Shoes for School - New Baden,IL

My daughter's daycare/school (goes through 4th grade) allows closed toed shoes only. No sandals. They prefer no boots. Basically, they need shoes they can run and play in on the playground and that they can get on/off fairly easily. We haven't had any rules about not having black soles, but very few of her shoes have black shoes. I've had a lot of luck with various types of gym shoes from Buster Brown (avail at Famous Footwear), StrideRite, Jellybeans shoes (from kohls) and Sketchers. Her favorites are usually the Sketchers Twinkle Toes or the Sketchers Sports (with lights).

The big thing is NO MARK soles, basically the BEST shoes for school are sturdy tennis/running style kids shoes. You want to think safe vs style in all honesty.

I honestly think open shoes are a huge issue.

Think about how your feet would feel if you went to the park in strappy sandals and walked around the playground in the sand under the swings and equipment.

And NO you don't get to sit down on the ground every couple of minutes and dump the sand or pea gravel from under your toes....that's the reason I don't allow open shoes to be work to school no matter what the rules say.

In my opinion, kids need to wear shoes they would wear for running and playing, such as shoes they would wear to a gym class. EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK TO SCHOOL.

Sketchers are fine, she will want to have more than one pair of shoes though.

Well, are you more worried about her looking cute or being comfy? Get her the sneakers. She & her feet will thank you. I can't understand sandals or flip flops for school - so uncomfortable & unsafe.

No mark soles because they leave black marks in the hallways, classrooms and cafeteria. The floors are mopped every day and polished at least 3 times a week.

Not to be harsh, but school is not a fashion show. They are there to learn and to exercise.

At our daughters elementary, every day from Kinder through 5th grade, they ran cross country track and so they wore tennis shoes. They do not have time to change shoes or clothes.. so they needed to be dressed and ready for their daily run and PE.. Even with rough weather, they went to the gym to run laps.

Our daughter had never owned a pair of tennis shoes until she started kinder. We found all sorts of cute shoes. She knew when she go home, she could wear any type of shoes she wanted.

My daughter is in kindergarten and they just ask that we not send kids to school in Crocs or flip flops, but I see kids wearing those all the time. There's no issue regarding shoes with black soles, but then again the only place that they could scuff up the floors would be the cafeteria since the "hallways" and the area where they have PE are outside (we live in Florida) and all other areas are carpeted. Although my daughter could wear sandals to school on the days when she doesn't have PE, I make her wear tennis shoes because half of the playground is covered in mulch and the other half is sand.

for my kids schools, they are not allowed to wear any type of sandals. All shoes have to be closed toe. I just put her in tennis shoes (sketchers) just to make it easy. Even with a dress, she wears her tennis shoes. I'd rather her be comfortable and safe than super matchy and cute

Call the school and verify. I've never heard this. I can understand for gym class but not the rest of school. Go from there

The shoe may have a black sole but can be a non-marking black sole. For example, Keen sandals verse Old Navy sandals...both have black soles but the Old Navy ones leave black marks all over my floors while the Keen's do not because of the non-marking soles. Any salesman at a shoe store would probably be able to tell you. If you were to order online at a site like zappos.com, it would say in the description.

I would just get her some cute sneakers to start the year off and go from there. Sneakers are the safest and most comfortable for everything, recess/PE.

Small children should ware tennis shoes most days anyway, because even if they dont have PE they will be running around on the playground and could get hurt. I am a volunteer at the school and see this often. they teachers would prefer tennis shoes. I buy dressy tennis shoes for that purpose.

Toms Shoes

Espirit canvas shoes

White bottom sneakers

I really like Merrells M. Jane's for my girls for school. Cute, comfy and girly and very durable.

My little great niece has these Saddle shoes that have white soles. Like a tennis shoe but cute!

http://www.keds.com/store/SiteController/keds/productdeta...

She wears them with all her little capris and dresses. I wish they made them in MY size!!!

A girl in pre-k at my son's school has the CUTEST shoes! Shoes that I wish I had but I can't even afford the ones in her size, much less my own. But...she has a hard time playing in them and ends up not joining in or having to stop every so often to adjust her shoes or have a teacher help her put them on again.

She has adorable wedges that she can barely walk in and can't wear to dance class or run in (and also cannot put on by herself afterwards but the kids are expected to be able to get their own shoes on/off), mary janes that slip on the playground equipment and little UGG (or UGG-like) boots that are too ungainly to climb or run in on the playground.

There are no rules about what shoes the kids can/cannot wear, but there is also no time given to change shoes for various activities or help with footwear that is not appropriate. If kids wear rain boots to school, they usually stay in them all day or learn to very quickly take off their inside shoes and slip the boots on as they pass the cubbies to go outside. And this is just in a class of 10, not the bigger kindergarten classes with even less time for a teacher to help. Every day they have recess, plus at least one other activity that involves movement (music/dance class, gymnastics, etc) so they must always be prepared, be comfy and be safe.

Kids take their cues from us. If being cute and stylish is more important to us, it will be more important to them. She will only miss the fancy shoes/boots if you make a big deal out of it or only compliment her when she does dress up.

That said, I bet your daughter is adorable and of course you like when she is dressed in something cute! I'm sure you will find plenty of options at all sorts of stores for shoes that are appropriate and make you proud. And I know that how your child dresses is not the most important thing to you and you will be fine when she trashes a cute pair by having fun in a puddle or refuses to wear the shoes you like best. But it's nice to have that dream of "catalog living" for a bit before you have to return to the world of worms in the pockets and paint that only says it's washable. :)

I already (inwardly) cringe when my son picks out his clothes and I wonder why I bother even buying the nicer things or making an attempt to have shorts and shirts that coordinate in his wardrobe. But his friends don't care when he has a stain on his favorite shirt or when he wears one black sneaker and one blue flip flop with his brown pants and most importantly he doesn't either, so why should I? After all, that makes him pretty cute, too.