I love shopping for kids. It’s insane the kind of variety you can find when buying them anything, especially clothes. Put me in a kids’ clothing store with a credit card and you’ll regret it, especially if the credit card is yours!

I thought shoe shopping would be just as fun. My five- (six in June) year-old niece came over for a visit and we were just about to head for the Richmond Auto Mall to buy a Yaris when I noticed that she was walking funny. I asked her why she was shuffling so much and she lifted her foot to show me how the sole of her shoe had peeled away from its base and the whole thing looked like a hand puppet. We obviously couldn’t go out like that so we made a pit stop at Metrotown Mall. She’s not a fan of trying on shoes but she got a piggy-back ride out of it so she was all smiles. I needed a temporary solution and I thought it would be a piece of cake to find a sensible sandal at Payless. Maybe I could even save a couple of bucks too!…Nothing.

I was shocked at the lack of sandal options seeing as it was pretty much summer already. The ones we could find were either too high-heeled, too plastic, too stiff or too frilly. No problem. I thought it would just be one stop but I could make another. There was another Payless at the other side of the mall, possibly with more of a selection so my niece hopped back on to my back and we made our way through the mall. It was another dead end. What’s going on! I know it’s nearly impossible to find sensible shoes for adults but that’s because we choose to wear painful ones. Kids don’t. Considering the importance of their feet development for future health, I began to feel irritated at the lack of options.

There weren’t any kids’ stores specifically for shoes so the only choices I had were Shoe Warehouse and the department stores Zellers, Sears and The Bay. We went to them all and I could feel my frustration building. Our final stop was Sears and we HAD to find something there or we would have had to go to another mall. I couldn’t believe it! We actually did make a purchase in the end but I wasn’t completely satisfied. It sufficed but it wasn’t what we were looking for. Here are some of the choices that were available:

First of all, why the hell are children’s shoes made with a heel? These may look like regular adult shoes but they’re NOT! These are sizes twelve and thirteen (the sizes before the adult size 1). My niece is tall for her age so we were looking at sizes eleven and twelve. It doesn’t take a podiatrist to know that kids should only wear flats. These were ridiculous! I was furious that they were even available so I jumbled up the sizes. No parent should be buying these for their five and six year olds. It was madness!

What was very obviously a popular variety was the ballerina styled shoes. This particular one may look very pretty but it only takes one bend to realize they’re too stiff for regular walking. There is also absolutely no arch support.

These definitely looked promising. These Keds have a relatively good sole, were made of canvas so they wouldn’t be too constricting, and still maintained their ‘cool’ factor. The problem was they still lacked arch support and my niece couldn’t fit them because hers were unusually high so it was always tight around the band/strap areas.

These are always available no matter what the current trends are. They look sporty and are made of soft neoprene or foam. The only problem I have with them is that kids’ feet sweat a lot and if they’re in these all day, the smell that results could knock you out. I needed to find a pair that had a fabric or suede-type insole.

This is the pair that we ended up with. It has an ultra bendable sole so walking will always be comfortable. The material is soft and plushy, has lacey patches on the top and sides to allow for some air flow, had adjustable straps, and came in decent colours. It was $25.

For all you parents out there who are going to be going shoe shopping with your kids, it’s worth checking out the specialty stores. The choices available in generic stores like the ones we went just won’t do. Kids don’t always know what they’ll be comfortable in so it’s up to you to make the right decisions. And for heaven’s sake, don’t even look at a shoe with even the slightest bit of a heel. I strongly encourage you to take it up to the cashier and complain!

For tips on how to buy kids’ shoes, follow the B.C. Association of Podiatrists tips here.