Family budgets are under increasing pressure with rising house prices, energy bills and food prices. It can be tempting to cut back on buying quality children’s shoes because children go through such extreme growth spurts, outgrowing shoes at a frightening rate. However, the consequences of skimping on your children’s shoes could be far reaching. Here are some of the key reasons why you shouldn’t fall for the false economy of cheap, poor quality shoes and plash out a little more when it comes to looking after your kiddie’s feet.
If You Pay Peanuts You Get Monkeys
Cheap shoes are a false economy. You might pay less money in the short term, but what you are really sacrificing is your child’s health. Shoes are an instrumental foundation while your child is growing. Good quality shoes will naturally expand slightly to fit your child’s foot perfectly, and allow a bit of room for growth. Manmade fibres will not have any give to them.
To develop a good posture children need a firm foundation and properly fitting shoes. Badly fitting shoes made from cheap fibres could even result in injury as children run around playing. Trainers in particular should properly support the foot during exercise and competitive sports. Children will want often hanker after fashionable and expensive brands, such as Nike dunks. It is important to resist your child’s demands as children are highly susceptible to marketing and peer pressure. Invest in a trainer that will give the best support and is not a vanity choice.
Cheap shoes are also not likely to last long. Poor quality shoes will soon break or prove faulty. If you do buy manmade fibre shoes you should also endeavour to buy natural fibre socks for your children, such as cotton, as this will have a similar consequence.
Cheap Shoes Are Not Made Responsibly or Ethically
It is highly unlikely that cheap shoes will be sourced from ecologically responsible materials, or have strong ethical values in the treatment of their staff. Most cheap goods are made in sweat shops in the east, where staff are paid little and treated very poorly. If you want to set your children a good example you should bear this in mind when buying them new shoes. You can then use your choice as an education for them in purchasing power and ethical markets.
Synthetic Fibre Shoes Will Make Feet Smell
Another disadvantage of synthetic fibre shoes is that they will cause feet to smell. Teenage boys suffer strong body odour during puberty, don’t add to their misery by opting for shoes that will make their feet smell too. High quality shoes made from natural fibres will allow feet to breathe and help to avoid foot health problems, such as athletes foot.
Children can be naive as to what is best for them. It is the responsibility of parents to put their foot down and chose what is best for them, as well as to invest in items that are in their best interest. Invest in high quality shoes and your child’s health.
Author bio
The author is a sports physical therapist. She spends her time training an under 16s athletics squad. She frequently writes about appropriate sports equipment for children and how to encourage your children to achieve in life by encouraging involvement in sports. She recommends www.giantstrides.org.uk as a high quality honest retailer of children’s shoes.
