Schools: Are clean carpets more important than the foot health of the children?
The October week is looming! For many it’s a time to turn off the alarm clock and recharge for a week. Maybe some of you are going to take advantage of the warmer weather that’s still available abroad (do contact us if you fancy treating your feet before you bare them in sandals!).
Regardless of how you spend the week, those of us with children will be unpacking the school bags on Friday to find that the dreaded plimsolls have been sent home so that we, as responsible parents, can check the fit and condition before returning them back to school.
But I ask you: How responsible is the school for enforcing the ‘indoor shoe’ rule? How many teachers in your child’s school would choose to wear plimsolls for most of the day? (Maybe that’s a question I should post on our Facebook page…).
As a podiatrist and a mum, I argue that foot health is more important than protecting the classroom carpet. I’m forever explaining to my patients the importance of choosing shoes that are befitting the occasion. Like last month when I saw Sharleen Spiteri on stage in trainers. You wouldn’t go running in brogues (unless you were running after a bus). And you might get a few odd looks if you were to wear slippers around the office. So why are children having to wear plimsolls all day, Monday to Friday, when they should be confined to wearing them during PE time? (And even then, I’ve still got issues).
Why am I pillorying plimsolls?
- They’re only available in whole sizes and one width. According to ShoeFittersUK, only 28% of children have average fitting feet – so 7 out of 10 children will wear plimsolls that are too narrow, too wide, too small, or too big for them.
- I know some of you have been guilty of buying designer shoes and they’re a half size too small (I get it; they were in the sale), but children wearing plimsolls that are too large or too wide, will have to curl their toes to keep them on as, without laces, there’s only so much you can tighten them with the Velcro fastening. The opposite, when the plimsolls are too tight or too small, means the child’s foot is squashed into the offending shoe and this can lead to circulatory issues. Now those shoes that are too small that you picked up in the sale… How long did you keep them on for? Ha, see! Now think: how long is your child at school wearing those too-big/too-small plimsolls?
- A child starting school will have 45 separate bones centres in each foot. They won’t fuse to form 26 bones found in a normal adult foot until they reach approximately 18 years old. So, it goes without saying that, as the foot is still developing, wearing ill-fitting plimsolls for such long periods of time could be quite damaging to your growing child’s foot health.
- If you think 90 bone centres is a large number then how do you feel about the 250,000 sweat glands in your feet? These glands can excrete as much as an egg-cup of sweat on a summer’s day. So, when your child’s feet are ensconced in airless plimsolls for up to 5-6 hours per day, I would say that could be the equivalent of a summer’s day.
Plimsolls have their place. Foot health is more important than keeping carpets clean.
Foot pain can range from mild to severe and you may not suffer all-day-every-day. But it shouldn’t be ignored. Contact Five Little Piggies via our website or call us on 0141 613 1113 for an initial consultation and let us take care of your feet.