For the most part Audrey has been wearing Robeez, but I just bought her very first pair of walking shoes last week. Now, I'm in a dilemma because we have tons of shoes left over from Genevieve and a lot of the Stride Rite's. Should I get rid of all of G's old shoes and buy Audrey new pairs all together? Or should I keep them and let Audrey wear them. Is it bad for their foot development to wear used shoes? I wish Stride Rite had a trade in program. :lol:

I woudl buy her a new pair for her first pair of Stride Rite b/c they seem (at least in my experience) to conform to the wearer and they might not be comfortable to her :dunno: I wish Stride Rite had a trade-in program too :lol:

Avery had one pair of shoes per "growth period" for a while and was pretty rough on them. Those I won't let Sabrina wear. But a barely worn sandal or dress shoe, I would.

Funny you brought this up. :lol: Sabrina has been wearing her Robeez too and we finally got her "walking" shoes last night. I need to start going to the outlet. :lol: The shoe costs alone could kill me. :lol:

It is bad for their foot development to wear shoes shoes that have conformed to someone else. The test for this is to stick your fingers in the shoe - if you can feel the toe imprints of the first wearer, then it is too worn for the second wearer. :)

My girls have never worn Stride Rites, except a pair Emily wore briefly last summer that Shel gave me when Riley grew out of them. Emily literally only could wear them for 5 days, because she had just started walking and her feet grew two sizes in a month! :lol: We always buy the SR knockoffs at Payless or Target.

Molly is wearing all of Emily's shoes from last year (size 3's), but Em never walked in them. I also kept all the shoes she did walk in, just in case the sizes match up, because she had 4-5 pair at any given time and the wear isn't that bad. :dunno: Molly's cruising all the time now, and does best barefoot anyway, but I doubt I pass the shoes down to anyone else. Two kids, lots of crawling and cruising = worn out shoes!

Anne, thanks for that easy to use tip! I'll check their shoe collection and get rid of any of Emily's old shoes with an imprint on the insole!

I do what Colleen said --I throw out the ones that Aidan wore (the tennis shoes, the main sandals), but I kept the shoes he only wore a handful of times for special occasions. I also do the feel test like Anne posted.

Glad some of my limited knowledge from working in a shoe store during high school can benefit some people! :lol: