This is a very bold statement to make with many parents buying children their first pair of shoes before they are even walking, however, research is showing that wearing shoes may actually be doing more damage than good. Many feel children need a good pair of shoes to protect children’s feet and ankles as they grow however shoes are hindering muscle development and are causing problems for muscle development from toes right up to hips.
Shoes mean children’s feet have less contact with the ground they are walking on meaning toes are unable to stretch, foot arches aren’t as strong and well formed as they should be, and muscles in the legs and hips have a smaller range of movements. Poor fitting or supporting shoes such as flipflops are often the cause of many accidents, trips and slips for children as well as potentially causing damage to the soft bones that young children have.
What are the benefits to being barefoot?
Ditching the shoes has so many benefits and this is why here at earlyyearscareers.com we are urging practitioners to ditch children’s shoes and allow the children to explore and develop with bare feet as nature intended. To further support our argument here are some benefits to being barefoot:
Toes grow straighter allowing children to better spread and push whilst walking improving balance and movement
Stronger muscles on the feet again improving many gross motor skills
Wider range of hip movement
Improved flexibility in legs creating and improving children’s natural manner of walking.
Sensory development – allowing children to directly feel what they are walking on allows stronger messages to be sent to the brain about exactly how is best to walk on certain types of surfaces. It is argued that shoes cloud these messages, and cause more accidents.
Concerns over barefoot
Some practitioners are concerned about allowing children to have bare feet in case of incidents such as fire alarms, slipping in water and messy play areas, stepping on toys such as lego and dropping scissors onto bare feet. It would be interesting to hear from nurseries who go barefoot as to how they overcome these concerns, so if you do this leave us a comment below.
At the nursery I work at we have a “no outdoor shoe policy” and the children have slippers or “indoor shoes” to wear inside. As well as the children the staff also follow this.
We had a barefoot day on Tuesday. Everything was free to use outside as it was a lovely day. They painted and drew with their feet. Climbed on the climbing equipment and explored different textures. We talked about how some people have to use their feet for everything as they may have poorly arms etc, we explained about being careful where they trod . No accidents or incidents occured. Totally the children’s choice and they loved it. Having another one tomorrow .
We’ve been doing this since the summer term last academic year and although parents were hesitant they have embraced it and see the development of skills and gross motor balance and core stability their children have gained. We also do this outdoors and staff take part too and think it’s great and they feel more comfortable to move around on the floor with children both indoors and outdoors and the overall wearing of footwear holds us all back from joining in!
At the nursery I work at we have a “no outdoor shoe policy” and the children have slippers or “indoor shoes” to wear inside. As well as the children the staff also follow this.
We had a barefoot day on Tuesday. Everything was free to use outside as it was a lovely day. They painted and drew with their feet. Climbed on the climbing equipment and explored different textures. We talked about how some people have to use their feet for everything as they may have poorly arms etc, we explained about being careful where they trod . No accidents or incidents occured. Totally the children’s choice and they loved it. Having another one tomorrow .
We’ve been doing this since the summer term last academic year and although parents were hesitant they have embraced it and see the development of skills and gross motor balance and core stability their children have gained. We also do this outdoors and staff take part too and think it’s great and they feel more comfortable to move around on the floor with children both indoors and outdoors and the overall wearing of footwear holds us all back from joining in!
Supervise the children as simple as that ,make sure there are not things on the floor that can cause accidents .