06/10/2022
TURN SHOE-SHAPED FEET INTO FOOT-SHAPED FEET! ๐ฃ
Important post from the team over .kids ๐
They havenโt even finished growing yet, but feet and toes can already be knocked out of shape by stiff, narrow and rigid traditional shoes, as this image shows.
But all is not lost!
You can re-wild childโs feet.
And itโs worth it: a lifetime of happy, healthy, natural movement awaits!
Here are our top tips to get your small personโs feet back to their wild, barefoot best:
โ
1. Take off the shoes! As much as possible. Start at home and then, when itโs weather appropriate, go out barefoot. This gets the sensory feedback system sparking and builds up the muscles and tendons of feet and ankles.
โ
2. Get those feet working! Exercises like putting a cap on a marker pen using just your toes and playing pick-up with bare feet (try tidying a bedroom just using bare feet!) can make foot strengthening fun. Check out our website for more exercises you and your kids can try to get those feet working!
โ
3. Get your deep squat on! Learning to hold โ and keep โ a deep squat is a great indicator of overall fitness and flexibility. Little kids do this naturally as they play, but this fades as the effects of sitting in chairs, sedentary lives and foot-wrecking normal shoes take over. Make sure your kids keep their natural squatting skill โ and join them!
โ
4. Get outdoors โ away from the screens! Todayโs fittest kids would be among the least fit twenty years ago. Screens, increased academic pressures, fear of letting kids go out to play are all to blame.
And how does this affect feet? Less time moving and playing means less physicality for bodies AND feet. So let them play barefoot outdoors in nature as much as possible.
โ
5. Wear minimalist shoes. When itโs not possible to be barefoot, try barely-there footwear that provides minimal interference in their footโs natural movement and growth. Our bodies are an awesome gift of evolution, letโs keep it that way!
โ