Shoe Selection for Toddlers?

Today's post is another response to a reader's question. This one in particular is about toddlers and shoe selection. The question, as best I can paraphrase, is something to the effect of "when do toddlers need to switch from soft-soled shoes to harder soled shoes?"

This is a topic that there's not a lot of study about, mostly conjecture and professional opinions, aligning with the timeline for ossification of the feet. What might come as a surprise to many people is that kids bones don't solidify all together, or even for several years after birth. The long bones of the foot tend to solidify--or ossify (from the root word for stone)-- first, followed by the tarsal bones (the short, irregular bones along the middle and rear of the foot). A general timeline for this can be found here. My answer to the question today is largely based on fundamentals that I'll be touching on while adding links that discuss the topic in greater detail if you care to peruse them further.

There are as many philosophies about this topic as there are foot doctors and pediatricians out there, but the main guideline for this is that kids' feet need to be allowed to grow, but there's very little that can actively make things go wrong. I personally allow my kids to run around with shoes unless it is too cold for that. In my experience as a foot specialist, shoes can play a role in development, but that is usually a minor role unless the shoe styles are extreme. As I've mentioned in my article on bunions, genetics play the biggest role in the shape and development of your feet. That being said, however, there are examples out there of humans being persistent enough to force nature's influence into the back seat. The examples that come most readily to mind are people who use spacers to increase the size of their ear lobes as found in this Google Search, or hallux varus developing in people who only wear thong flip-flop sandals.

Generally however, typical shoes--even in kids--aren't extreme enough to overpower genetics. This is especially true if kids only wear shoes every now and then. My recommendation is that kids wear shoes only when going out on occasion. If they can stand and walk, that's probably the time time begin having a thicker, more protective sole, but they should still pass my tests. I'm never going to tell a parent what type of shoe policy they should have at home, but mine don't wear shoes in the house--no, not because I'm a carpet-protecting freak--because I want to let nature guide their foot development. Most of the time they turn out fine and develop an arch by age 10 or so, so I trust them to develop on their own.

So this has been a long way to say a short answer: if they are walking, get more supportive shoes, although they'll probably turn out just fine either way.