If the shoe fits

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“Mama I can do it myself”

 Those words tend to come from Mae as I’m frazzled and trying to rush out the door like a flapping Big Bird. It’s that moment when you realize you should have left the house 13 minutes earlier to make the train and know you’ll have to get a jog on – leading to a beaded brow and frizzy tresses – as soon as you gallop out of the house.

 Then your kid wants to put his/her own shoes on. In principle this is a great thing – independence is to be encouraged and that’s one less parental thing on the never-ending to do list. But not when you are running 13 minutes late for the train and it takes approximately 17 minutes for your little love nugget to get those shoes on.

 So often shoes that are good for your kid’s feet and ease the growing process don’t look all that. I’m always looking for ones that support Mae’s little trotters from Weetabix-smattered breakfast tantrums right the way through to drizzly playground playdates.

There was one particularly sodden day with her mate Betsey – they are friends until the cutlery they are eating with is a different colour – where I hadn’t even noticed that Mae was wearing one shoe that fitted and another from when she was 18-months. She limped around for a bit near the swings until I realized the basic parental error. The shoe was most certainly on the wrong foot and I was absolutely to blame – it wasn’t even an easy mistake to make; one was yellow, the other white.

Mae’s current shoes du jour are a pair of blush Bobux trainers with a zebra emblazoned down one side (so when the Zebra’s are together you know they’re on the right feet!). If that’s not a shoe triumph, we don’t know what is. Stripey is Mae’s number one toy at the moment (it’s an ever-transient list that can be brutal at times – I haven’t questioned where Tilly the dinosaur is at the moment for fear she’s under the paving slabs in the garden) so to find a shoe that not only fits but links to that much-cuddled zebra is, indeed, a relief.

There were no laces to contend with, just Velcro or slip-ons and they’re breathable so they won’t honk after a few laps of the park. They’re also cool enough for the kids to want and supportive enough for the parents to have peace of mind. More than anything children’s feet develop in stages not ages, so it’s not a case of just going up a size as they get older – these are shoes that truly do fit.

 While I’m no parental oracle if I can impart one piece of time-saving (or mind-saving) advice, it’s to invest in a solid easy-to-get-on pair of shoes. This is not being said simply because we are working with Bobux, it’s genuinely because they’re a kid and parent-friendly life changer. (And have cut that 17 minutes of ‘putting shoes on’ down to a nifty 3 minutes – huge life goals right there).

 This post was written in association with Bobux Shoes. AD

 

Anna Whitehouse

Founder of Mother Pukka, Anna Whitehouse likes super hero cape-making classes and dislikes the naming of celebrity couples (TomKat, Brange etc.) She tries (and often fails) to parent the shit out of life.

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Turns out I’m not an afternoon person either.

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