Children's shoes

Abstract

Summary.The injurious effect of the stiff boot on the growing foot is pointed out. Attention is drawn to the probable fallacy in the popular belief that our children's feet are so weak that they require the support of shoes to bear the weight of their bodies.Several authors are cited from the modern orthopedic literature who consider that the use of stiff shoes is one of the most outstanding causes of the weak and deformed feet so common nowadays. The importance of going barefooted to the normal development of the feet is emphasized; children should be freed from shoes as much as possible both inside and, during warm weather, outside.A child's shoe is described which, through the author's cooperation with a Swedish shoe manfacturer, will come on the market in May 1939. This shoe is wide and roomy. Both the sole and the body are made of soft, pliable leather, and there is no heel. These shoes are meant to take the place of bare feet when the latter is impossible; their advantages are described.