Back to school is coming soon! Over the years, the selections for kid’s sizes have been improving with full size runs of new releases. There have also been more and a better selection for character shoes with the big sneaker brands. Remember when the characters shoes were cheesy and could only be found with lights? There are so many sneaker options and places to grab back to school sneakers. You can go in stores (recommended for trying on the shoes), retail websites, and resale websites. From a mom’s point, some things to consider when purchasing for younger kids are, how much time they will play outside, how many outfits can be worn with the shoes, their personality, price, weather conditions, and transportation.
My daughter is 6 and had a lot of outside time in Kindergarten. With her going to first grade, I know she won’t have direct access to a playground right outside of her classroom but they are big on recess. I do not remember having recess in elementary school – we went outside sometimes but not often. She does not wear uniforms and she is such a girly girl so I have to think about what colorways will go with a lot of her outfits. By outfits I mean all of her dresses, tights, tulle, sequins, and hair bows. I also have to think about what colors she does not like to wear such as yellow because she think it looks like “pee”. She likes catching the bus, so there goes another element of unknown dirt-I got her some white Cardi B Reebok classics last year and after day 1, it looked like she was stopping the bus with her feet and had brake dust on her shoes. But what about the days when she has gym and there is rain in the forecast- I opt for something with patent leather.
We have days when it’s cold and she needs tennis shoes for gym. She also doesn’t like to have the same shoes as certain kids- certain kids being people who she isn’t fond of. Average shoe size for kids her age is a 13 and she is currently wearing an 11 or 11.5. Some size 12’s are wayyyy too big for her some that limits some things like Converse platforms. Because kids are constantly growing and tearing up shoes, how much am I willing to pay?
They are so many options for purchases for back to school. Here is a list of some sneakers that can get you started in the right direction for smaller kids:
