Ah, the carefree barefoot days of summer: beach sand between your toes, green grass under your feet, and smooth floors and soft carpets underfoot at home. Are you and your children are missing out on the rich stew of sensory feeling that going without shoes can give you? If your child goes straight from shoes to sandals to cleats this summer, you may be missing a whole lot more.

Not only does going barefoot feel great, it also nourishes, strengthens, and promotes agility in a child’s growing feet, ankles, legs, knees, and hips – benefits that are children are going without in today’s over-shod society.

In fact, podiatrists say that bare feet should be a vital component of a child’s everyday life, in all seasons. The bare foot functions almost like a sense organ, feeling subtleties of changing terrain while walking and playing, and making countless small adjustments in how each step is taken. These adjustments actually help each of us form our balance, movement systems, and posture for life.

 Read the full article here. 

Valerie Baadh