Would you let your kids play outside in flip flops?

My daughter has gone to Crocs for the two boys, 4 and 5½. Easy to clean and give some cushion to the soles.

Could you run around the block in crocs? Could you climb a tree in crocs? I know I couldn’t.

Nope. Not climb, run and bicycle. If they are just walking or by the pool it would be fine. They wouldn’t have to wear sneakers, but I prefer a shoe with a back. A sandal is ok.

Better than bare feet , as i see some parents let there kids go out with.

I grew up in bare feet. What’s wrong with bare feet? They toughen up.
Flip flops are just asking for a wreck.

It’s almost a uniform for people to wear thongs in Australia. You’d start a riot if you said kids couldn’t wear them. I don’t. Hate things between my toes.

I played in flip flops when I was a kid. One time I was near woods and I ended up slicing my toe open on a tree branch because it got stuck in my flip flop. I would say tennis shoes are ideal for younger children until they are at an age where they know to be more careful when wearing open-toed backless shoes.

@Bellatrix I’m not saying kids “can’t” wear them. When I was kid, growing up in Florida (early 60’s) we had “Jap flaps” for casual hanging around the pool, or whatever. But in athletic activities they are much more of a danger than a protection. I was ALWAYS barefoot.

Outside of the complex today some kids were climbing on the outside of the stair railing leading up to the second floor. Totally something I would have done, and easily…except one kid had on tennis shoes, the other flip flops. The flip flops just gave me shudders. The tennis shoes even made me wince. Please! Bring back bare fee! They need to be able to grasp with their toes! We are, after all, apes.

I didn’t know you grew up in Florida, @Dutchess_III.

Crocs may not be what you thought they were. I play golf in Crocs. When I was a child, we had play shoes, school schools and Sunday School shoes. Our play shoes were namely Converse tennis shoes.

I lived there from about 4 to about 7. Lotsa memories. Catching jelly fish and star fish like Kansas kids catch frogs @bkcunningham!

Well, those crocs you had a picture of are OK for sort of sedentary activities, like golf, but not for running at top speed (to get away from a werewolf!!) or climbing trees at top speed (to get away from a werewolf!!!) or telephone poles (not much luck there.) Or palm trees :) You can’t climb those suckers. The old, hard leaf things cut like razor blades. Good thing a werewolf wasn’t after me when I decided to try an climb it in Florida.

I had Converse tennis shoes. I wore them to school. Outside of school I was barefoot, and we lived in the country.

I can relate to that feeling, @Dutchess_III , because I frankly don’t know how people manage to take more than three steps in flip-flops either. Most people seem to do all right, though—even run around a bit (even if it is a weird shuffley sort of run). While I agree that barefoot or tennies would be ideal, the kids are probably okay with what they’re wearing. Your typical kid can manage gauntlets that give adults the flying yips… then turn around and show their inability to eat a hot dog without wearing half of it :D C’est la vie.

Yes @peridot. What I don’t get is people… adults…. don’t realize how much trouble they have in flip flops, if they think about it, ....when they aren’t even doing anything, but don’t take it to the next level of what their kids ARE doing.

I wear flip flops everywhere. I probably wouldn’t care if my son wore them, but I know for a fact that he hates wearing shoes that show his feet, lol, I don’t know why since his feet are the same as most people’s feet, I guess he just doesn’t like the feeling maybe?....if hes going anywhere he’s either barefoot or wearing his skate shoes.

I remember growing up in Corpus. We would start the summer as tenderfeet and by September we could run across the asphalt road at noon or a yard full of sticker burrs without feeling any discomfort.
I should do it now. And, I definitely will when I retire.
Shoes – AMF!

Kiwis’ have a joke about aussies, they say how can you tell if it is an aussie’s wedding day? And the answer is because they are wearing new thongs!

Anyhow as @Bellatrix said, everyone wears them here. I am living in the cold end of the country and I see people wearing a ski hat and goose down jacket with boardies and thongs. And all ages wear them for everything. And the fatality rate is pretty low, so I wouldn’t worry too much.

What I wonder about is everywhere you go, you will see one thong lying along side the road. Now how could anyone be walking along, step out of one of their thongs and not notice it??? How could this be?

It depends on what they’re doing. When my kids were little, I wouldn’t let them ride bikes in flip flops, but they were fine to run around in the back yard. When they first start learning how to drive, I wouldn’t let them wear flip flops for that, either.

Right, no flip flops when driving. I wasn’t allowed to either.

I vote sneakers for anything more active than walking.

When my daughter was little, we got low top Converse Chucks. Now, at ten, she likes bright pink Nikes.

I only ever played football/soccer once wearing flip-flops, largely due to the black eye I received from the goalkeeper who got smacked in the face by a flying flip-flop as I took a shot…he punched hard, the bastard!

What’s wrong with wearing flip flops while driving?

@cheebdragon the back of the flip flops catches on the floor board when you move from the accelerator to the brake and vise-versa. Not good if you need to hit your brakes in a hurry. I figured that one out for my self the first time I tried to drive with them on.
What I don’t understand is why it is (I think) against the law to drive barefooted. Seems like that would actually be the safest way to go. I mean, you could compare sneakers to strapping boards on your feet. You totally lose the mobility of your toes and the muscles on the bottom of your feet as well as all sensation. Same thing with kids playing. They lose the benefits of grabbing with their feet, and feeling minute differences in whatever they’re climbing. Flip flops, on the other hand, catch on things unexpectedly and that that can trip a kid up. Also, sticks and rocks can slip in.
I always encouraged my kids to go barefoot. Within a couple of months there is almost no surface that they can’t traverse, except for really HOT ones. I used to walk clear across town on 100+ degree days, but I learned to walk in the grass, or, if I had to cross the street, walk on the white ped Xing line. It was MUCH cooler than the asphalt. Crossing a parking lot was a matter of scampering from white parking line to white parking line…then a mad dash across the last 100 feet of the asphalt to the store entrance.

I was playing Trivial Pursuit once. The question was something like ,“What part of the body has the most never endings?”
Of course, there were titters and giggles, but I thought beyond that, thought and thought and said, “The soles of your feet.”
They looked at me like I was retarded. But guess what. I was right.
Think about it from a natural wild ape/no shoes/traveling through the forest POV.

Barefoot is not safe period. Not when running through the streets, grass, or driving, because of the risk of stepping on something, and then you can’t put your foot down again. If something sharp is somehow in your car, how are you going to brake if there is a piece of glass in your foot? Plus, barefoot driving is especially difficult with manual clutch cars, especially the old ones, because the clutch needs more force, and a shoe provides I wider more solid application to the pedal, all pedals. With bare feet there is more risk to have your foot slip off the pedal, not be square on the pedal, or get injured if you don’t land on you foot on the pedal well.

@JLeslie I respectfully disagree. The bottom of your feet are as slip resistant as tennis shoes, PLUS, with barefeet, you can tell when you’ve stepped into something slippery. With shoes, you don’t know it until you actually slip.

I learned to drive in a standard. Barefoot. No problem. The force comes from the muscles in your legs, not the shoe. I mean, that’s like saying a person who wears a size 12 shoe is safer manipulating the clutch than a person who wears a size 6.

Sure you can cut your foot. I’ve done it a thousand times, but it heals quickly and it’s done.

More than once my foot has felt uncomfortable every time I stepped on it. Didn’t hurt, was just uncomfortable. So I checked…. yep, shard of glass. Pulled it out, it barely bled, and I was good to go.

I’ve run through stickers that can’t penetrate the soles of my feet.

@Dutchess_III I used to run around barefoot also, but I do remember a girlfriend of mine getting a pointy stick thingy in the bottom of her foot. They fall from the trees, straight in her foot like a huge needle. I remember my mom pulling it out and carrying her home. She was not happy to say the least. If you feel safe driving barefoot, go for it. The solid sole of the shoe definitelly helps me push the clutch in and have more control over it. But, some of my cars have pretty tight clutches, some very easy ones.

I’ve driven all kinds of standard shift automobiles, including a 1945 pick up up truck. Being barefooted didn’t affect how I was able to manipulate the clutch at all.
The only time I drive barefoot now is if I have flip flips on. I kick them off to drive, then put them back on to go inside where ever. As a kid I’d sneak in to the stores barefooted, but, you know ,we had looong bell bottom pants and we’d tuck them under our foot and clutch clutch the hem with our toes, so that way people in the store “didn’t know” we were really barefoot! Yeah, right!

There is a lot to be said for the grabbing power of toes, and the sensitivity to your surrounds because of the soles of the feet. I mean, how many animals wind up disabled because of something they stepped on?

Going bare foot can carry health risks…right? Tapeworms or something?

Yes, there are some health risks, but they are minimal in America. Although, every time you cut yourself you run the risk of infection. Still, the chance is small. It’s about risk, whether someone is willing to take the risk or not. I guess when it comes to driving the law doesn’t like to take the risk.

@Dutchess_III depending on the animal, some cannot be compared to human beings. Some have hoofed feet and much tougher soles than human beings.

I think circulation in the feet and the risk of infection is anothee thought too.

I was thinking of the apes @JLeslie.

@bkcunningham Yeah…wearing shoes would impede circulation and also encourage infection because you’re keeping dirty cloth shoe lining right up against the wound. My husband wears shoes almost 24/7, except when he’s sleeping. I just don’t think that’s healthy but…it’s his feet.

One time I was playing basket ball in the drive way. I was barefoot, of course. I RIPPED the tip of my big toe open. Man, it bled all over, it hurt. I went inside, trying not to dribble blood all over, cleaned it, taped the flap of skin back into place, wrapped it again, nice and tight, put my tenny’s on, everything was nice and tight, and went back out and resumed the game. Afterward I had to change the band aid because blood had soaked through, but oh well. It healed, no worse for the wear.

BTW…this isn’t a question of shoes v barefoot. It’s about allowing kids to do strenuous physical activities while wearing flip flops. I think it’s down right foolish and dangerous, far more dangerous than going barefoot.

If I happen to see you barefoot in 7–11 I shall not pass judgement upon you and your dirty calloused feet.

Yeah, flip flops are famous for falling apart, not fitting well, can get caught on the bike pedal, fly off, not good.

The ground has all sorts of germs, shoes protect your feet from the germs. The soles of our feet do toughen up if we go barefoot, or even if we just walk on them a lot even in shoes. I once went for a pedicure where they shave your calluses and dried skin off your feet, and as they did it, I almost stopped her, but the women sitting next to me said she comes to tht salon specificly because they do shave people feet. Man did I regret it. Dancers pray for the calluses and toughened soles. People who complain to me about their feet tiring and general foot pain on the bottom of their feet, I always ask if they get pedicures and purposely want their feet smooth and soft with fresh skin. When they say yes, I tell them to stop doing it.

I don’t go barefoot into establishments any more @bkcunningham. Not since I was a kid. That aside, if you have on flip flops everyone can still see your dirty, calloused feet! (Plus, they don’t have 7–11’s here. :)

Nice @JLeslie! Yes our feet and hands develop callouses for a reason. Nature isn’t particular about how things look, just how they work.

I would think the inside of your shoes would have just as many “germs” as the ground. Again, barefoot all my life, never had a problem with “germs.”

That is banned in some states @JLeslie. Health risks. Never allow razors at a salon.

ROFLLLLOLL!!!!

@bkcunningham I found that out after the fact when I was telling someone how much I regretted doing it, but thanks for saying something anyway, in case I didn’t know already. It would make me question the overall health concerns of the establishment if they are breaking that law. I get pedicures probably once every two years. Very rare. I am too paranoid.

this is funny!

I’ll tell you what’s a bitch and that’s stepping on a freaking toothpick on the floor in your house. I had a sister who was kind of disturbed, and for a period of a couple of weeks, we constantly ran the risk of stepping on a toothpick (which you couldn’t really see in the shag carpet.) I think she was putting them there on purpose. :( WTH?? :(

Barefooting might be all fine and natural, but it creates some ugly, nasty feet over time. Ones I, for one, will not be massaging or caressing any time soon – thankyouverymuch.

I think it’s a hookworm that works it’s way in your foot, it’s often found in soil near Appalachian mountains I believe, but I could be wrong about that. It’s been awhile since I watched the episode about them on Monsters Inside Me, scared my kid for a few months he refused to go barefoot, but he eventually forgot about them. I can’t walk anywhere barefoot, I have small pieces of glass imbedded in my foot and when I walk or stand for too long they start to hurt a little.

@cookieman I can’t stand people touching my feet or having anyone’s feet on or really close to me, freaks me out, lol. Im only moderately okay with touching my own feet, fuck anyone else’s.

I’m with you on that @cheebdragon. For some reason it even makes me queasy to wash them in the shower. Definitely can’t use my bare hands. I can’t STAND it. Have to use a wash cloth, which is tolerable. Wonder why that is. If it’s deep, the glass will work it’s way but, obviously, you want to take weight off of it so that it can.

@cheebdragon & @Dutchess_III: Shame, my foot rubs are pretty legendary.

GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My feet know Ta-Kwon-Do!!!!!!

Wouldn’t that be “Toe-Kwon-Do”?

LOL! Toe-Kwon-Eye!

I used to go barefoot all the time as a kid, until my feet got stung by bees about 7 times in one summer. Tennis shoes for me, baby. I even wear shoes in my house. I have pretty feet, @cookieman! ;)

Ouch @augustlan… @cookieman won’t be giving me a foot massage. I love going barefoot. Not when I’m out in public but at home and in the garden.

I hate bees. To be honest I’m not fond of any winged insects or animals.

I stepped on a wasp once, when I stepped into a pile of leaves. Also, another time, unknown to me, wasps had taken up residence in our mailbox. Found that out when I grabbed a handful of mail out of the box. Ouch!
I have a giant misquito eater on the curtain of our bathroom window as we speak. I just ignored it. Want I should murder if for you @cheebdragon? :)

Lady bugs and butterflies are the only critters I won’t freak the fuck out on. Everything else needs to maintain a 10ft+ radius away from me at all times.

I pull out, kill, and won’t plant flowers near my house to keep the bees away.