Luckily, 95% of babies are born with perfect feet. Tiny, malleable utterly adorable pieces of awesome bio-mechanical engineering that have the potential to one day grow and reach anywhere - climb anything!
So what happens? Traditional shoes happen.
Here is what happens to feet when they are stuffed into spaces that stop their little feet from developing naturally (which is most conventional shoes):
1. PADDING - DULLS THE SENSES IN KIDS’ GROWING BRAINS
Padded soles dull the sensory feedback our brains get from our feet. And when our feet have over 200,000 neurotransmitters – the same as our hands – this makes NO SENSE at all!
The more sensory messages growing brains get from their feet and bodies the better: bodies and brains grow stronger and smarter.
2. STIFF SHOES - WRECK THE FORM AND FUNCTION OF KIDS’ FEET
The bones in kids’ feet are malleable until their late teens. Hard, rigid shoes act like a MINI-CAST: weakening tendons and muscles throughout childhood when they should be growing in strength and flexibility. Same goes with ‘arch support’ and orthotics – weakening rather than letting small feet grow strong.
Like the ancient proverbs say: ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ and ‘use it or lose it!’
3. NARROW SHOES – SQUASH BIG TOE INTO LAME TOE
