and prefers her old velcro ones. I dislike sneakers that have only velcro so I only buy ones that have fake laces with one velcro strip at the top. She seems to prefer casual styles like converse vs athletic style. I also want to get her a pair of boots. (the whole first page of target boots is full of weird cowboy boots, wth?) I've looked at carters, target, dsw, and kohls and nothing is impressing me. I have these in my cart at see kai run, but I'm hoping I can find something cheaper. seekairun.com/peyton-black-shine/
Honestly I think you should make a list of the shoes she needs (ex pair of athletic sneakers, one pair dress shoes, one pair casual shoes, etc.) and let her pick them out.
There is no reason to get caught up in being cool or fitting in at this age (easier said than done I know) and this is the perfect time for her to get something she loves and feels good in.
ETA - you asked about stores. I would take her to a shoe store to get fitted and then look around at the selection. Stride rite, Nordstrom, macys, journeys etc all have good show depts for kids. For my kids I like their sneaker and casual/everyday shoe to be better quality, and then I take them to target for the shoes they won’t wear as often.
My 8 YO is just wearing her only pair of regular shoes, which are a pair of pink lace up sneakers. We don't have lots of different shoes -- she has a pair of slides that were required for the pool at camp, and now a pair of water shoes that camp unexpectedly required (for ONE afternoon, sob), and these.
My 7yo son wears under armour sneakers (fake laces with Velcro, he’s still working on tying shoe laces) and Crocs. Crocs are only for home, not allowed at school.
Post by thebreakfastclub on Aug 12, 2021 10:46:07 GMT -5
You can turn any laced shoes into no-tie ones. If you google no tie laces, you will see various options that you can swap in for the laces.
My 8yo can tie shoes but doesn't pay attention, so I just swapped his laces out with the cord no-tie things where you pull on a plastic disc to tighten. My husband had leftovers from running shoes, but they have kid options on amazon for sure.
I wouldn't worry about cool shoes in K. My son has one pair of sneakers at any given time, so he wears them until he outgrows them.
I do not buy shoes at retail anymore. I have found Nike sneakers work best for him, so now I just go to Poshmark and buy new/barely used ones. He has big feet and has worn big kids sizes for awhile, so a $55 pair at retail is not more than $25 on Poshmark generally.
In kindergarten, just let her pick what she wants, within reason. She will be thrilled with her hot pink/sparkley/mermaid/whatever shoes that she really likes. I would totally do velcro of some kind so she doesn't need help at school.
Also, the little cowboy boots are SOOOO ADORABLE! I love those, LOL. Some of my DD's favorites were pink cowboy boots she wore in preschool. They looked so cute with dresses & everything else.
E1 is only 6 and he doesn't have many needs. 2 pairs of athletic shoes to rotate, one pair of nicer shoes for church and dressy occasions (well, really 2--one black one brown), 1 pair of cowboy boots (because Texas,and he loves boots), water shoes, rain boots, snow boots. Also baseball and soccer cleats.
I generally let him pick what he wants within reason. New Balance are excellent athletic shoes for him. I actually need to go shoe shopping for him. He's grown out of all his dressy shoes.
My incoming K kid is wearing native knock-offs. We also have some slip ons from Target (they look like lemons!) and I have a pair of warm, soft boots that look like unicorns for the winter. I really haven’t thought much beyond that…
My daughter is the same age, and we just bought her new shoes for the fall. I got her a pair of Under Armour runners with the single Velcro strap/stretchy lace combo as indoor/gym shoes for school, she has a pair of Natives that she’ll wear as long as the weather holds, she has a pair of slip-on Vans, and she’ll need another pair of runners for home, but her current ones are fine for the time being. For runners, we’ve found that Under Armour and Adidas have worked well for her.
My kids are much older, but my 9 year old 4th grader is wearing skech-airs (he also has crocs and slides but I tell him he can’t wear those to school). My 12 year old 7th grader mainly wears crocs, even to school. She also has some Addidas shoes, but prefers all crocs all the time.
My 15 year old sophomore lives in slip on Vans. She has some athletic shoes and fancy shoes and just wears Vans.
I would just let your kid pick them out. But I didn’t care if my kids shoes only had velcro or really what kind of shoes they wore so I’m apparently not the target audience. My kids preferred not to tie any shoes until they were at least 9 or older. I would either replace laces or buy velcro. Whatever they wanted, they had to wear them, not me.
My dd is 9. Her feet grow slowly so we always have lots of shoes.
Favorite sneakers: Under Armour, the ones with an actual fabric toe bumper like these.
Lifestyle sneakers: Converse, either Knit or other Slip-on style, I think the Blowfish slip-ons are so cute but she won't wear them, and a pair of slip-ons (Vans, or DD loves these from Target)
Booties (we've tried tall boots, they don't get worn much. Booties get worn a lot)
Uggs or Bearpaws
She also has slides, nice sandals, and Natives for at home but doesn't wear those to school. When it's too cool for sandals, she has a pair or two of dress shoes.
ETA: I am picky about shoes and don't mind buying multiple pairs! Just don't send her in shoes that tie until she can do it well consistently.
In K I don't think kids really notice what is cool, and it won't be cool like older kids. The one with the best character clothes might be the envy of the class lol. But that sort of thing doesn't affect friendships like when kids get older.
DS had two pairs of running shoes and a pair of crocs and that's it right now. We aren't going anywhere he would need nicer shoes than that. I would get comfortable shoes she can run around in at recess and PE.
Post by cricketwife on Aug 12, 2021 12:33:23 GMT -5
I agree with letting her pick them out. And honestly, your first pair of shoes for school? That's soooo fun! It's like picking a lunch box or backpack. And you can set parameters if you want. For example, my son knew it had to be New Balance (he had wide feet and always wanted Nikes). He's a little older now and has a few more options, but still not Nike, lol. You can tell her "it has to have velcro" or "must be a sneaker" or whatever. Have fun!
Snow boots (Sorel with a bungee cords) Rain boots PE shoes (New Balance with velcro) Athletic shoes (Nike Flex with velcro) Casual shoes (velcro Vans and then velcro See Kai Runs)
She’s in the same size this year so I will only need to replace one pair.
I honestly wouldn’t worry about fitting in and would just get what she likes and finds comfortable. Most kids don’t really understand brands at this age. I walked her to school every day and most kids wore some type of velcro or slide on shoe. Nikes were the most common.
We don’t have a good shoe store local, so I typically shop online and narrow it down to three pairs of the type she needs and let her pick from there. More than three is overwhelming to her. My favorite places to shop are Zappos, journeyz, Famous Footwear, Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack, Dick’s and Scheels.
My DS is also going to kinder. His feet only fit in Stride Rite (which fall apart quickly) and New Balance. He gets velcro shoes until H is ready to teach him to tie shoes. His kinder teacher will already be busy reminding kids to keep their masks on. One less pair of shoes to tie multiple times a day will be appreciated.
My kids mostly wear good brands of shoes that I pre-bought during sales. Right now, DD (5) has Saucony sneaks that I bought last Black Friday at a Stride Rite sale. They're her first pair with laces, so we had a stressful weekend about 1.5 week ago when she learned to tie them. I didn't plan that lesson for now, but she grew into the size so I guess that meant it was time, lol. It was a bad couple days and then the light switch flipped and she had it down.
DS (2) is in Saucony's too, the Baby Jazz ones with the big velcro. I bought him size 7 and 8 shoes at the same SR sale, but he killed the 7s before he was ready to wear the 8s. So I bought the Saucony's in a 7.5 last week to bridge the gap.
I often check Nordstrom Rack for deep discounts on good brand kid shoes. I've bought Sorel boots, SKR sneakers, etc. that way.
Post by secretagent on Aug 12, 2021 14:23:53 GMT -5
K is ALL about wearing what you LOVE. My second wore a sparkly tutu or glittery dress to K nearly the entire year. Kids seem to start to look to fit in around 3rd in my experience. I can't remember what sneakers she had then - maybe Sketchers? - but she only wore them for gym. She had Target cowboy boots and glitter ballet flats too.
For DD (4) we do natives and see Kai run. She has juuuust started caring about her shoes, so I think I’m going to have to let her pick moving forward. She recently told me her shoes were “way too small” (they’re not at all) - turns out her friend in school just got new rainbow sparkle shoes and she really wanted a pair too.
My DD is going into kindergarten. She normally wears Columbia trail shoes for outdoors and sneakers for indoor shoes. I plan on taking her shopping to pick out new indoor shoes. I suspect she'll pick out something extremely pink and/or with sparkles or light up function.
Velcro all the way. I'm hoping they'll work on tying shoes in kindergarten.
Yeah I think the fun think about K is that they are not so much into what is cool to the world, but what is cool to them.
My kids had PE every single day, so they went in the same tennis shoes every single day. Some kids like light up, but I think that was more pre-school. The only shoes I've seen that were "cool" were like vans or maybe if the kid had duck boots during that whole duck boot phase.
Also a nice pair of snow boots if you live in an area with snow. We've done target moon boots and we've done Landsend. If it doesn't get cold there you can do more fashionable boots for fall and maybe dress up shoes if you have a dress up event coming up in your life (but not really for school unless it's picture day).
- 1 pair of nice sneakers that he wears 90% of the time unless I know he's doing something super muddy. I will spend more on these and usually get Nikes. - 1 pair of super cheap Walmart sneaks that I don't care if they get dirty - 1 pair of red Converse, he picked these and loves red, but they aren't as easy to match with everything of course - 1 pair of sandals (Oshkosh but look kind of like Birkenstocks) - shoes that can be worn in water (typically Keens but this year he has the Oshkosh version handed down from someone) - dressier snow boots that can be worn out (Carters duck boots) - snow boots that are more for playing in deep snow, sledding etc. - sometimes he also has a pair of dressier slip on shoes like boat shoes or whatever, but only if my mother buys them for him, lol
Typing this list out, I have more shoes than I thought, lol.
K is ALL about wearing what you LOVE. My second wore a sparkly tutu or glittery dress to K nearly the entire year. Kids seem to start to look to fit in around 3rd in my experience. I can't remember what sneakers she had then - maybe Sketchers? - but she only wore them for gym. She had Target cowboy boots and glitter ballet flats too.
Pour one out for my K-er who has to wear a uniform.
For Kindergarten she should always be in shoes she can run and play in - and most importantly - work by herself. Don't send her in laced shoes if she can't tie and untie them herself. Converse are tue hardest! Just let her pick what she likes.
Same except we don’t even bother with sandals and boots.
DD has one pair of Nikes that she wears into the ground and then I replace them. Every so often I have to buy her a pair of dress shoes but where we live, sneakers are appropriate 97% of time.
(Also in terms of being “cool,” sneakers are having a moment! Hell, I wear sneakers 97% of the time. Nikes and Adidas as staples and Koio and M. Gemi when I need “dress up” sneakers, ha.)
My DD is going into kindergarten. She normally wears Columbia trail shoes for outdoors and sneakers for indoor shoes. I plan on taking her shopping to pick out new indoor shoes. I suspect she'll pick out something extremely pink and/or with sparkles or light up function.
Velcro all the way. I'm hoping they'll work on tying shoes in kindergarten.
They do not usually work on tying shoes in K. Too many sneakers and not enough time.