Your kids’ feet are constantly growing and developing for the first 13 years of their life, rapidly changing over 4,500 days! Feet are made up of 26 individual bones and it can be easy to damage them unknowingly. It is so important then to make sure your kids’ feet are properly looked after during this time so that they develop healthily for later life.
Here is a list of the five ways that you could be unknowingly harming your children’s feet!
Don’t hand down shoes
While it can be tempting to use hand-me-downs from one child to another, it can damage your child’s feet. Shoes mold to a child’s feet and will be worn in such a way that it matches their gait. This creates a perfectly unique shoe that when worn by another won’t suit them and could lead to problems with their feet having to compensate for the previous usage.
You don’t have enough ‘wiggle room’
When you think that little children’s feet are rapidly growing over the first 13 years of their lives, it makes sense that their shoes should be accommodating. You must make sure that their shoes have enough wiggle room when you fit them. A good way to measure this is whether you can fit the tip of your thumb between your child’s toes and the top of the shoe. Any compromise to the foot’s natural movement can cause the body to compensate for the lack of mobility in other areas of the body which could develop into a future problem. Start-Rite Shoes have you covered here by having some growing room built into the shoe to help little feet wiggle!
You’re not bringing socks to fittings
Thinking about wiggle room, it is so important that your kid’s shoes fit while they are wearing socks. If you don’t bring socks to the fitting room then you might be mistaken into thinking you have found the perfect shoes. Socks can also have a large effect on your kid’s feet. If socks are too tight, they can cramp the foot, restricting blood flow. If socks are too big, then they can bunch up and create blisters.
You’re not measuring regularly enough
Kids’ feet are constantly growing, so it is important that you measure their feet every six to eight weeks. While your child’s feet might not grow this quickly, it is important to check as growth spurts happen often. Shoes that are too small will cut into your child’s feet rubbing blisters into the skin. Not only this, too-tight shoes can constrict foot growth and your kid’s natural development. Make sure that you measure at the beginning and end of each term to ensure your kid’s shoes are fitting correctly. Start-Rite Shoes offers a helpful measuring gauge so you can measure their feet from the comfort of your own home.
You are trimming their toenails too much
Ingrown toenails are the worst. If your kid’s shoes are too tight, then the friction and pressure can push the nail into the soft skin creating a painful and infected toe. To ensure that your kids don’t have to suffer an ingrown toenail, make sure that you cut them straight across, leaving them quite long. Measure your kid’s feet regularly and make sure that their shoes aren’t constricting them in any way.
