"But imagine what she'll be like in a few years' time!"

[ailbhe]

Today, someone told me I should smack Linnea.

Context: She had just endured a shoe-fitting, including the purchase of a pair of shoes, and wanted to leave the shoe department in the opposite direction to the one I wanted to take. I hel her arm and pulled; she sat down. I picked her up and planted her facing my direction; she turned around and crawled away. I turned her to my direction and pulled her along the floor using her toddler reins, saying "This isn't funny any more," because I had to pretend I wasn't laughing somehow.

An elderly woman said "When my son did that I used to smack him, but you're not allowed to do that any more." I said "Well, I'm hoping to avoid smacking," and assumed that was the end of it. Oh no. She said "But imagine what she'll be like in a few years' time!"

I had no response. I mean, I had a few afterwards - "Yes, she could be the kind of person who tells random strangers to hit people!" and so on - but at the time, I just sort of stood there in shock, then continued dragging Linnea another couple of paces. In total, it took less than ten steps before she got tired of being dragged (initially she thought it was funny), and another two before she decided to stand up and walk where I wanted her to.

Her jacket and padded dungarees were a bit grotty afterwards. Ho hum. Such is toddlerhood.

The shoes, by the way, will have to be returned. A few hours' wear shows that a fitting on the buckle leaves red marks on her ankles. I can't handle this show thing any more. Can't I just cut off her little toe so she fits in normal shoes?

Comments

[megpie71.livejournal.com]

I can't handle this show thing any more. Can't I just cut off her little toe so she fits in normal shoes?

Ah, so there's another kid out there with the pseudo-"problem" of broad feet. Seems like the footwear industries tend to regard the notion of humans being fitted with five toes as something of an insult (certainly most women's shoes give the strong impression of being designed for someone with at most four, preferably three). My mum used to deal with the problem by getting the sort of sandals which were adjustable at both the toe end and the ankle strap (both my brother and myself had broader than normal feet). I don't know whether they're still available these days, but if you can find them, they may just solve the problem for Linnea.

[ailbhe]

Broad toes, narrow heels, and unusually low ankle-bones. Last summer, I fell on sandals with cries of joy. The first pair fit ok, but the next size up when she outgrew the first ones actually made her ankles BLEED. I brought them back to the shop with bloodstains on them. They were very very apologetic.

She almost always ends up wearing boys' ankle boots. Boys shoes are made wider than girls - a boy's G fitting is about a G.5 in girls.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Do you have her in Kickers? We bought a pair yesterday and I'm wondering why the hell we stuck with Clarks all this time... wide enough, smart (none of this random orange suede stuck-on crap) and lace-up. Clarks do no lace-up boys shoes this season, we went through the whole catalogue and the assistant even rang a few stores to see if last year's lace-ups might still be lurking anywhere. I'm totally converted to the Kickers cause now. :D

[ailbhe]

Clarks are all too wide at the heel - they are made for a totally different foot shape to Linnea's. But I've not considered Kickers, and in fact know nothing about them. I will ask, tomorrow, when I go to return the StartRite ones we have.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

We got ours in Russell and Bromley, where the assistant seemed to know much more about the whole range of shoes than the Clarks woman did - and as a bonus was much better with children! I don't know if you go to R&B, but they do Clarks, Start-Rite and Kickers (and some other brands that we didn't look at) so I believed her when she compared the three brands and suggested that Kickers would suit us best. The thing to note is that they can run small lengthwise so it's apparently standard to buy a size larger than measured. He was complaining about all his shoes being tight, and wanting to live in wellies, but the Kickers are not tight (and being lace-up can be adjusted to his individual footshape much more effectively than the two-velcro-strip kind) and TBH we've had a hard job getting him out of them the last two evenings. :) He wore them out of the shop, which I took to be a good sign since he'd preferred to go shoeless in the hated pushchair rather than wear any other shoes. [His feet have not actually gone up a size since he was last fitted, but I think they have got a little wider.]

[ailbhe]

Who or what are Russell and Bromley?

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

http://www.russellandbromley.co.uk A 'good' shoe store, not in the 'Shoe Zone/Express' mould but more like I imagine stores were about 50 years ago! Un-usefully their site is down and so therefore is their store locator. There's one in Oxford and I can't tell from Google whether there's one in Reading or not.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

You haven't been to a Russell & Bromley? *boggled look*

Oh my god! You must! It was the only place I could buy shoes for the first 16 years of my life! (Unfortunately, their adults' selection completely sucks - they only do fashionable shoes, and their adults' fitters aren't trained in the same way as the children's ones).

There's a Russell & Bromley in Kingston, and there certainly used to be one in Guildford - that's the one I used to go to.

[murkee.livejournal.com]

I bought some Clark's shoes once - very comfortable in store - but after some wearing they made MY feet bleed. I'm okay with wearing things in, but it was above and beyond the cause!

They wouldn't take them back as I had worn them (that's how I knew my feet bled!)

Fortunately I had time during the day, so I sat in their store with my socks off and bloody feet exposed. They eventually offered me an exchange.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Fortunately I had time during the day, so I sat in their store with my socks off and bloody feet exposed. They eventually offered me an exchange.

Hooray! I like it when a story ends happily :-)

[ailbhe]

Rob says that this is exactly what he'd do. He was very pleased to hear about it.

We don't go to the Clarks shop as both the ones we've tried had rotten fitters who had no idea what they were talking about, and anyway their shoes don't fit Linnea. We go to John Lewis when Our Fitter is on duty, and she helps us.

She's the one who gave us the refund and compensation voucher when Linnea's badly-fitted shoes made her feet bleed. She's fitted us every time since, too. We like her. She doesn't mind being kicked to a pulp on the seventh pair of shoes that pinch.