When you were a kid, did you wear shoes in the summer time?

Always, either tennis shoes or flip-flops. I have tender feet. I was envious of the kids that could run across the gravel in bare feet, but I couldn’t do it.

Well, it takes time for them to toughen up, @Skaggfacemutt. They’re always more sensitive at the beginning of summer. But having gone barefoot all of my life, it doesn’t take long for them to adjust now. A couple of weeks.

The only part I hated about it was when I suddenly found myself in a patch of stickers, smack in the middle, having some how gotten that far without getting stuck. By the end of summer, though, they can’t even penetrate the soles of my feet.

Outside, yes. Inside, almost never.

Now I may go on the deck barefoot. My daughter will run all over barefoot if I let her. The rule is that before bed, we put her butt on the edge of the tub and wash her feet. I say to her “You’re a member of the Blackfoot Tribe.”

I hated going to bed with dirty feet! So I washed them every night.

Rarely. I ran around outside barefoot, running to see my friends who lived a few houses down the street, on Las Vegas concrete and asphalt in 115°F temps.

Yeah, it was a trick to get through town, on foot, when that asphalt was sooo hot! Crossing streets, you crossed at the crosswalks and walked on the white line.
The hardest part was getting across an asphalt parking lot. We scampered from one white line to the next, pausing at each line to let our feet cool off. Then the mad dash through the unlined section at the front of the store. Ow ow ow ow ow!!

Almost never. I remember getting burnt a few times from stepping on discarded cigarettes.

I didn’t even put shoes on in the winter, if I was just going outside for a second. To check the mail or something.

I wore tap shoes mostly, hot on the left, cold on the right.
Just like Jesus, I walked on water.

Always. I am not a fan of being barefoot unless I’m indoors. Even then, I usually wear socks.

I did that @chyna. Didn’t hurt long, though.

When I was 10 my dad bought a wooded acre and built a house. It took several seasons to get it all more like a yard than woods. He mowed over saplings that were small enough to chop down with a lawn mower, but they left wicked, dried spikes that would rip the arches of our feet! Dealt with that for 2 years.

@AshLeigh I ran outside in the snow once, just because. I quickly memorized the sensation because after a couple of steps my feet couldn’t feel anything! I was staying with a friend and we ran across the yard, across a highway, down a ditch and up the other side where we jumped up and down and waved at a train.

@cookieman Did your mom make you wear shoes?

I could never decide what to put on my feet, used to flip-flop all the time.

Ha ha!

On the streets, yes. In woods/on meadows/at home not all the time.

Up until a few years ago I used to never wear shoes. Now I always do.

I did, because I liked exploring and climbing around. There was some woods to play in, I was always in there so I put on the shoes. I wasn’t much for just hanging around in the backyard. I was always off someplace.

Our house was surrounded by woods. As kids, we spent far more time in the woods, in the trees, than in the house. And in the fields. And in the creek. My sister actually got bitten by a water moccasin down by the creek. Shoes wouldn’t have helped her ‘cause it bit her on the ankle.

@dxs I wear shoes more than I use to, just because it’s uncouth to go into a store without shoes.

I found myself unexpectedly going horseback riding two weekends ago. I wasn’t prepared. I had on flip flops. I just took them off and rode barefooted. That’s how I rode as a kid when I had a horse. The last hundred yards we left the horses and hiked the rest of the way up the mountain for to go see Robbers Cave..

Here is my son out at our land, catching frogs.

I lived in the city. We had woods as I say, down by the river. But cities have broken glass and crap in streets and alleys. Even had I wanted to walk around barefoot, my dad wouldn’t have let me.

And country has animal poop and dead animals and crap.

We spent a lot of time in town, too, walking to the pool, walking all over the place. Just had to watch where you put your feet.

I asked this Q on FB and everyone I grew up with who I’m friends with on FB said some version of, “Only if I was forced to.”

Well sooorry. Lol.

I lived in the country, so wouldn’t advise going barefoot. Stickers, barbed wire, gravel roads, rusty nails. Cement sidewalks might be hot, but at least they don’t have thorns.

I was always the kid with the grubby-looking tennis shoes and no socks.

The side walks weren’t hot because they’re sort of white. The black asphalt though, that’s a different story!

The neatest feeling was after it rained and just as things started drying out. The gravel roads we lived on would get kind of…crackly. It would tickle your feet like little bubbles popping. Then cars would drive on them and mess ‘em all up.

@Dutchess_III I wear shoes more now because they look and feel better on me. I do go barefoot from time to time, though.

yeah, I had to in the city. But whenever I got the chance, I’d go barefoot. Still do. even in the city.

Where they have fire ants nobody goes barefoot. It’s not worth it.

They had fire ants in Oklahoma at the cabins we stayed at.

@Dutchess_III: I would imagine, yes. I don’t remember.

We started out in tennies but by the end of summer could run barefoot over broken glass (or more likely asphalt roads coated with melting tar) and crush them big old red ants that inhabited the empty lots without ill effects, we called them “faarr aints” but I believe they are actually harvester ants. They had a powerful bite when they got past the calluses.

My feet have always been soft and smooth, like a baby’s bum. No calluses here. Flip-flops are the closest I come to barefoot.

I used to go barefoot when we went to the beach (all year long). And to the 7–11, coffee shop, ice cream parlor and various lunch spots by the beach. Kind of gross when you think about it.

You should’ve seen one of the professors I had last semester. He walked everywhere on campus barefoot. I think it’s called Earthing.

It doesn’t sound gross to me @fluthernutter, but I’m surprised they let you in.

@dxs LOL!!

No shoes, no service. doesn’t mean much when your friends are working. :P

We had long, bell bottom jeans. When we went into the store we’d curl our toes and hold on the the hem (we always took the hem out of our jeans) so no one could see we were barefooted.