Barefeet

I'm going to start off my blog with the tenants of Barefoot Parenting. (This is all tongue-in-cheek, and I'm definitely laughing at my own pretension. Laugh with me. :)

Number One: Go barefoot

That's right. Take off your shoes. And socks. Rub your foot on the carpet. Curl your toes, stretch them out. Roll your ankles in a circle. Flex your foot. Doesn't it feel good? Now go for a walk. Outside. No, don't put your shoes on. Walk on your sidewalk, walk on the grass, walk on the gravel. Feel the world. Don't stomp around like you do when you've got shoes on. Bare feet force us to tread lightly on the earth. Your feet are like your hands. They allow us to interact with the world. They have tons of tiny little bones and muscles. They can move like nothing else on your body. Imagine a country that always wore heavy gloves from morning until night...
In this country, we never burn our hands on a hot oven, we never cut our fingers, our hands stay baby soft. And the style, well, you should see our gloves. Some of them position our hands totally flat all the time, which is the most ladylike way for hands to be of course. Do our hands get hot? Well that's what we have hand powders for or creams to deal with the occasional fungus problem...

Silly country. Gloves have their place, sure, but they are just tools. We deal with occasional burns, cuts, and callouses, because it's better to risk an injury than have our hands bound. What most people don't realize is that our feet are the same way. They are designed to bend and twist. They are designed for shock absorption. When you wear shoes, your feet stomp trying to feel what they are walking on. When you wear shoes, the muscles in your foot atrophy from being immobilized all day. Most shoes (men and women) have a built in heel. From a childhood and lifetime of wearing shoes, the tendons in the back of your leg shrink to fit this new walking pattern. All of these things lead to the foot, knee, and leg problems and injuries that plague our shoe wearing culture. In countries where footwear is not used, studies shoes an almost total absence of adult foot problems.

You can spend top dollar on fancy "barefoot" shoes, and these are better than their thick, stiff soled counterparts, but the real deal is right at the bottom of your leg. And it's free. And it's the best. Let your child decide when to wear shoes, and make them soft soled shoes, so her foot can move and grow strong.

For more information check out these websites:

Parents for Barefoot Children
Barefoot Running

Read the book Born to Run

For soft soled shoes for the whole family check out Soft Star Shoes.

But seriously, don't let your fear keep your feet from the earth. Walking barefoot is a natural part of living, but it can also be a spiritual experience...which is also a natural part of life.