Learn 11 benefits of going barefoot, including healthy foot development, proper foot mechanics, kinesthetic awareness, sensory stimulation, fine motor control, flexibility, and foot strength.
Going barefoot has many benefits that help me feel confident about allowing my daughter ample playtime outdoors without her shoes on. Yup, I’m THAT mom. The mom that most parents stare at disapprovingly whenever I let my little scallywag of a child storm the playground without her shoes on.
To the surprise of many onlookers, I’m also the mom who will happily proclaim, “Sure,” when my daughter asks to take off her shoes to walk barefoot while hiking or to jump in a puddle. Speaking of playing in puddles, you might also enjoy this list of Fun Things to Do on a Rainy Day.
What can I say, I’m a Barefoot Mom and Teacher:
Dirty looks and sideways glances aside, I’m proud to proclaim that bare feet are standard attire for the kids I take on learning adventures in nature most of the year. And I know I’m not alone. Other outdoor parents, youth education leaders, forest-school kindergartens, and nature-school teachers do the same.
For example, my daughter’s favorite local outdoor homeschool and summer camp program (Earthbound Skills) allows her to take her shoes off while in attendance. She will no longer attend any other outdoor camp or homeschool class because every other program in our county makes her keep her shoes on. True story.
Why go Barefoot?
Why do parents and nature school teachers like me allow children to go barefoot outside? Because barefoot kids are healthy kids! Walking barefoot is a great way to help the feet (and body) develop correctly in childhood and well into adulthood. Taking your shoes off occasionally outdoors can help children grow into the healthy, full-functioning adults they were born to be. Scroll down to read the 11 benefits of going barefoot. First published in March 2016, this post about the benefits of walking barefoot for children and adults is regularly updated and republished.
Benefits of Walking Barefoot for Children and Adults:
Have you ever thought about ditching your shoes to reconnect with the Earth beneath your feet? Or have you ever considered allowing your children or students to do so? Walking barefoot, once a commonplace practice, is experiencing a resurgence in popularity due to its potential health benefits. Beyond the simple pleasure of feeling the grass, sand, or soil beneath you, going shoeless, also known as ‘earthing’ or ‘grounding,’ offers many advantages for both body and mind.
Is Walking Barefoot Healthy?
The truth is that the type of shoes you wear and how often you wear them matter to the health of your feet more than most people realize. Walking barefoot in moderation is associated with several positive outcomes. The benefits include improved balance, connection, proprioception, and posture, as well as reduced inflammation and stress levels.
In general, walking barefoot can help improve health and support the proper development of the feet and body. Below, we’ll explore the science and kinesiology behind walking barefoot and why kicking off your shoes every once in a while is one of the best things you can do for your overall well-being and your family’s health.
While I am a barefoot mama and a huge proponent of taking off your shoes outdoors, I don’t recommend going barefoot all the time. Read on to learn how walking barefoot outdoors can help you and why, when, and where it might be best to leave your shoes on.
Walking Barefoot Can Help Your Body Build a Strong Foundation:
While attending Cal State Northridge and earning my undergraduate degree in Kinesiology (the art and science of human movement), I spent a year studying the structure of the foot and its importance to the body’s health from head to toe. Believe it or not, everything in the feet affects the entire body. Because your feet form the body’s foundation, a poorly constructed foot will result in a poorly built body. Think about it. Your body needs a strong foundation just as much as your house does!
I was fortunate enough to work as an ocean lifeguard for the Los Angeles County Fire Department for 20 years. I’m happy to say that running around barefoot outside all day, saving lives, literally saved “the life” of my feet. My late grandmother was not so lucky.
She suffered from terrible foot deformities and their associated problems and had several surgeries throughout her lifetime as a result. Although I inherited her foot structure, I have not suffered as she did. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of wearing pointed, high-heeled shoes in her younger years, while I walked (or ran) barefoot in the soft sand all day working as an ocean lifeguard.
Because of my grandmother’s poor choice of footwear, she could not walk for the last six years of her life. True story. In other words, I spent my life strengthening my feet while she spent hers walking around in high heels, tearing apart her foundation from the feet up.
Is It Okay to Walk Barefoot Outside?
Yes, it is more than okay to walk barefoot outdoors. Many pediatricians and podiatrists recommend occasionally walking barefoot without shoes to improve foot health. However, I do not recommend going barefoot all the time or walking on hard surfaces, such as concrete slabs or city sidewalks, for extended periods.
Walking barefoot on hard surfaces like these can place tremendous stress on the feet and body, which, with excessive use, can have degenerative effects. This imbalance may alter your walking pattern, lead to injuries such as shin splints, and increase the damaging effects of underlying deformities such as bunions or hammer toes. The lack of arch support in these environments can also lead to painful conditions such as Achilles tendonitis and ankle, arch, or heel pain.
I also don’t recommend going barefoot in places such as restaurants and other areas with potential contaminants, such as large amounts of broken glass or needles strewn about. Even though I would rather go barefoot, I often wear shoes in public places where others choose to go barefoot. For example, I wear flip-flops in communal bathing facilities, showers, and locker rooms because of the risk of contamination from nail fungus and foot fungi such as athlete’s foot in these locations.
If you are curious about how and why going barefoot in safe locations contributes to healthy feet, read on to learn the ten benefits of walking barefoot. After the list of barefoot benefits, I share a story about how walking barefoot in my backyard helped heal one little girl’s feet. True story. Below is a list of eleven reasons why walking barefoot is good for you. Scroll past the benefits of walking barefoot to learn how and why the miracle occurred.
Barefoot Health Benefits: 11 Reasons Walking Barefoot is Good for Children and Adults of All Ages
There are many reasons I allow my child to go barefoot outside. These well-researched health benefits might even make you consider removing your shoes the next time you head outdoors—especially after May Day during the warmer spring and summer months.
In the past, May Day (and the warmer days that followed) was traditionally a time for children to kick off their shoes and play barefoot. Many adults also walked outside barefoot after May Day because they knew it was good for them. Please look through the benefits of walking barefoot below to learn more.
1. Proper Development of the Foot and Body Can Happen Naturally When The Feet are Allowed to Roam Free:
One of the most significant advantages of walking barefoot is the proper development of the foot and body, our physical foundation. As previously mentioned, your body needs a strong foundation just as much as your house does.
Walking barefoot can help develop and maintain an appropriate range of motion in the foot and ankle joints, as well as adequate strength and stability in the muscles and ligaments of the feet and body well into old age. (source)
On the other hand, a poorly constructed foot (foundation) can alter one’s gait or walking pattern and lead to malformed knees, hips, or pelvis. Sometimes, this can have a domino effect through the knee, hip, and pelvis, and even affect the spine and lung cavity (core) as children grow into adults.
Thus, forcing children’s feet to conform to the shape of a shoe will most likely result in permanent changes to the foot’s form or structure. Trust me, the last thing your feet need is a big, bad boot or shoe making them conform all the time! Tell your shoes to go stuff themselves and go for a walk outside barefoot every so often.
Investing in more flexible footwear and reserving uncomfortable, damaging shoes only for special occasions is also a good idea. We all like to dress up sometimes, but the daily use of unhealthy footwear (heels and pointy-toe shoes) will only cause problems in the long run. Just ask my grandma.
If you’re curious, I have posted a list of the best shoes and footwear for healthy feet at the bottom of this post. If you’re looking for footwear recommendations for kids and adults, scroll past this list of barefoot benefits.
2. Going Barefoot Can Help Strengthen the Feet and Body:
Walking barefoot is the best way to strengthen and maintain the full function of your feet and body. Well-developed feet and leg muscles can help support the back and reduce or eliminate back pain in children and older adults.
Because the shape and density of the bones and muscles in your feet are directly influenced by the loads placed on your body, poor footwear can affect how these structures develop and can lead to improper musculoskeletal development.
In other words, improper footwear can weaken foot and leg muscles and cause a loss of strength in the feet and body, which will more than likely lead to physical pain over time. The way our feet function is altered when wearing shoes.
Many podiatrists prescribe walking barefoot to help strengthen the inner arch and the feet. Children can develop properly with ample barefoot playtime because it supports the healthy growth and development of the muscles in their feet and lower legs. Doing so will help them move their bodies in healthy ways well into adulthood and old age.
3. Walking Barefoot Can Lead to Better Foot Mechanics:
Overprotective footwear can interfere with movement patterns. Walking barefoot allows for better control of foot position when it hits the ground. Stabilizing modern footwear can interfere with a developing child’s foot strength, ankle stability, and walking pattern.
If a child wears shoes to help stabilize their feet, how will they ever learn to stabilize them properly without shoes on? Avoid deformity, weakness, and loss of mobility by allowing your children to go barefoot whenever possible.
Here’s a research article that investigates and demonstrates the effects of habitual barefoot-ness in children and adolescents, showing that going barefoot can improve both foot mechanics and motor performance.
Related: Kids Yoga: Tips for Getting Started
4. Barefoot Walking Helps Develop the Fine Motor Muscles in the Feet:
Children will become more adept at using their feet when roaming barefoot. When free, the feet can become sensitive instruments and tools. Otherwise, they become the forgotten appendage forever bound within a shoe. Please don’t let that happen to your feet or your children’s.
Could you imagine wearing shoes on our hands? How would we develop the fine motor muscles in our hands if they were constantly bound? The feet have fine motor muscles that need strengthening, just as much as our hands do!
If, as the saying goes, “Nimble fingers make nimble minds.” To this, I say, “Free feet create healthy bodies and strong minds,” and “When our toes can breathe, our souls are free!”
Allow your children to go barefoot outside occasionally to help them learn how to control the fine motor muscles in their feet and use them in ways many modern children have forgotten. Feel free to take off your shoes to feel the Earth beneath your feet as well.
My daughter refuses to wear shoes most places she goes outdoors, and I love watching others’ reactions when she chooses to put on a pretty dress with a pair of jeans and go for a walk in the woods without them, as she did in the photo below. I had nothing to do with what she was wearing that day.
Related: Teaching Kids to Sew Using Burlap and Yarn
5. Walking Barefoot Can Help Children Improve Kinesthetic Awareness:
Going barefoot can help improve kinesthetic awareness. Kinesthetic awareness is knowing where our body is in space and how we move. It is also called muscle memory. When our feet are in direct contact with the ground, it is much easier for children to develop their kinesthetic senses.
Increased kinesthetic awareness can improve body awareness and help children learn to navigate the space around them safely. Walking barefoot (and allowing children ample playtime without shoes on) is a great way to do this.
6. Going Barefoot Can Help Improve Proprioception:
Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of one body part relative to another in space. In other words, the proprioceptive system delivers the body’s inner messaging, telling us where one foot is relative to the other, or where the feet are relative to the head.
The proprioceptive system can also provide information about joints and muscles. When children (and adults) can walk and play barefoot, they can improve their proprioception and develop their proprioceptive system into a fully functioning sensory system.
“Modern athletic footwear of the current fashion that incorporate yielding – resilient materials in the soles, attenuate adequate stimuli of these receptors, necessitating reliance on less precise sensory sources for foot position judgements. This results in poor foot position awareness, and consequently poor stability, frequent ankle sprains and excessive impact.”
Foot Position Awareness: The Effect of Footwear on Instability, Excessive Impact, and Ankle Spraining (Source)
7. Walking Barefoot Can Help the Brain and the Sensory Systems of the Feet and Body Develop Properly:
Walking barefoot can support brain development as children learn to balance and develop their sensory systems. When we place shoes on our children’s feet, we reduce the amount and quality of sensory information they receive about their environment and their bodies.
Our sensory system helps us perceive our body in relation to the outside world through sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound. In contrast, our proprioceptive sense helps us develop a relationship with our body in space, and kinesthetic awareness tells us where our physical body is.
Thus, feeling the earth beneath their feet allows children to develop their somatosensory, proprioceptive, and vestibular sensory systems in ways they could never do with shoes. Because each sensory system in the body can benefit from walking barefoot outside, when they all work correctly, they can work together to improve the overall health of the brain and body.
8. Going Barefoot May Be Able to Stimulate the Reflexology Points on the Bottom of the Feet:
When children and adults walk around barefoot, the reflexology points on the soles of their feet can stimulate every major organ in the body. Stimulating the body systems in this way is excellent for the healthy development of the whole body. You can read some recent research about reflexology and its benefits –> HERE.
9. Walking Barefoot Outside Can Help Us Connect with Nature and Ground Us:
Walking barefoot, also known as “earthing” or “grounding,” is a practice that is gaining attention for its potential health benefits. When bare feet touch the earth’s surface, they come in contact with negative ions. Advocates suggest that direct contact with the Earth’s surface allows the body to absorb electrons, neutralize free radicals, and reduce inflammation.
Research tells us that many of these wild claims are true. Negative ions have been shown to have a healing, anti-inflammatory effect on the body. Conversely, when we wear shoes, we create a barrier between us and the earth, limiting our exposure to the world’s best antioxidant source. Our bodies need to be in contact with the Earth’s surface to be healthy, and nothing is better than going barefoot outdoors in nature for that!
Earthing (also known as grounding) refers to contact with the Earth’s surface electrons by walking barefoot outdoors or by sitting, working, or sleeping indoors while connected to conductive systems, some of which are patented, that transfer energy from the ground into the body.
Emerging scientific research supports the concept that Earth’s electrons induce multiple clinically significant physiological changes, including reduced pain, improved sleep, a shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic tone in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and a blood-thinning effect. The research, along with many anecdotal reports, is presented in a book entitled Earthing.
Related: Get Outside and Connect
10. Playing Barefoot Outside Can Help Kids Stay Safe
Barefoot kids are safe kids! Now, I know you might be thinking, how can walking barefoot help my child stay safe!? When there is glass, bees, thorns, dog feces, needles, possible viruses, contaminants, and several other potential hazards on the ground outside?
Going barefoot outside can help keep children safe. When children are barefoot, they have greater control when climbing, running, and playing on the playground because their feet are in direct contact with the surface.
I don’t know about you, but I feel a lot safer knowing my child can feel the tree she is climbing or the rope her bare foot is on in the photo below, instead of struggling to keep the sole of her shoe from slipping off.
However, while many individuals find walking barefoot enjoyable and rejuvenating, potential risks, such as injury from sharp objects or infections, must be considered. In other words, children will need to become much more aware of their surroundings and be on the lookout for hazards, such as glass and other dangers, that they might encounter when their feet are bare and that could harm them.
11. Going Barefoot Helps Everyone Become More Aware of Their Surroundings:
Walking and playing barefoot trains children and adults of all ages to be more aware of their surroundings at all times. This hyper-awareness offers several additional benefits, including increased safety. Because with awarness comes safer habits in all areas.
With awareness comes knowledge, understanding, and safety. When we are more aware of our surroundings, we notice things we might otherwise miss, such as the subtle seasonal shifts that occur with each passing day.
There are so many more opportunities that become available to us when we develop a hyper-aware attitude everywhere we go. Awarness helps us learn, grow, and see what we might have been missing all along.
With a hyper-aware outdoor attitude, children’s feet, bodies, and minds will likely be strong enough to handle almost anything that comes their way. However, if disease and contamination concern you when walking barefoot outdoors, try the barefoot shoes listed under “recommended shoes for children” below.
Alternatively, only allow kids to go barefoot in areas you feel are safe enough for them to run around, such as your backyard or a grassy field at your local park. If none of those safe barefoot options are available, at least have your children keep their shoes off inside your home. Keeping shoes out of our homes not only helps our feet and bodies grow strong but also keeps our homes free of filth and contamination.
Related: Positive Parenting Tips
How Walking Barefoot Helped One Child’s Feet Develop Properly
As you can see, going barefoot has many advantages. To put more proof in the pudding, I have witnessed a massive transformation in one child’s foot health due to walking barefoot outside.
When I ran childcare in my home many years ago, I had a one-year-old child in my care with clubbed feet. This is when one or both feet rotate inwards and downwards. In her case, it was both feet. This sweet little girl traveled two hours twice a month to be poked and prodded by doctors and specialists who said she would never walk normally.
At that time, we lived on a 1-acre lot with uneven terrain and secret places to explore. It was a wild acre with one massive oak tree in the middle and at least ten other large trees and bushes growing around it. So, on most days (weather permitting), I let the children walk barefoot inside and out for most of the day to get all the health benefits of going barefoot.
Is it a Miracle Cure or a Healthy Lifestyle choice?
Amazingly, after spending eight months in my care, the doctors and specialists claimed this little girl was “cured.” They called it a “miracle” and asked her parents what they had done to dramatically improve the condition of not one but both of her feet in such a short amount of time.
When her parents explained the barefoot play therapy her daycare provider had given her, they were shocked but not surprised. Of course, they said. That makes perfect sense. “Going barefoot helps the feet develop properly. Especially when you let them walk on uneven terrain.”
That is exactly the type of terrain she walked around on barefoot every day she spent with us playing in our 1-acre backyard. But I don’t call that a miracle; I call it basic math. One plus one equals two. When you go outside and take off your shoes, your feet and body benefit from that healthy lifestyle choice. Which option will you choose? You know mine.
Shoe Recommendations for Barefoot Kids and Adults:
Even though walking barefoot outside has many advantages, shoes are necessary and beautiful additions to anyone’s wardrobe! Who doesn’t love pretty shoes? This article was not written to encourage everyone to abandon them entirely and run for the hills like a bohemian army—lol!
However, stiff and compressive footwear may cause weakness, deformity, and loss of mobility. Even worse, improper footwear can cause bunions, hammertoes, and other foot deformities over time. So, people with a genetic predisposition to foot troubles, such as myself, must take extra precautions and care regarding the type of shoes they wear.
It also means that children’s feet develop best when they wear walking shoes that allow them to move and grow, rather than shoes with too much structure and rigidity. The most helpful shoes allow the foot to breathe and move appropriately for both children and adults. So, look for shoes that are durable, flexible, and have plenty of room to grow. We have a list of our favorite shoe recommendations in the next section.
Should kids be allowed to wear high heels?
Whatever you do, please, please, please keep your children and teenage girls far away from high heels. If they must be worn, reserve them for special occasions only. Also, ensure the feet get plenty of barefoot freedom (or at least comfortable shoe freedom) before and after the event.
Why are high heels bad for girls?
Although the foot is developed by two years of age, the bones in a child’s feet are not fully developed and hardened until adulthood. While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I learned that most people’s feet continue to grow until they are 24. This means that wearing high heels before then can decimate the feet. Just ask my grandmother.
Related: The Best Social-Emotional Development Games for Children
Recommended Shoes for Children:
Babies and pre-walkers do not need shoes for any reason other than to provide warmth and protection, if they are worn at all. Look for flexible shoes or booties that do not bind the feet and allow a full range of movement, like THESE.
Toddlers and young children need flexible, lightweight, and well-ventilated shoes. They also need shoes that support the foot in a way that helps their gait develop properly without reducing the information that the sensory system can deliver. Below are some popular shoe brands that make excellent shoes for toddlers, preschoolers, and older kids.
- Birkenstocks (You knew I would say that, didn’t you?)
- Momobaby
- PediPed
Best Shoes for Healthy Feet:
No matter your age (child, adult, or elderly), Birkenstocks and their patented footbed are some of the best shoes you can wear for healthy foot development. Made from a mix of cork and latex, the Birkenstock footbed features a deep heel cup, arch support, and a roomy toe box.
Birkenstock’s deep heel cup and supportive longitudinal arch provide stability and help control pronation. They also have a raised toe bar, which can help most wearers position their toes more comfortably when walking or standing. This makes them beneficial for people with bunions, hammer toes, flat feet, or arch pain.
Each of these details (and the availability of several vegan shoe options) makes them a great footwear choice for most people. And like my mother before me (fortunately, she did not follow in her mother’s high-heeled footsteps), I am in LOVE with their brand and all the footwear they offer. Birkenstocks are the BEST! If, however, you have a severe foot ailment that needs a more personalized approach, it’s always best to consult with a podiatrist when choosing proper footwear.
Barefoot Shoes:
Another recent innovation in shoe design for healthy feet is the barefoot shoe, also known as a minimalist shoe. I love barefoot shoes for some outdoor activities because they are designed with enough support to provide stability and protect the feet while allowing for movement and flexibility.
They mirror your feet’ natural shape and design while allowing important sensory feedback, proper foot mechanics, and body alignment. And unlike bare feet, barefoot shoes have the added benefit of a sole that won’t leave you vulnerable to whatever’s on the ground. Even barefoot kids need barefoot shoes sometimes!
However, they don’t work for everyone and can even harm people with severe foot ailments. So, once again, ask your podiatrist for recommendations. If you’d like to try them, a few of my favorite barefoot shoes for kids (and adults) are listed below.
Barefoot Shoes for Kids:
- VivoBarefoot Kids
- More barefoot and minimal shoe options for kids
Barefoot Shoes for Adults:
- VivoBarefoot Men’s Barefoot Shoes
- Xero Men’s Barefoot Shoes
- VivoBarefoot Women Barefoot Shoes
- Xero Women Barefoot Shoes
Related: Books That Teach Kids Important Life Lessons
Barefoot Benefits for Kids
In conclusion, the type of shoes you wear and how often you wear them matter to the health of your feet. Walking barefoot can improve foot function and help the feet and body develop properly.
Allow your child to go barefoot occasionally to help their feet and sensory systems develop, grow strong, and stay healthy. Feel free to take your shoes off, too—I always do!
However, as with any health practice, it’s wise to consult a healthcare professional before incorporating barefoot walking into your routine, especially if you have any underlying health conditions.
And if walking barefoot outside is still not your thing, please don’t look at me like I’m a terrible mother for NOT making my child put on shoes. I’m not giving you sideways glances because your child is wearing shoes, am I?
You may also be interested in 15 Reasons to Climb a Tree (and other benefits of risky play) and this fantastic list of outdoor learning ideas and nature activities for kids.
Learn more about Rhythms of Play and Nell Regan Kartychok, author and photographer of “The Benefits of Walking Barefoot,” HERE, and HERE!
If you liked The Benefits of Going Barefoot, You Might Also Enjoy
- How to Raise a Helper
- Calm Down Sensory Bottles 101
- Books That Teach Kids Important Life Lessons
- Caring for the Earth: 12 Ways to Help Kids Get It
Great post. Very informative, yet concise. Beautifully illustrated!
Thanks Harriette! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
It also helps when barefoot to connect with the natural environs. Shoe’s rubber soles will insulate you and diffuse your body’s interaction to and from nature.But what you step in or on,in some locales must be safe.
Yes, it does help to connect with the natural environment by walking barefoot. Many people call this practice grounding and it is mentioned above.
I am always barefoot and my kids are too. As long as they aren’t doing anything athletic, I just teach them to watch where they step! I never knew there were so many great reasons to back it up, I just always hated shoes. My mom could never keep them on my feet!
That’s great that you have spent most of your life barefoot and allow your kids to do the same. I think kids instinctively know how good it is for them to go barefoot and that’s why it is so hard to keep them on their feet. I never even bothered battling my daughter about it. I just allow her to make her own choice. She knows when mama tells her to put her shoes on I have a good reason for it so she doesn’t fight me on it. She did at first, but now she knows I only ask her to put them on when she has to and that’s that.
I totally agree with your article. I grew up in California and was always barefoot. Now I live in the midwest, and I even run outside to take the trash out or get the mail barefoot in the snow (it’s a quick trip but I still do it!) I have told my granddaughters that they need to feel the earth when they go barefoot (their mom doesn’t let them much). When they ask if they can take off their shoes when they are with Grandma, and I say sure!, it’s like a big event for them, and they love it! Gotta love those negative ions! I let the girls play in the dirt and dig for worms, barefoot, of course! They love being at grandma’s!
I’m so glad that your grandchildren have the opportunity to get wild and free in nature with their grandma! So glad to know you appreciate the great outdoors and are instilling that love with your grandchildren. 🙂
I love when people are able to give me solid, scientific reasons to back up their choices. Between the time when I read the title of your post and the time I finished reading, you absolutely changed my opinion on this matter. What wonderful information, thank you!
Thank you! I love it when people are willing to open their minds to another point of view. I don’t wish to point any fingers or claim that those that make their children keep their shoes on are doing anything “wrong.” Nor do I want people to think that those that choose to allow their children to take their shoes off are doing it “right.” There is no right and wrong in matters like these just like there is no right or wrong in any parenting decision that we make. It is just parents making choices that are best for their family.
This is fantastic! I can’t find basic, leather shoes that fit my 15 month old, and don’t want to put him in shoes with hard/rubber soles yet, so he is barefoot all the time. We had a day out over the weekend and he spent ages stomping in a mud puddle. What a rich sensory experience!
So glad you like it Amy! So glad your son was able to soak up the full sensory experience of that mud puddle. That’s how the best learning takes place. 🙂
I wish I would have known the benefits of being barefoot years ago! I started going barefoot in my everyday life a few years ago, even some of my employment I’ve been able to work barefoot! Now my feet and legs and even my back have been so much better off! No more aches and pains ! The tactile feedback and textures is a sensory delight! Thank you for a great artical!
Hi Nick! So glad to hear that going barefoot more often has changed your life for the better! Keep taking those shoes off 🙂
Hi, I love your post. I am a Family Child Care provider and wanted to ask if I could quote you in my parent book with some info from your post. I have a few families that worry very much about their child playing outdoors barefoot, your words might help them see it from another perspective.
Thank you.
Thank you, Fer.
I am so glad that you have found this article about the benefits of going barefoot useful.
As long as your quote does not copy the entire article, and, you use my full name, Nell Regan, this website, Rhythms of Play, and the website address where this original article can be found, I am absolutely fine with that.
Thank you for asking,
Nell
I love being barefoot. It makes my feet feel so much better to walk with my shoes off. Shoes trap fungus from sweat and make stinky feet… So I prefer to go barefoot!
Me too, Erta!
I’m so glad you enjoy the feeling of walking barefoot, and of the benefits, including better smelling feet!
Love this! My kids play barefoot and my husband can’t stand it! I knew there were benefits!
Yay! I’m so glad I could help Suzanne! There are many people that I needed to write this article for. My father, for example, doesn’t get the barefoot thing at all! This helped him keep his negative opinions to himself. 🙂
My kids go barefoot all the time, but it has taken some creativity to get the other moms in the neighborhood to realize barefoot is best. For example, our new next door neighbor’s son became best friends with our boys almost as soon as they moved in, but she refused to let him play barefoot even in our yard. Well, I guess I had to follow her instructions, right, unless I had a really good reason for him to go barefoot? So, about a week or two after they moved in, a heavy rain turned some new flower beds in my back yard into deep mud. Somehow, somebody suggested the boys should go have fun in the mud. My boys were soon happily squishing the mud between their bare toes, but for some reason their little friend was holding back. I could tell he needed some encouragement, so I picked him up and carried right into the middle of the muddiest bed before I would put him down. He kept trying to say something about shoes, but my boys were making so much noise I couldn’t really hear. I realized my mistake when I looked down and saw his shoes sinking ankle deep into the mud. That little boy has never worn shoes to our house again!
Oh my! What a fun story about taking the shoes off. I’m so glad he is now able to play outside barefoot over at your house. There are so many amazing barefoot health benefits for the developing child.
She and I both home school our kids, and we live in a small town in central Florida, so shoes really are optional until they start playing organized sports. She just grew up in an apartment in Boston, so it took her a while to get used to the idea that her children didn’t need shoes. The lightbulb finally went off for her when she was at that point in her third pregnancy that getting a four year old and two year old into shoes was just too much bending over, and it wasn’t long until both were going pretty much everywhere around town barefoot. Once she gave birth — to twins — the shoes were pretty much completely forgotten.
I kept her kids when it was time for her to go to the hospital, and as a little experiment, I decided their shoes should stay behind at my house, just to see how long it took her to notice they were missing. She never did, and to this day, their little shoes are still somewhere in my closet. ; )
I LOVE all of your wonderful stories about walking barefoot! Going barefoot is such a pleasant way to walk and there are so many health benefits!
Thank you, Nell! I love your website and have gotten so many great ideas for my kids reading your posts. My neighbor’s oldest boy is now 6, his sister 4, and the twins 2, with another baby on the way. I can’t help but giggle a little when I see her whole brood barefoot in the Dollar General or Publix, and I remember how just a couple of years ago when they first moved here from Boston she looked at me like I was crazy when I told her that kids’ shoes were too much bother for no good reason. Her little twins literally have never worn shoes, and I can’t imagine she could manage to keep them in shoes even if she wanted to!
Thank you, I appreciate the vote of approval. It’s nice that your neighbor and her children have you as such a positive influence in their lives. “Stay gold!” 😉
So, I am the neighbor from Boston Bettie talks about in her posts. Bettie, if you want to post your secrets on the internet, you really shouldn’t have recommended the site to me! LOL. I forgive you Bettie. You were right, in our climate shoes for kids are a lot of bother for no good reason. Still, I had always wondered how Jack’s shoes got so muddy that time after we first moved in, and what happened to my kids’ shoes when I was in the hospital with JT. All I can say is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, so be forewarned!
Hi Kimmie!
I love your comment to Bettie, “In our climate shoes for kids are a lot of bother for no good reason.” While sometimes they are necessary, it’s a good idea to allow ample barefoot time when possible. Thanks for becoming a reader. 🙂
Nell
I am old enough to say that it is absolutely true that everything old is new again! I grew up in a small town in Alabama near the Gulf Coast in the 40s and early 50s, and I can say that many of us were barefoot year-round as children, especially the youngsters, at school, at home and pretty much everywhere except church, and even the youngest kids were barefoot at church. Almost none of the boys, and only some of the girls wore shoes to school until about age 10 or 11 or so, and then somewhere by around 13 or 14 most all of us had discovered the benefits of shoes. : ) I can’t remember any more when we got to the age we were required to wear shoes to school except I know it was by the time we were in high school. We had a cousin who came to live with us when she was 10 I guess, and I remember she was so surprised that we all went barefoot. The first day she went to school with us, she came downstairs wearing her school shoes, and mama pulled her up into her lap and had her cute buckle shoes and knee socks pulled off in an instant. She asked mama what she was doing, and mama said, getting you dressed proper for school. I don’t think it had occurred to our little cousin that she’d be going barefoot like the rest of us, but mama wanted to toughen up her feet so she could run around without ruining her pretty shoes like the rest of us.
Mama put her shoes and all of her socks away for good for the first six months or maybe longer that she lived was us, even for church. Her feet were really tender and sore at first, but mama put a poultice of salt and alum and white oak bark on the bottoms of her feet every night for months until her feet were as tough as any of my brothers. For the rest of us, mama would scrub our feet with Comet to get them clean, but she wouldn’t for our little cousin because she said her feet weren’t tough enough yet, and bath time was never enough to get rid of the black off our soles. I still remember her bare feet with black soles when she’d kneel in church the first few months she was with us. We kids were all so jealous because she was the only one of us mama would let go barefoot to church. But eventually once mama was satisfied that she had good and tough Alabama feet, mama bought her a pair of Sunday shoes, and she started wearing shoes to mass like the rest of us. After six months in bare feet every day, she complained bitterly about having to wear shoes and could hardly keep her balance. She walked like she was wearing roller skates.
Wow! Thank you, Linnie, for sharing your memories of childhood. What a wonderful story! The feet love to move and walk barefoot throughout much of childhood. It’s only natural!
Thanks, Nell. Back in those days, children going barefoot was less about making the child happy — even though we hated wearing shoes and loved going barefoot — and more about grown ups being practical. Our cousin was from Memphis, which was the big city back then, and had never really done much in the way of chores, certainly not like the work we did. She was a pale, delicate girl who was afraid of dirt and had never done a hard day’s work when she arrived. Her first summer with us, mama gave her over to a sharecropper family to work from sun-up to sun-down half of every week and insisted she had to do a full day’s farm work with no hat, no gloves, and no shoes. If mama hadn’t started her going barefoot as soon as she came to live with us, her feet never would have made it through the first day of that kind of work. By the end of the summer, she was as strong and tough and tanned as any boy her age. Mama bragged she was going to rear her up to be the best farm wife in our county, and mama was true to her word. Our cousin never went back to Memphis and is still living on the farm she and her husband started together when she was just 17. She is the only one of us who still has chickens and a milk cow and who still does her farm chores barefoot year round.
Hi Linnie!
What a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing it with us. I hope that I will be able to say the same, or something similar about my daughter once she is an adult.
Nell
Hello,
Is there way to get this information in a printable document? I really wanna share it with my co workers
Hi Kaitlin! I do not have a printable version of this document, but I love the suggestion! I will put one together!
Nell: We live in a part of the country where a lot of the moms have their kids in flip-flops year round as their main footwear. I have read that flip-flops are bad for children’s feet. My three year old is at the age now that she wants to walk when go shopping instead of riding in the cart or stroller, and she’s getting too big for me to carry very far, too, so taking her shopping barefoot is a little different now that her feet are actually touching the ground. LOL. I’d like to just let her go barefoot instead of putting her in flip-flops or Crocs and put off getting her first pair of “real” shoes until she starts kindergarten. Do you think that’s okay?
Hi Mickie, I’m so sorry that I missed your comment, and yes, I think that would be fine–but you have probably already done it by now–lol! My daughter popped in and out of the stroller with and without shoes on, depending on how cold it was, from the time she was two years old. And, yes, sometimes I had to tell her to put her shoes on to go into a shop. She was never happy about this, but she would always comply. But, by the time she went to kindergarten, she was happy to put shoes on her feet when she needed to, but she still prefers to dance barefoot in the rain no matter how cold. So, let her stay barefoot and fancy-free whenever you can for the rest of your life!
I would love a printable version of this, too! I teach years 1 and 2 at a primary school in New Zealand. Our official uniform allows the option of school shoes or sandals or bare feet but we strongly encourage all children to wear bare feet to school especially for the younger children because bare feet are compulsory inside the classrooms and for assembly and most sports. Our Kiwi parents all understand, but we have some immigrant parents who think their children shouldn’t wear bare feet. Your content would be very informative for them. It is so good to see an American who supports bare feet for children! We had an American parent enroll her daughters a few years ago at our school and insisted on her youngest wearing shoes to school even though she was not old enough to tie her laces or manage her shoes and socks without assistance. What do you know but somehow her little shoes kept disappearing from her cubby? After the fourth pair were “lost” in her first three weeks at school, her American mother finally gave up and let her come to school in bare feet like our other children. I still can’t imagine what ever happened to her shoes!
Hello Rachel, thank you so much for sharing more about living life barefoot at school in New Zeland. I too wish more American’s were like me. 😉 I felt that I needed to counter some of the dirty looks I have received over the years, so I wrote this article as a way to explain all of the benefits of walking barefoot. I know that it has helped other mothers in the US feel a bit more comfortable about allowing their children to go barefoot more often because many have told me so. Feel free to share it with anyone you feel needs a little convincing. 🙂
Oh, and, creating a poster is a brilliant idea! I’ll get to work on it. 🙂
Thanks, Nell. I love your crafts ideas, too, and plan to use many of your crafts projects in my classroom (that is how I found your site and your wonderful essay on why children shouldn’t wear shoes). My favorite crafts project, though, is the shoe fence my class started a few years ago outside our school. A shoe fence is a fence decorated with discarded shoes. We started it the same term that the little American girl I mentioned joined our class. Somehow four! pairs of brand new school shoes ended up in our crafts box, and that is what gave me the idea. We painted them in school colors, and the children helped to pick where to hang them on the fence. The collection on the fence has grown quite a bit over the years with all sorts of shoes and jandals and even some gumboots. It’s a very Kiwi thing to do — there’s even a toothbrush fence in another part of the country. I always smile and think about that little girl when I walk by our shoe fence.
Wow, Rachel, thank you so much for your vote of approval. You have officially made my day, and that means a lot right now. 🙂 I have been struggling to get any new crafts and articles written during this difficult time in history, but I hope to get back at it soon.
I LOVE what you have shared about your shoe fence, and am wondering if you would like to share it with my audience? If that sounds like something that you would be interested in let me know. 🙂
Nell
Thank you, Nell! . That is so kind. Let me know how to get my story and some photos to you, and you can post it if it’s good enough. You set a high standard!
Making a shoe fence is quite simple though. Most people don’t decorate the shoes at all before hanging them on the fence. The reason I painted the first pairs we started with was because people might have gotten confused if they had seen four brand new pairs of school shoes hanging on our fence, especially with the name of the student whose mother had insisted she wear them still written inside each shoe. If we hadn’t painted them, they might have ended up back on that poor girl’s feet!
You are too kind, Rachel!
Use the contact form at the top of the page and put “Shoe Fence” in the subject line.
Looking forward to hearing more about it,
Nell
Nell:
I sent you my little story about our shoe fence.
Best,
Rachel
Thank you, Rachel! I will go look for it and get back to you soon. 🙂
Good morning!
In bare feet, life is much better (healthier, happier, and more comfortable) than in shoes–being natural.
“Going barefoot is the gentlest way of walking and can symbolize a way of living – being authentic, vulnerable, sensitive to our surroundings. It’s the feeling of enjoying warm sand beneath our toes or carefully making our way over sharp rocks in the darkness. It’s a way of living that has the lightest impact, removing the barrier between us and nature” – Adele Coombs, “Barefoot Dreaming.”
I wish you all the best, with health and happiness, in peace and love!
Sincerely, Dinu, a barefoot hiker (since at three years old – in 1962) from Romania.
I agree with you Dinu, spending much of life barefoot makes for a happier and healthier life! So glad to hear that you have been a barefoot hiker since the age of three–wow! My daughter will grow up saying the same. So stay footloose and fancy-free and enjoy walking barefoot as often as possible.
What if your kid steps on something hard or that hurts? Will she be okay?
Hello Rado, it can hurt them, yes.
This is why it’s important to ensure that children are aware of and on the lookout for hazards. But whether they get hurt and how much pain they are in will depend on several factors; including what it is that they step on.
If they go barefoot often enough things that would hurt tender feet like rocks, or hot sand probably won’t bother them as much if at all. Because the feet develop calluses to protect them when you walk barefoot outside.
So, if you allow your children to go barefoot, it’s best to teach them about hazards to be on the lookout for, and help them become aware of their surroundings so they don’t get hurt.
I hope that helps,
Nell
I see you already have comments from another Kiwi in New Zealand. It is quite common here for children to wear bare feet almost everywhere including school. We have a large number of foreign students who come here as boarders as young as 10 or 11, and is great fun to introduce them to wearing bare feet. We arrange holiday home stays with local families in rural communities, and somehow always by accident they just happen to end up with no footwear at all for the holiday. The first time going to the dairy or the cinema in bare feet is a lot of good fun to watch, especially the first time they have to go in the toilet without anything on their feet! Which is a typical part of childhood here but quite unexpected for some of our foreign visitors!!
Haha, thanks for sharing, Nanna! I’ve never been to your beautiful country, but I could imagine the looks of shock. There are various no-shoes and no-service rules in the US and other countries that would make it alarming for people from these places to see others barefoot in these locations.
My daughter gets strange looks, cheers, sideways glances, and people who tell her, “You’re my hero,” when she takes her shoes off outdoors. Especially during the colder months and other challenging environments to walk barefoot, such as a long hike with sharp lava rock, like she often treads. She always carries her shoes with her just in case, but normally, she ties them to her backpack or pant loop for added effect as if to say, “Yeah, I have shoes; I just don’t need to wear them right now.” As she confidently walks by cool as a cucumber. I enjoy watching the various reactions of different people from all walks of life, and I think she does as well. Sometimes, I think the enjoyment she gets in seeing the variety of each one is the primary reason she chose to take her shoes off–lol!