parenting

Shoe Lust and Why Good Shoes Matter to Moms

 

blue_heels

I have never been a shoe gal. Well, short of a very brief experiment in high school when I devoted all of my after school job paycheques to buying high heeled pumps dyed to match my blouses. Even those fashionable shoes though during that brief transgression, were most often purchased on a budget, found scouring Shoe-per store or Payless.

Now as an adult I know the value of quality products. Those old cheap shoes typically lasted one or two seasons at most and then fell into the dark abyss at the back of my closet, occasionally liberated from this prison by a twice yearly trip to the Goodwill bin. Good shoes last, but are they worth the price tag. Well…yes mostly.

As a busy Mom of two, most days my primary concern is getting the children out the door in time for school or day camp, or karate lessons. Clothing, check, coats, check, backpacks and shoes, check and check.

 

Once in awhile I do pause and wonder about good shoes. More often though I suddenly gaze downwards and wonder if I am even wearing shoes, nevermind good shoes. 

 
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Every So Often I Look Down

My mental list of things to do is long and usually dominated by these daily things that make life hum along somewhat smoothly. Once in a proverbial blue moon I pause just long enough, usually when my foot is already pumping the gas and backing out the driveway, to look down at my feet make sure I am wearing shoes that match.

Laugh all you want, but every Mom out there knows there are days when so bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, the latest ear infection or late night feedings, that you cannot even see straight. These are the days it’s most likely you will realize that your mascara from last night is still sort of on, but travelling down your cheek, your hair is really not behaving at all, or is matted down in some odd and really visible spot. Or even better yet your earring is stuck with hairspray to the crown of your head and you will not spy it until it somehow works its way free and falls at your feet. Mirror, what mirror?!

Blast From the Past

I once worked with a reporter at a busy Kitchener daily newspaper who came to work with mismatched shoes. I used to think this was a desparate ploy on her part to prove to management she was overworked and stretched too thin at work and home. Now I know how this is done and have come exceptionally close to leaving the house wearing either:

a: nothing on my feet at all.

b: adorable little fluffy slippers knitted by someone’s grandma.

c: a sandal paired with a slipper.

In fact, I do periodically take a moment or two to sneak off after grocery shopping or dentist trips and visit a shoe store. It was during one of these recent outings sans children that I decided to make a quick run to Seigel’s shoes in London where I found an exquisite pair of Keen shoes that moulded so perfectly to my feet they felt like slippers. I didn’t balk at the $85 price tag, because I know now that as a Mommy sometimes it’s okay to splurge a bit when the quality warrants it. And these warranted it.

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Hello Shoe Love

Let’s face it. I am all too aware that when you’re running ragged picking up Pampers from the drug store with 20 extra pounds of baby poised on your hip your feet are taking a beating. And when you’re suddenly called on to haul a screaming 40-pound four-year-old from the playground because they hit the neighbour’s granddaughter, your shoes had better meet the challenge. This year my Crocs never stood a chance. Bye, bye Crocs, hello Keens. This is love…

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Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.