Do you think flip flops on little kids are a bad idea?

Flip Flops on kids are good. The more they land on their faces, the more amusement for me!
Their screams of pain are balsam for my ears. Their tears delicious nectar.

u r sik, @ragingloli!

i hate children

I don’t think they’re necessarily a bad idea, and they’re handy sometimes (going to the beach or pool, playing in the sandbox, etc.), but there are definitely better choices. I’d say the optimal choice for children would be sneakers: they stay on easily and prevent little toes from being stepped on!

I agree with pools and beaches, but not for every day use.

The only think I don’t like about sneakers is they form kind of a flat board that the kids have to learn to run on. Barefoot is really best, if you’re comfortable with it.

What I can’t believe are those rigid, hard soled shoes they use to put on little kids in the 50’s who were just trying to learn how to walk. It would be like trying to learn with boards strapped to their feet! Why did they do that to us??

@Dutchess_III Barefoot? I grew up with 80 cows and 80 youngstock and all kinds of machinery. Think about it. :)

As I said, “If you’re comfortable about it.”

I flat didn’t wear shoes during the summer when I was growing up. We lived in the country, but not on a farm.

Bad idea in my experience. I was wearing some very cheap ones while riding my scooter as a child and one slipped off weirdly, so I ended up being thrown off and cut my forehead open against the front of the scooter. My dad always told me not to wear them and I guess he really did have a point…

Yep. And they get caught in the spokes of bicycle tires.

One time when I was a kid, my sisters and I were walking in the woods near a family friend’s house on the 4th of July. I was wearing flip flops (bad idea, I know, I know!) and I cut my toe on a branch. It started bleeding and it was just terrible. That was also the year I burnt myself on a sparkler. Not a great 4th of July.

I cut my feet on so many things as a kid! But it was no big deal.

My kids always had enclosed toe sandals for summer and I made them wear socks with them! I always look at what could happen and try to prevent things if I can. Doesn’t always work out that way, but I try : )

I wouldn’t say a bad idea, but I’d say they’ve had their time in the sun. No one I know or have seen recently (by which I mean over the course of the last year) wears them.

Sandals are bad too! And with socks?? Shoo. Let ‘em run barefoot. They’ll toughen up in no time!

I wore rubber thongs in the 60;s growing up. Same thing as flip flops. I never really gave oit a thought, but, they can be awkward in certain conditions. I don’t remember ever falling because of wearing flip flops but I was great and falling in general. haha

@ragingloli Aaaah, another delightful trait of yours revealed. Bah.

I remember wearing “jap flaps” as a little kid…but then again, we lived in Florida and spent a lot of time at the beach, on the hot, hot sand. Back home though….BAREFOOTED!!!

@Dutchess_III Haha..OMG! I forgot they were called “Jap Flaps.” Yep, I was a barefoot type myself, still am, barefoot in the morning right now. :-P

Flip flops are better than nothing to protect your feet from cuts and worms that bore into the skin and migrate into the body, like tapeworms and others. I’m thinking of places in the world where there is little sanitation. The U.S. South has had problems with that in rural areas.
If it’s just a matter of fashion, who cares?

My stomach still clenches up when I recall a friend of mine when we were children, his big toe nearly torn off from a bicycle accident. I won’t give the details; it was horrifying then and it’s not much easier now.

He kept his toe and he recovered, but he was in pain for months. Don’t ride bicycles without adequate footwear. Flip-flops are not adequate footwear for more than bathing / showering or walking on a beach.

My rule for kids would be no running in them, and best to keep them for just pools and lakes. Regular sandals with a secure back are a better option for safety reasons. In FL a lot of kids wear slide on shoes without a back, they wear them more than flip flops. But, still not so much when they are at play.

No, but socks and sandals are a bad idea.

When I was growing up I wore flip-flops all summer long (the type @Coloma describes; we called them thongs too), my children do the same. We have yet to experience a flip-flop related tragedy. I never had any trouble running, jumping, or doing any of the other things kids do during the summer. The worst thing that ever happened was the part that goes between the toes popping out.

@erichw1504 Not when you are two years old with brand spankin’ new sandals (new sandals=blisters). It’s an awesome idea then!
lol @ flip-flop related tragedy @SuperMouse

I have gotten Tevas and Keens for my kids since they were little since they are safer and more secure, but still easy to wear and okay for getting dirty or wet or muddy or whatever.

—@Coloma We called them zoris and got them at Cost Plus in San Francisco. I wore them while living in Panama as a 5 and 6 year old.—-

Yes, I mean no, oh I don’t know….I guess my opinion flip-flops on this subject.

I can’t wear them. Hurt my toes. My kids wear them to the pool. They wear sandals to other places, and shoes where appropriate. They prefer barefoot, when they can. We send them to camp for that.

Yes, I think they’re a bad idea for children who are “playing” age. Flip flops roll under the balls of the foot sometimes, tripping the kids. I’ve seen it and it’s also happened to me, as an adult. Flip flops sometimes snap at the thong between the toes which means the kid trips. The straps over the foot sometimes get caught or snagged on stuff, really bad in trees and bushes or walking by a sticking out branch or piece of metal.

As a kid, we weren’t allowed outside without suede “wallaby” shoes that laced up over the ankle bones. With those we could climb trees, rocks, run and what not because the soles were a sticky grippy but slightly flexible rubber cement kind. Our school recommended them to all our parents for durability and protection. Ugly but I’d stick them on little kids now.

Sounds like a good idea @Neizvestnaya! I agree…flip flops can make footing unstable, plus the fact that that the open toe and the open back can catch on things. I think they need to make moccasins for kids, so that they can use their toes for what they were meant for…keeping your balance when running, and for gripping things when you’re climbing.

@Dutchess_III: I just got the inside of my ankle gouged open last week by my front screen door. I was wearing flip flops. Suburban kids go in and out of their doors all day long. If my stepkids had been here and this happened to one of them, we’d be burning their flip flops in the backyard right now. The stupidest shite that can be avoided, ya know.
My poster is being laminated right now with the title: Don’t Do It Like Me.

The worst feet cuts I’ve experienced (not myself—others) happened in the house. Owies are a part of life.

@Dutchess_III, I think you’re right, flip-flops for most are a bad idea. Slip-ons and barefoot are the best for simple play, sneakers and more structured shoes for more structured sports and events. It’s just so easy for a child’s bones to grow wrong, and once set crooked bones can never be corrected.

Yeah @DaphneT, and constrictive shoes can make the bones grow wrong. When I was young, I once saw a cast of an American Indian foot, of a person who had grown up wearing moccasins, compared with a “modern” print of a person who grew up wearing shoes. The Indian print was wider and more balanced. The “modern” print toes were all crooked and crammed together. Just didn’t look good. Come to think of it, that may be why I eschew shoes as much as possible.

Mine are allowed to wear them at appropriate times. Over to my mom’s pool, to the grocery store, playing in the backyard, to and from gymnastics, etc… There are times when I make them wear their tennis shoes, like when riding their bikes or hiking.

@Dutchess_III I go barefoot or sockfoot as soon as I get home from work or from running errands.

Yep yep yep!